dz125 decoder

[TimY6B]

I am building a Climax kit, R. Gustavson's, which is a lot of fun.  I decided to go wth the alternate separate motor and a DZ125 decoder.  The question is concerning the decoder: does the plastic wrapper provide any other function than to keep the decoder from contacting metal parts, i.e., heat dissipation, ???  It would be easier to shoe-horn this thing into this little model without the shrink wrap, and I was thinking of cutting it off and using either silicone to protect it or place it in a resin tank atop the motor and just placing a plastic piece between it and anything below.  Will this mess it up?

[CSX Robert]

As long as you insure the decoder does not short out, it will be just fine without the plastic wrap.

[Stevert]

I have heard that the shrink wrap actually does play a role in heat dissipation, although I have no way of knowing whether or not that's true.  However, I DO know that removing the shrink wrap voids the warranty.

But either way, the shrink wrap really isn't that thick, and tends to follow the contour of the components under it.  Will you really gain any room by removing it and then putting plastic underneath the decoder?  That actually sounds like a net loss of space to me...

[cacole]

I agree with Stevert's comment.  Shrink wrap is so thin you're not going to gain any space by removing it, especially if you have to put something thicker in its place to keep it insulated from contacting metal.

I don't have a shrink-wrapped decoder to measure, but think if you could measure the thickness of the shrink wrap with a micrometer you'd find that a sheet of 20 pound paper is thicker.

You could get by with trimming a small amount of shrink wrap off the ends of the decoder if you need more space in that dimension, as long as you didn't expose bare electrical traces.

I'm not sure about the question of the shrink wrap dissipating heat -- it seems like it would have the opposite effect.  I have HO scale decoders that are not shrink wrapped.

[rrinker]

 I don't know how much smaller you're going to get it. I looked up the loco in question just to see how tiny it was - and it's tiny, but a friend of mien puts unmodified DZ125's in the slope-back tenders of his N scale scratchbuilt camelbacks with tender drive. SO a slope-back tender WITH the motor in there too, and the DZ125 fits. It's about the smalelst thing going right now, maybe one of the CT decoders is a tad smaller.

                   --Randy