I have a Rivarossi 4-6-2 (newer model with red box & plastic packaging) that I'd like to add DCC to. I think it has a can motor, and it doesn't have the older motor that stick out of the cab. How would I go about doing this?
- Luke
Modeling the Southern Pacific in the 1960's-1980's
Right now I have to figure you have not done any DCC so far. No mention if it has a 8 pin or 9 pin DCC connector inside the tender. It can be considered easy for various values of easy.
Remove both wires from the motor. Take say a Digitrax DZ125 and connect it like below.
Red, right rail
Black left rail
Orange plus motor lead
Gray negative motor lead
To determine plus and minus leads for motor before connecting the decoder, connect a 9 volt battery to the motor and look for forward movement of the drivers.
White and blue headlight if bulb. 1k resistor in series with one lead if LED. Which lead the resistor is in is not important.
Insulate all leads.
http://www.mrdccu.com/curriculum/Lighting/LED.htm
Real ALL is stuff if not familiar with DCC.
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.
New Haven I-5 I have a Rivarossi 4-6-2 (newer model with red box & plastic packaging) that I'd like to add DCC to. I think it has a can motor, and it doesn't have the older motor that stick out of the cab. How would I go about doing this?
Red and plastic packaging does not tell much about the l;oco. Is this from a LHS or private sale? Do you have any paper work with it?
Have you opened the tender?
It has all paperwork. It has tender pickups and no 8 or 9 pin plugs.
The eight pin connector might be in the loco. Have you opened the loco? Does the paper work show the inside of the loco?
I've opened it and there's no 8 pin connector that I can see.
Does the tender have to be connected to the locomotive for it to run? Rivarossi made several incarnations of their steam engines over the years -- some had no electrical pickups from the tender, some picked up power from one rail through the tender and transferred it to the motor through a small spring wire that was part of the drawbar, and some had electrical pickups in the tender only for a backup light.
If your model is one of the ones that will run without the tender, a small decoder such as a TCS M-1 can be installed in the locomotive and mounted to the top of the motor with double-sided white foam tape.
Before more detailed instructions can be provided, we need to know which version you have.
When you say "newer model" do you mean one made in China after Rivarossi was bought my Hornby of England? If so, all bets are off because I have never owned one of them.
It has to have the tender to run.
A little more information, please:
Are the instructions in English, Italian, or "Chinglish" -- i.e., Chinese English that reads like someone just looked up each word in a Chinese/English dictionary without regard to any grammar rules. For example, "Just hold push hammer and power it."
Does it say "Made in China" on the box or on the bottom of the loco, or anywhere on the instructions, or "Made in Italy"?
Is there a silver colored wire on the bottom of the tender drawbar that must make contact with a metal pin on the back of the locomotive?
Are there any wires at all between the locomotive and tender?
Does the tender have a working backup light?
Instructions are in Italian & it is made in Italy. The silver wire you are speaking of is there. Also, there's no backup light & no wires going between the tender & locomotive. Thanks!
Luke, a Rivarossi Loco in a red box with plastic insert can still be twenty years old! I've converted quite a few Rivarossi loco's like you've described with the motor in the boiler and motor in the cab. I've found the best decoder is the Lenz Gold with the Power 1 Module. All the "older" Rivarossi loco's suffer from poor power pick-up. The Lenz Power 1 Module will help this greatly but I also fitted extra power pick-ups to the drivers and all the tender wheels. Also add weight to the loco and tender, this will also help with power pick-up. My favourite Riv loco 4-6-4 streamlined Hiawatha will run 6" over a paper towel on the tracks without stopping or the head light blinking. One more thing Luke, it is a time consuming task to fit decoders to older Rivarossi loco's and make them run well. Unless the loco is your favourite or it's a hard to get model I would seriously think of selling it and buying something newer with a decoder already installed. I had about eight Rivarossi loco's, I now have two!
Cheers
Jim
Okay, your description indicates that what you call a "newer" locomotive is in fact very old. The tender wheels pick up power from one rail, and the locomotive's drive wheels pick up from the other rail.
The most troublesome part of this scheme was the spring wire under the tender drawbar not making good electrical contact with the metal pin at the rear of the loco, but there's not much that can be done to correct this problem short of adding some type of additional wiring between the locomotive and tender.
For decoder installation, you need to remove the boiler from the frame. This is usually accomplished by removing the front pony truck and a long screw under it that goes up through the cylinders and into the boiler.
There will be 4 black wires soldered to the tabs at the back of the motor. The motor is already isolated from the frame, so nothing special is required to install a decoder. Two of those wires are for power pickup from the locomotive wheels and tender, and the other two go to the headlight.
Unsolder and remove the wires from the motor. A small decoder such as the TCS M-1 should be used. Solder the decoder's orange and gray wires to the motor tabs; orange to the right side and gray to the left.
Separate the black wires that were soldered to the motor and try to determine which ones go to the headlight. Two of the wires probably go down toward the wheels and the other two go forward on the top of the frame -- these latter two are the headlight wires.
Solder the decoder's black wire to the wire that goes down to the left side of the frame, and the red wire to the right side wire.
The headlight is a 16 Volt incandescent bulb that needs no resistor. Solder the decoder blue wire to one, and the white wire to the other. Insulate this solder splice with heat shrink tubing.
Stick the decoder to the top of the motor with white double-sided foam tape or Kapton tape, and reassemble the model.
Here is a link to some info on installing a decoder into an Atlas/Rivarossi 4-6-2
http://www.raybob.boche.net/ - Click on DCC pages and then on the Atlas/Rivarossi 4-6-2
WS
That link is to an N scale model, which is NOT the same as the HO scale one at all.
Since the original post never mentions HO and I happen to model in N, I provided the info I had. I guess I will not respond to any more posts so I don't get chastised.
Hey Bav,
I'm an N scaler too and you can respond to my posts all you want!
-Paul
bavrail Since the original post never mentions HO and I happen to model in N, I provided the info I had. I guess I will not respond to any more posts so I don't get chastised.
Don't take it personal. The are quite a few clueless here who come in and do not know how to properly ask a question. Kind of sounds like some who ask, My train does not go. What is wrong with it? Notice all the lack of info?
Usual best to ask them for details before commenting. I "assumed" a relatively new loco. I sure was off.
Many have no idea of what is required in DCC and try to jump right into a DCC install. Yes, some installs are easy, for various values of easy. Some cannot even get the shell off the loco or tender and have to be led by the hand.
Paul and Rich. Thanks.
There should be some sort of check box system on the message box so if you are talking about HO then you check the HO box, N scale then check the N box, Lionel then check the toy box, etc. Then there won't be any more misunderstandings.
Or people just need to remember that while HO has the most, it doesn't have ALL and it's important to specify when asking about parts, maintenence, or things like decoder installs since it DOES matter.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.