I am installing a SoundTraxx Blunami decoder in an American Models S gauge loco with a can motor. It looks to me like the easiest place to mount the decoder would be to attach it directly to the motor, with some tape or a cable tie or two. Would that create any type of electrical or bluetooth interference problems being so close to the motor?
yes, that is a workable idea if you use some sort of insulating material for the connection between the motor and the decoder. no part of the decoder itself should be allowed to directly touch the motor [same as frame mounting the decoder]
Yes, you can, Sparky. In fact, I have mounted decoders like that on a few brass locomotives that I converted to DCC.
For mounting, I highly recommend Gorilla mounting tape:
It's pliable, holds VERY well, but can be peeled up, if needed. And it doesn't leave behind any residue like foam tape.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
With bluetooth antennas, the recommendation for optimum range is to mount them "as far away as reasonably possible" from metal. 1/2" to and inch would be best. So if you can include some foam or something to give your board a little distance from the metal motor it would be good
Thank you guys for the answers, I'll give it a shot this weekend.
let us know if you got any interfernce or not ...
So I got the decoder install done a while ago. I took Passenger's advice about getting some distance between the decoder and the motor. I made a mounting platform for the decoder from some styrene sheet and angle which mounted to the motor but held the decoder about 1/4" away from it. It worked fine on the bench, but I didn't want to post an evaluation until I was able to run it on the layout (it's for a friend, I don't have an S gauge layout).
It worked very well. The engine never lost bluetooth connection while anywhere in the layout room, which is about 20'x30'. It also worked while I was in an ajacent room, seperated by a block wall with a 3' door opening. I finally got it to drop out when I went 2 rooms away.
I also put a keep alive in it. That was my first experience with those. Quite amazing.
Being an S gauge F unit, it was also simple to also drop in a 23mm mega bass speaker.
Overall I was very impressed with the Blunami decoder and the operation via the iphone. Incredibly simple to use, which was my top priority. It's probably not the way I will go with my layout but for what I hope to accomplish on my friend's layout it looks like an excellent solution.