Today I purchased a new Walthers EMD SW1 Milwaukee HO gauge engine (see photo). It’s advertised as DCC plug in ready with instructions on “Conversion to DCC”. However the instructions for the conversion don’t seem to make any reasonable sense. The following are the steps: 1. Remove the body shell (their instructions for removing the shell were wrong also. Their instructions say to remove the front coupler box. But, it has nothing to do with the body shell.) 2. Unplug the DC jumper from the large PC board. (OK, that’s a usual step.) 3. Unscrew two screws from (the) large PC board and discard the large PC board, You will no longer need it. (forget the sentence structure, now comes the crazy part). 4. Plug in 8-pin decoder of choice. (If I followed their instructions, I just took off the “large PC board” that has the 8-pin plug on it. What am I suppose to plug the decoder into?) The last steps instruct to insulate and secure the decoder and replace the body shell. I think I will have to call their “Assistance” line and see what kind of excuse I get.Am I crazy, or is this a very misleading set of instructions from Walther's China factory?
Capt. Brigg Franklin: CEO Pacific Cascade Railway in HO gauge.
An internet search reveals several forum discussions (not necessarily this forum and dating back to 2013) regarding the lame instructions. Who/Where did you purchase the loco? Did you end up getting some old stock? Although most stuff is manufactured and assembled overseas, that doesn't mean the instructions were. I would almost bet the instructions were formulated here in the United States and emailed to the factory with "print and place inside product box".
Oh, I would NOT insulate the decoder. While in operation, it generates heat, and that heat needs to dissipate. Insulating would promote heat buildup and possibly destroy your decoder. I would ISOLATE the decoder from the chassis.
Seems like you have some experience with installing decoders, why use instructions anyway?
Terry
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I've come across many instances of where the instruction sheet doesn't correlate to the model that it is supposed to support.
Several factors come into play between the manufacturer and the importer. I believe when Walthers acquired Life-Like they were overwhelmed with a huge amount of inventory and parts supplies and documentation.
To add to the confusion, many of these engines have been produced over a long period of time and some have undergone several phases of upgrades. The first SW-1s came along in 1991. Life-Like began the "Proto" line right about when the big push to market "DCC Ready" locomotives came along. There's tons of dusty old shelf-worn Proto product out there, too.
I have quite a few locomotives from the Life-Like/Walthers transition period and contradictory instructions were the norm rather than the exception. Many pages were simply the former Life-Like instruction sheet with a copy>paste of a Walthers logo over the Life-Like one.
Specifically, the SW-1 I see at least three variations of "light board" designs. As Terry points out there are several blogs/forums that mention the same issue you are presently dealing with.
I know none of what I wrote above helps you with your specific installation but I'm just mentioning the "whys" of the instruction sheet confusion.
Regards, Ed
Thank you Terry and Ed for your time and information. I also have information from our WMR Club president who also models Milwaukee and has 3 SW-1s from different Walthers production runs. He has provided me with a later version of the instructions, not that I would have followed the above steps.
I have installed an 8-pin plug DCC conversion harness and a Digitrax decoder in my new Walthers Milwaukee SW-1 HO switch engine. The engine is now running fine, however I'm not happy with the way I had to fold the wiring harness in order to install the decoder in an open space atop the PC board. I'm now either looking for a shorter DCC harness or cutting and re-soldering the harness wires. Likely a lot of work for a small return. Do they make a shorter harness, and I could save the longer harness for a different conversion?Capt. Brigg Franklin; CEO Pacific Cascade Railway in HO gauge;
Yes, you can get harnesses from I believe 1/4" to 5 or 6" long, with different orientations (which direction the wires come off of the 8-pin plug). There are several companies that make 8-pin to 9-pin harnesses, you don't need to only use Digitrax.
You could also get a decoder with the 8-pins connected directly to the decoder with no harness.
wjstix You could also get a decoder with the 8-pins connected directly to the decoder with no harness.
Something like a TCS DP2X:
Note the array of 8 solder points in the photo--the ends of the 8 pins that go into the DCC socket.
Ed
While rummaging in my spare parts drawer I came upon the perfect solution for a DCC decoder for my new Walthers SW1 Milwaukee switcher, a Soundtraxx MC1H102P8. I purchased this 8-pin chip for a different engine, but it would not fit under that hood. Problem solved.