I am hesitantly committed to installing a decoder in my Southern and am looking for walk thru instructions, hopefully with pics. My searches have not found a bingo yet. Sorry if I'm missing the obvious. I've requested access to an online group (refers to tender and cab installation) that may have them and waiting for a response. Until then, any links or suggestions? PS - this will be my first wired install (not going to do the light). I have a new Weller variable temp solder station with a fine tip, tix flux, kapton tape, and will use silver solder. If this goes okay, I want to put one in my 2-6-0.
Fredsmi: I've done seven of these (MDC 2-8-0). The Athearn 2-8-0 is the same as the MDC 2-8-0. I was able to use a Lenz 521W which was the smallest decoder available at that time. I was also able to install the decoder on top of the motor without raising the coal load. I was able to ream out the under side of the coal load and that was enough to get the coal load in position. Today I would use the lenz silver mini decoder which is more than 50% smaller than the Lenz 521W. You can also use a TCS Z scale decoder which I believe has smaller dimensions than the Lenz silver mini decoder. Lift off the coal load from the rear. It might offer some resistance but you can use a small jewelers blade to lift it off. Then lift out the motor. The red and black wires are soldered to the contact strips on the floor of the tender. The orange and gray wires get soldered to the motor brush caps. Use a very light touch when you solder the wiring to the motor brush caps. Place some Kapton tape on top of the motor and frame as that is where the decoder will sit. The tape will prevent any short circuits and keep the decoder from touching the frame. That's all there is. Note*** -Since you're not wiring the light ( makes a difficult installation),the light to the 2-8-0 will be on constantly. I was able to live with that in seven installations of the MDC 2-8-0. You do the same thing with the Athearn 2-6-0 but you have less space to work in.
Am I learning something today? This may be obvious to some, but do Z decoders work in N scale for tight fits? How about HO? Cheers, Jim CCRR/Socalz44
I have a tutorial on installing a decoder in the tender without having to raise the coal load. I made a flexible coal load that not only gave room, but kept from having to cramp all the wires, and decoder so hard against the motor. It runs MUCH cooler the way I did it. It is on here. Search my posts from a few months to a year or so ago... Cool way to install one. Made it easier, and again, lets the decoder breath, and run allot cooler.
Thanks for the helpful comments. I have it running without the tender load, but it runs loud. Too loud. I don't think its just the noise from the tender being open. It sounds something like my Bachmann 4-4-0, loud. This is not acceptable. Also, it runs better backward than forward. I hate to tweak with it because I don't want to disturb the wires much, but this is not good enough. I wonder if I have the motor too high or something. Any thoughts?
Bob, as soon as my next batch of Silver Minis come in I was going to do mine. I normally use a resistance soldering iron for wired installs. Would I be better off using this for the motor contacts on this job?
Yea, sorry, I put the decoder in last night. It's running dcc with the decoder in the tender, but I have not put the cap on the tender with the coal load. I'll deal with that later. The problem now is that it's too loud. Better than it was (I've tweaked it some), but loud. It was smooth and silent, an A. Now it's loud, like a B or C engine. It still will creep well, but gets loud with speed.
The motor was seated as good as would with the plastic holders that are there. I nice tight snap in place. I've put it aside for now because my black wire came loose from me tweaking with it so much today. I was afraid of that.:ru-tongue:
I took it apart again last night to fix the black wire and ended up unsoldering everything, cleaned the solder off, shortened the wires and resoldered everything and put it back together. Much easier second time around and the short wires are nice. Still, there is a problem with the noise. I may know what is causing it and hopefully I'll be able to fix it. For some reason, when I tighten the back screw that holds the rear truck in place and screws into the brass pickup plate, the plastic engine mount lifts up on the front right side so that the engine lifts a little. I think this is the problem. Even if I tighten the front screw, I still get the lift on the front right side. The left side of the engine mount stays down. I dunno ... may be it'll bingo tonight. I thought the wiring would be the hard part, but that has been okay. Its the motor that is stumping me. Again, thanks for the comments.
I got it running smooth and quiet now, but I'll have to figure out how to keep the decoder from pressing on the motor. The kapton tape is not enough and any downward pressure from the tender top's coal load makes the engine make noise and slow down.
Have you looked at my thread in the link I provided? It addresses exactly, and relieves the pressure on the decoder onto the motor. Also breaths so it keeps the decoder running cooler.
Yes thanks, I may follow your lead. My wife just showed me a broken screen this weekend so I'll have that if I go that route. I've already cut out the coal load from the lid, but at this point, slight pressure will cause the kapton tape to touch the motor and it sounds like cardboard clothes-pined to a bike and hitting the spokes. Even if I build a load high enough to not touch the decoder at all, I'll probably put something solid across the motor to keep the decoder/tape off.
You can also ream out the inside of the coal load to seat the load so there is no pressure on the motor. That's what I did on the seven MRC 2-8-0's that I worked on.
I did that at first, and it did work well, but I wanted a little more room, and started playing with the breathable option for cooling. I used a dremel tool to grind out the coal to make room in there, before cutting it completely out..
I used a Dremel tool. Measure the thickness of the coal load so you know how much you removed. Using a Digitrax DZ125 or a Lenz mini silver decoder will keep the amount you remove from the shell to a mimimum.
