I just received 2 new Athearn/Walthers Amtrak P42s, #55 and #10. Here's a photo of #55:
The board has the standard Athearn 9 pin socket and also an 8 pin socket. However I'm not sure the sockets are going to benefit me all that much.
What I'd like to do is add a Loksound decoder to the lead unit and also add LEDs for headlights and ditchlights. But looking at the factory board it seems there are only two functions for lights, forward and reverse. I can't find any auxiliary ports. The locos come with four micro bulbs (2 for the headlight and 2 for the rear light).
Here are two photos showing the board:
The sets of braided wire (on both ends) are the headlights and rearlights. In the second photo, the two top wires are connected to the trucks. In the second photo the wire in the middle of the board goes down to the motor, I think. And the last wire you see to the left in the second photo looks like some sort of ground, as it's connected to the metal frame. The rivets seem to be electrically connected to the top of the motor.
For the lighting planned for the lead locomotive, I'll need one function for the headlights. Another function (and possibly two) for the ditch lights which will alternately flash when the horn is pressed. And one more function for step lights. So looking like 3-4 functions. But it looks like the Athearn light board only has 2 light outputs. Why would they have a 9 pin connector if there are only 2 light outputs? Are there unused wires?
Should I just ditch the Athearn board and hardwire the Loksound decoder? And about those rivets, how do I remove these to remove the Athearn light board? Drill out the rivets? I'll have to be careful since the motor appears to be electrically connected to the board via the rivets.
If anyone has replaced or upgraded an Athearn board like this and has any tips or suggestions, I'd be very appreciative of any advice.
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
The Athearn board does have the soldering points for the green and purple function wires. I used your pictures to show you where they are at. Sorry to say but I'm not sure if these functions have resistors online so you may need to use a multimeter to see how many volts are coming out of each soldering point. The other "I don't know" is where to hook up to the blue (common) wire, I think you'll need to splice into the existing wire coming from the harness or solder a wire at the bottom of the board to the blue wire pin.
As far as how the board is attached to the motor. If you look closely, you'll see a metal clip attached to the motor's bronze clip. All you need is a small flat head screwdriver to pry between the bronze clip and the metal clip. The board will come right off without removing the bronze clip. The only thing left to do is remove the motor wire that is connected to the board. This is what it looks like:
TONY
"If we never take the time, how can we ever have the time." - Merovingian (Matrix Reloaded)
Thanks a bunch Tony.
Removing the board couldn't be any easier. And here I was all set to cut out the rivets. It sure would be nice if instructions were included with these locomotives. Only thing it came with was an exploded parts diagram that doesn't even have the right part numbers for many of the pieces on this particular model.
I'll fiddle around and see if there is a blue port somewhere on the board, but I'm thinking at this point I'll just remove the board and wire everything directly to the Loksound decoder and add my own resistors. Plenty of room in these P42s which is nice for speakers, etc...