It's been a while since I've wired up an Athearn motor for DCC. Which wire goes where on the motor?
Jay
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The answer is in the subject line. Orange and grey wires connect to the motor.
All decoders come with full instructions. Hopefully you read the instructions first. I say that because some do not.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
I wouldn't be to concerned with the colors, but more so where they go. I have 2 locos where the wire color coding doesn't match the instructions. Is this a decoder with or without a wiring harness?
Most manufacturers instructions for DCC install state the orange goes on the top and the gray goes on the bottom. However, my last install (which can be seen on my youtube channel) has the orange and gray wires reversed (came that way from the manufacturer).
Just remember that the top of the motor is positive (+) and the bottom of the motor is negative (-). If you wire this backwards, your loco will run backwards.
Inspired by Addiction
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If you haven't disassembled the locomotive drive yet, figure which side of the motor is getting power from the right side track pick-ups. This will be the orange wire connection unless you want to reverse the normal direction of travel (such as Southern and N&W units running long hood forward).
John
If everybody is thinking alike, then nobody is really thinking.
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richg1998 The answer is in the subject line. Orange and grey wires connect to the motor. All decoders come with full instructions. Hopefully you read the instructions first. I say that because some do not. Rich
You obviously didn't read the second sentence in my post.Actually I've installed at least a hundred NCE D13's, but all were custom engines with can motors, the last Athearn I did was at least 5 years ago. I did read the instructions about 100 installs ago. I just wanted to make sure so I wouldn't have to reprogram the direction.
Thanks guys, I'll go with the grey on the bottom.
If you get the wires reversed, a simple change to CV29 is no big deal. You're going to be programming it anyway.
I always solder the grey wire to the bottom motor brush and orange to the top, and have encountered very few motors where this was not the correct color coding, even for G scale.
modelmaker51 richg1998: The answer is in the subject line. Orange and grey wires connect to the motor. All decoders come with full instructions. Hopefully you read the instructions first. I say that because some do not. Rich You obviously didn't read the second sentence in my post.Actually I've installed at least a hundred NCE D13's, but all were custom engines with can motors, the last Athearn I did was at least 5 years ago. I did read the instructions about 100 installs ago. I just wanted to make sure so I wouldn't have to reprogram the direction.
richg1998: The answer is in the subject line. Orange and grey wires connect to the motor. All decoders come with full instructions. Hopefully you read the instructions first. I say that because some do not. Rich
LOL
I always love these kinds of exchanges. I really do. A little levity mixed in with technical talk.
Alton Junction
cacole I always solder the grey wire to the bottom motor brush and orange to the top, and have encountered very few motors where this was not the correct color coding, even for G scale.
It must be me then (with my stroke of "not so lucky"). I have a Proto 2000 S-3 Alco switcher with the red wire on the left pick-up and the black wire on the right pick-up. It was my first dcc install and I couldn't figure out why it ran backwards and the lights wouldn't work. I followed the instructions (color for color, wire for wire) and finally figured out the left-right rail pick-up snafu.
I know normally the orange is positive (top) and gray is negative (bottom), but with my latest dcc upgrade, the gray and orange were reversed from the manufacturer.
I just finished wiring my Rivarossi Big Boy for DCC and the motor has the connections on the left and right sides, not top and bottom, so I assumed grey on the left and orange on the right. Wrong, I had to reverse them to get the loco to run, although I could have done it with the programming. Just another issue to work around.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!