Hi Toto, does the 55 have a small circuit board between the main board and the fan? On my 37 it has and I disconnected it and wired the fan directly to the green function wire and the common blue, fan works but at a 1000 rev' s per min. So I tried a large resistor, but still not able to run it as slow as when the loco was on DCC, so I think you need to leave the small board and take the wires that lead into it back to the decoder function wire you want to use, ie the green in my case and the blue common. This way it uses the Heljan circuit board to control the fan speed. Kim
Thanks for that kind sir. It does have a very small circuit board. I'll leave it in as you suggest and connect as you have as well to the green and the common. Am I right in saying the common is a shared connection on the bigger connector strip ? Cheers Toto
Toto wrote: Looks like Kim has covered that I'd leave the board for the fan motor in place and link one wire to the blue common power and use the colour of the function you chose to trigger F4 may be the go and Cab lights could go on F1-F2-F3 I think the board has a bridge rectifier, so the fans only go one way.
Geesh ..... its been a while but it looks like the Class 55 may be a step closer to being chipped. SWMBO is away this weekend and I cant really get to the shed and leave mutley on her own ( not fair ) so I am thinking of bringing the 55 and maybe my 35 indoors and fitting my Zen Buddahs. I'll be re-reading the post re the roof fans as I had clean forgotten that this info had been posted up. I'll post a couple of pictures of how I tackle the installations. cheers Toto
13th May ...Scottish Sunday Mail ..... head lines ...load bangs, swearing and plumes of smoke over residential estate still a mystery, anyone with details contact.......
Well, attempted the decoder install. here is what we start with ......... I read the destructions as posted up earlier in this thread by SMR Chris and got this far ....... This gets you the front and rear light connections on the top left of the decoder, the commons for the same in the middle right connections and two sets of track wires ( red and a black per pair as per Heljans previous decoder connections ) on the top and bottom right hand side of the decoder as you look at it. This leaves me with this still connected to the old decoder ..... which is the positive and negative going to each motor. Now ..... there are only two connections for the motors on the new decoder. so I thought, Mmmmm I heard previously that it should be a red from one motor goes with the black from the other. ...... I'm sure I did. Nahhhhhhhh couldnae be. So I'll go two reds and two blacks instead. So I did. Put it on the programme track, decoder was recognised and I punched in a new temporary running number of 5501. Put it on the track ........ enter loco number ...... 5501 ....... man ..... it was like a tug of war with the motors fighting to decide which direction the loco was running in. Simples ...... change motor wiring round to my originally suspected configuration ......... goes like a dream. I have still to wire the fan in as yet which I will do once I am happy with what I'm doing there. I will have to open the loco back up anyway as the length of wires provided by Heljan make for a tight and untidy installation. I'll disconnect the effected wires one by one and solder extensions onto them to take some of the stress out of it. I need quiet time for that as I don't want to have a soldering iron out with our Lulu about. neither do I want to lock her up to disappear to the shed. The loco is running so the rest is just a bit remedial work. Now ...... the class 35 and the remaining Hudswell Clark. cheers for now. toto
I'll maybe tackle the Class 35 tomorrow, should be the same story I think. Once I've done that and SWMBO gets home, I'm going to disconnect some of the tighter cable connections and solder extensions on as there is plenty of room inside the body to take them. It will take a bit of strain off the tighter cables and let me lay the decoder down flat. It is standing vertical on its side at the moment in order to accommodate the cable lengths. Not the preferred solution for me. cheers toto
Well done Toto, first one done, the rest will be easy now. Nothing quite like fitting decoders in batches. Just curious, no mention of your favourite tool been used in the install ?
He's not used it yet Kim, but he did say he wanted the decoder flat, so it could be the sledgehammer! Keith.
I had it on standby just in case any minor adjustments were required ...... its never far away. Its a little annoying that Heljan make reference to the possibility of having to extend the wires for a neater install when they could easily have allowed more when wiring in the factory. There is enough room in there for a game of five a sides. I will tidy that up once dog sitting duties are over. I am assuming the Class 35 will need the same. cheers toto
