Need some help installing Lenz decoder

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I purchased the Lenz LE1014W decoder from Tony's Train Exchange and I started to install the decoder the other night and I'm confused. My loco is a Walthers GP9M. The loco has two wires on each truck, a black and a blue. The blue wire on the front right rail and the black wire on the back right rail go to one terminal post on the motor. The black wire on the front left rail and the blue wire on the back left rail go to the other motor terminal. I'm not sure which wires are suppose to go where on the decoder. I've emailed and called both Tony and Lenz, without any replies. My son (and me too) is very eager to get our loco going, since this is our first attempt at DCC. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Kent

[Anonymous]

I've converted one of Walthers Dash 8s (same wiring arrangement) - first you need to desolder the wires from the motor. Then, check that the motor is completely isolated from the rails - the Dash 8 has plastic truck frames and wired wiper pickups, so it's obvious the frame isn't live - not sure if the GP9 is the same. Connect the pickup wires together - front left to rear left, front right to rear right - these connect to the decoder's power feed wires (Lenz have a very good set of instructions packaged with their decoders, if yours is missing say so and I'll post a wiring chart from one of mine). The motor wires are then soldered the motor terminals, and all is good - the best way to check before powering up on the main line is to place the loco on your programming track and see if you can set and read back values (I use CV1, the address). If all works as expected, wrap some insulating tape around the solder joints (to prevent shorts) and refit the bodyshell.

Does the GP9 have directional lighting? If so, you can wire this to work under DCC too - I used the Lenz decoder function outputs (following their instructions) and put a couple of resistors in line to stop the bulbs overheating - not sure what value they now have but guessing about 300 Ohm, they get warm but don't melt anything and there's a good light output too. Hope this is of help!

[Anonymous]

Matt,

Thanks for the quick reply. I've already checked and the motor is isolated from the rails. What confused me was how to connect these four wires. Right to left or back to front. I have my Lenz instructions, so I don't need any help there. This being my first attempt at decoder installation, I didn't want to just try things and fry my decoder.

You are correct about reading the address being a safe way to test the wiring. Lenz even suggests that in their instructions.

This loco only has a head lamp. Just a very basic loco. Thanks for the resistor suggestion. I'll check and see if I will need to do the same.

Thanks again for your help. It'll be great to move forward on our DCC layout.

Kent

[tstage]

Kent,

Since you have to put in resistors, try replacing the bulbs with LED's. You don't have to deal with heat issues and the difference is fantastic.

Tom

[rrinker]

The back and front wires ont he same side of the truck go together, even if they are different colors (how silly of them to build the loco like that - oh well). If the blue and black wires on the right side of the truck go to the right side of the motor, here's how you do it:

blue and black from right side of truck to RED wire on the decoder
blue and black from left side of the trucks to BLACK wire on decoder
Orange wire to RIGHT side of motor
Grey wire to LEFT side of motor.

--Randy