AyTrane
Member
I finally converted to DCC, after 17 years of DC. It took some time to figure out how to program everything, and I still don't know how to get the mars light to go, but I'm working on it. I spent three hours overhauling one of my Athearn SD45's. I cleaned out all the old grease, soaked the parts to clean them, dried them, and re-greased and installed everything. I isolated the motor from the chassis and soldered wires to the truck towers. After about three hours I had my engine DCC equipped and running. I had to cut the headlight free of it's mount in order to isolate it, and used some styrene to mount the pieces back together while still keeping a gap. My CA glue was not setting up very quickly, so it must not be bonding well with the metal.
I also attempted to convert my Bachmann GS-4, but I need a smaller decoder as they packed as much weight into the engine as they could. I don't really want to run wires into the tender, that way I can still keep the engine in is cushy foam box. I had everything ready and realized the decoder was too big, so it's back in DC mode for now.
I did get around to installing a decoder into my Black Widow F-loco (F3 or F7, not quite sure). That was a very simple install as all I had to do was isolate the motor and snip a few wires running around, it works great.
I did run into a few problems, my Athearn started making a clicking noise up until it reaches about 70mph (too fast for my taste) I think I have located the problem to be in the front truck (maybe some solder fell into it, as they weren't making the noise before doing a little cosmetic surgery.
I'm still having problems with getting some of the solder to stick, any suggestions for type and where to get it?
Guess I have a lot of money to spend on upgrades. Cheers!
-Adam
I also attempted to convert my Bachmann GS-4, but I need a smaller decoder as they packed as much weight into the engine as they could. I don't really want to run wires into the tender, that way I can still keep the engine in is cushy foam box. I had everything ready and realized the decoder was too big, so it's back in DC mode for now.
I did get around to installing a decoder into my Black Widow F-loco (F3 or F7, not quite sure). That was a very simple install as all I had to do was isolate the motor and snip a few wires running around, it works great.
I did run into a few problems, my Athearn started making a clicking noise up until it reaches about 70mph (too fast for my taste) I think I have located the problem to be in the front truck (maybe some solder fell into it, as they weren't making the noise before doing a little cosmetic surgery.
I'm still having problems with getting some of the solder to stick, any suggestions for type and where to get it?
Guess I have a lot of money to spend on upgrades. Cheers!
-Adam