One of the simplest Dublo locos to convert and one of the earliest locos I converted initially using a Lenz std+ 10231-01 decoder which is quite large. It is supplied as a naked populated on one side board intended to be mounted with the supplied double sided sticky pad. Compared with the much smaller decoders I use now, such as the RoS-6D, GM DCC93 or Digitrax DZ126 fitting it is a little more difficult, although it is made easier by virtue of the locos plastic body. Demonstrating a way of fitting a large decoder still has value. Fitting a Lenz Decoder The first two images show the loco as built with typical awful soldering, if you intend to retain the factory fitted suppression parts I would strongly recommend that you dismantle these parts and re-wire / re-solder them to ensure the DCC decoder is connected to sound wiring. In this instance I removed these components and rely on the noise filtering provided by the decoder which also allows me to fit a shelf on which to mount the decoder. Smaller decoders could be mounted on the forward ballast part of the chassis or on the back of the magnet. The shelf is formed up from a piece of credit card fastened with the forward screw which retains the brush arms insulator plate. Note that the forward end has the centre part bent upwards and the two wings, one either side of the front chassis ballast block to prevent twisting. The screw head is covered with insulating tape. Double sided sticky pad applied to the shelf. The Lenz decoder is mounted on the pad. The decoder mounted before wiring to the loco. Note that surplus wires are cropped to avoid chances of shorting with each other, leaving short pieces of insulation allows easy rewiring if the decoder is used elsewhere and these connections are required. Both arms of the brush spring must be sleeved, the orange and grey wires from the decoder are soldered to the brushes, black to chassis solder tag, red to collector wire. Continued in part 2 below
Continued from part 1 Summary and what followed So compared with many other Dublo locos a simple conversion. However due to the worsening pitted state of the wheel treads (not visible in images) it started to run poorly on DCC, next I fitted a ZEN-N68 with Stay Alive which made little difference. Then I tried a Lenz Gold 10433-01 (without the stay alive option) fitted on the back of the magnet and it ran well, I was going to add the stay alive unit to the Lenz Gold but did not need to. Decoder fixed by the supplied sticky pad plus some insulating tape on the chassis to avoid any shorting risk to the bottom edge of the decoder. The Lenz parts are very well made but the cost of the Gold Series decoders and the stay alive unit at the time was very high, it would have been more economical to replace the loco! Now I would probably use a RoS-6D. Discussion always Jim Return to Index