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DCC decoder install - which side is which?

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  • Member since
    December 2012
  • 20 posts
Posted by conundrum on Saturday, January 12, 2013 2:32 PM

Got an LHS to sort it. Also found that the front wheels need to be raised of the track; it runs (and looks) better like that.

About the roof led, is 1.5 mm the right size? Did you need to drill the hole bigger, or was the hole filled by the fake blinker big enough?

For the head and tail lights, did you just drill out the holes, and than install the leds directly in them?

What size lead did you use for the headlights? Anything smaller than 3mm for white seems to be difficult to come by. 

  • Member since
    April 2004
  • From: Ontario Canada
  • 3,574 posts
Posted by Mark R. on Sunday, December 30, 2012 11:13 PM

Your colored line markings are correct. Just make sure you have broken the connection between the orange brush and the red frame ground.

I did the two trucks for a friend of mine who was anxious to get them back and I never thought to take any pictures. Sorry.

The cylindrical things are the caps that hold the brushes in - it's normal for them to be "loose".

 

Mark.

¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ

  • Member since
    December 2012
  • 20 posts
Posted by conundrum on Sunday, December 30, 2012 8:29 PM

Are the cylindrical things the brushes? Are they supposed to be loose fitting?

  • Member since
    December 2012
  • 20 posts
Posted by conundrum on Sunday, December 30, 2012 8:23 PM

Did you happen to take any pictures of the install?

Does the following photo show the right wiring? The orange and grey wires go to the metal circular things that seem to be loose fitting?

So far I'm getting no response. The decoder hasn't blown, as far as I can tell. Maybe it's just my lousy soldering.

  • Member since
    April 2004
  • From: Ontario Canada
  • 3,574 posts
Posted by Mark R. on Sunday, December 30, 2012 5:44 PM

I just installed a Loksound decoder, keep alive module, speaker and working lights in two of those models !

The right hand pickup from the wheels is grounded through the chassis. You can see where the motor itself has one brush grounded to the chassis. You need to remove the ground lug from the motor. The orange and gray wires from your decoder will go straight to the motor. The black wire will attach to the two wires coming from the wheels and the red wire will attach to the ground on the chassis.

Nice truck really .... but just can't understand the reasoning behind those funky wheels ! I plan on doing a wheel swap with a set of Herpa wheels and tires when I get some extra time.

 

Mark.

¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Sunday, December 30, 2012 2:56 PM

 Guess it depends on if it's a model of a right-hand drive vehicle or left hand drive. But the "right hand rule" is the same regardless of which side the driver sits on. It;s the one on the gith if you are standing on the vehicle facing the front, which is either obvious in the case of most cars and trucks, or may require a little inventigation with some locomotives, especially first generation road switchers, since some railroads ran them ith the long hoods forward, and others ran with the short hoods forward. If they are ACCURATELY decalled, one end with have an F or 1 on the frame at the front.

 Just by looking at the wheels on your model, it would appear that it has dual wheels on only one end, that would be the back. Making the "right rail pickup" the one on the stack side.

 The rail pickups technically don;t matter, it's the polarity of the motor wires. Assuming the thing moves forward when the right rail is positive, then the orange wire from the decoder should go to the side of the motor currently connected to the right rail. If it goes the wrong way, you can either unsolder and move the wires, or adjust CV29 to make it go the right way.

               --Randy


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    December 2012
  • 20 posts
DCC decoder install - which side is which?
Posted by conundrum on Sunday, December 30, 2012 2:12 PM

I have a Berlyn Locomotive Works Hi-rail, in which I would like to install a DZ143 decoder.

The track power pickup comes from the driver's side guide wheel on both the front and the rear.

The wires are both soldered to the same spot on the motor, again on the drivers side.

So which guide wheel is the "right hand side", and which is the "left hand side"?

Since the wires are soldered at the same point on the motor, would i do the same with both the "engineer's side" and "fireman's side" decoder wires?

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