Hello everybody,
took the shell off of the Athearn SD60 RTR in SOO colours. There was only one wire coming from each truck going to the PC board. This locomotive is about 4 years old, my question is how is the unit wired? Is the motor isolated from the frame, or is the frame one polarity and the wire carries the other polarity making the engine run?
Thank you
Frank
"If you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm."
If there is ony one wire coming from the truck, then the frame is hot. The frame picks up current from the truck bolster when the frame sits on the truck. The motor is also grounded to the frame. You will need to isolate the motor completely from the frame for a DCC decoder install.
Hi,
Thank you very much for the reply hobo9941.
Frank, was the engine DCC ready? If it is, then the motor is not grounded All the RTR engines I have where DCC ready.
Ken
I hate Rust
The DCC ready label on the package should mean the engine/motor is not grounded.
But ... not all RTR Athearn HO diesels are all DCC ready or friendly. I haven't opened up my GP40-2's but I have been told that those are not DCC ready and need to have the motor isolated similarly to the older blue box Athearns. I don't believe those GP40-2's have the "DCC ready" lable on the box either.
I do not own an RTR Athearn SD60, but I do own 3 RTR Athearn SD50's and I believe they ride on the same chassis and should be DCC ready, I believe my SD50's are DCC ready. Those are "newer" issue Athearns where as the GP40-2's are somewhat older tool, maybe about 10 years older and therefore Athearn would have needed to do more modification to make them DCC friendly.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983