Ok I have here a minitrains. 0-4-0 with a fried decoder. So now I need to get a new one. Looks like I need to in attach the LED from the board and solder it directly to the blue and white wires. I have a Plymouth that will be easier to wire up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
I drove a few Plymouth loci's. These were underground locomotives, used in the Echo Bay gold mine in Silverton CO. Please carry on.
Ok you DCC aficionados, I can use your help on this. If I could change the title of this thread I would to HOn30 DCC install. I look at this and I can't help think there is something wrong. Decoder is a DZ123. My replacement will be a DZ126. I don't want to fry the new one so I keep looking at this. The orange and grey wires are soldered to the motor. Black and red to the light board. This is where I think there is a problem. Shouldn't the red and black be soldered to the frame and the blue and white to the light board? Any one do this model before? It seems I need to isolate the light board just a little bit more for this to work as well.
I've heard that people have done DCC work on these, but not what they actually did to complete the job.
Here is the link to the Plymouth install. http://www.hon30.org/converting-the-bch-minitrains-plymouth-to-dcc/
That page went for many years without being updated. I forget to even look there! I see there have been some additions in more recent years.
This was the hardest install I have ever done. I had to literally disassemble the whole locomotive. If anyone does one of these expect to take a little time on it. The digitrax DZ126 is a great fit. It is smaller than the older DZ123.
This is my other HOn30 loco. It is a bit easier to install a decoder on. The light board is already isolated since it is attached to the roof of the cab. I only had to cut two metal tabs off and solder the blue and white wires to the board.
Argh, I gotta year the loco apart again. Input into the track and nothing. The light turns on as soon as it touches the track. Then when I put power to the decoder it doesn't move. I feel the motor turning inside but it is not going to the gears.
Uh oh. Do you know if this is a recent years issue loco? Or something a bit older? Older stuff had gear issues.
When I had it apart the first time I wasn't impressed with the plastic gears. Anyone know if there are replacement gears?
Check the HOn30 Mail Car. Not sure in North West Short Line did any. But they might have something you can use.
