A simple early conversion using a Hattons DCR-8PIN-HarnessMini. Very Important - Both arms of the brush spring must be sleeved to isolate both brushes from track power otherwise the decoder is likely to be destroyed. The smoke unit has been removed and replaced with lead ballast, onto which the decoder has been fixed with a sticky pad. Interference suppression components also removed. Decoder harness wires are hard wired directly to the motor brushes with loose sleeves acting as strain relief, track power is connected to the decoder from the pickup wire and the solder tag attached via the motor securing screw to the chassis. Unused wires from the connector are cropped and the extra wires at the front of the decoder coiled up. Discussion always Jim Return to Index
Nice neat job Jim. I’ve done a few TRIANG models in the past the same way using TCS decoders with a stay alive added above the decoder.
Thanks Kimbo. So far I have mostly managed to avoid using stay alive components, the ones that did require it early on I was able to convert using an old design of decoder that was sold off from Hattons at a knockdown price because it was a very bulky 8 pin direct plug in decoder. These days the Rails Connect family with 'advanced brown out protection' appears to work for most of my locos, however I am having trouble with the Dublo and Wrenn Class 20 conversions, their pickup arrangement (both different), weight distribution and in particular the method of attaching the bogies are very poor. The bogies tend to lift at either end due to motor torque, attaching a load to the couplings, or just moving on it's own. I may have to run them paired with an unpowered loco, they seem to have sufficient tractive effort, to get satisfactory operation as I am not sure that even stay alive will fix them properly. I believe the practice of BR running them in pairs started in the late 1960s, so they may have still been green then, if not apply Rule #1. Have you converted a Dublo or Wrenn Class 20? Jim
