Can't find one of these installs but looks like it should probably be doable since .... http://www.spookshow.net/loco/llerie.html ... it has a split frame. Has anyone done one of these? Thanks, Sumner
I’ve done several. I milked material out at the rear of the frame and cut a slot down the middle on top to route the wiring toward the front. I also use the stock pc board at the front for track pickup.
Thanks, that is a big help. Whose decoder is that? I'm assuming it is a 3 function decoder? With the three resistors are you running front, rear and cab? Are two of them 1K and the other 680? 1/4 or 1/8 watt? I've bought some SMD resistors that I'm going to try using. I'm assuming you are running SMD LED's? Which ones? Did you take any other pictures of the decoder install that you would care to post? Thanks again, Sumner
The decoder is a TCS M4. I only used three of the functions. (so far) One is the headlight, the second a Mars light and each use a warm white 0603 SMD LED. The third is used for an 0402 SMD green LED lighting optic fiber for class lights in the nose. The smaller LED is using a different resistor. I used the smaller LED simply because that was the only green on I had on hand at the time. I’ve been going to use the fourth function to light the class lights with a white LED and be able to toggle between colors but never got around to it. The motor leads just drop down between the frame halves and I chamfered the corner of the plastic motor saddle to make room to run the bottom lead between the motor saddle and frame. These have a small PC light board that plugs into the frame halves at the front which is where I picked up track power. You can just see the red wire running down between the frame halves in the photo. The LEDs are glued into the shell on my model. (I know, that really disturbs some people but works just fine for me). I disconnected the stock LED but with a little creative trace cutting the stock light board can be used to pick up track power and still be used to house the stock headlight LED and resistor powered by the decoder.
Thanks for the added info. You did a very nice clean install, congrats on that. I've seen some use a single resistor on the blue wire for the directional lights and go from the resistor to the lights and from the lights to the white and yellow wires. Have you by chance done that? Did you solder up the SMD LED's to the magnet wire? I still haven't had a lot of success doing that yet. Been able to solder 30 gauge to the LED's but that has been about it. I also got some printed circuit board that seems to be about the right thickness at .021 to go into the frame halfs on some of the locos where the light boards are. I plan on cutting the copper down the middle on the top and bottom sides and then using either side to solder to for the the track power. Similar to what you are talking about above. Sumner
There are some unique tooling at Ngineering.com . Tim has a small soldering holder for SMD items which makes putting magnet wire on much easier (though it isn't easy, by any stretch of the imagination). https://www.ngineering.com/other_cool_tools.htm Another cool item on this page is the LED tester: it runs on a 9V battery, but has a 20ma current limiting chip on it, so you never blow an LED.
I’ve always used a separate resistor on each function wire and used the blue common +. I’ve always done it that way and it works well. I just haven’t needed to do it other ways not that it couldn’t be done. The resistor can be in either lead of the LED. I solder my own LEDs. Working with magnet wire isn’t terribly difficult. I use paste flux and poke the hot soldering iron into the flux and it melts a small puddle then dip the end of the wire in the flux. Add a bit of solder to the iron and hold it to the wire until the lacquer melts back and the wire tins. I roll a loop of blue masking tape about an inch round with the sticky side out and let that stick to the work table. The LEDs come in a strip package and I pull the strip open above the tape so the LED drops onto the sticky side. Add a bit of paste flux with a pin or toothpick to the pads on the LED and then a quick swipe with a tinned iron transfers a small dot of solder to the pad. With the pad and wire both tinned, I hold the wire to the pad and again just a quick swipe with the iron and the wire is connected.
Thanks for the link. It cost me close to $100 before I was done ordering . I'd been on there before but never looked at the tech tips. It is the best I've seen on soldering to the SMD LED's and resistors. Should help me out. I also like that they have two different colored magnet wires which should make the wiring easier to read vs. single color I've been using. Great site, Sumner
Thanks I can see you are doing things slightly different than I have been doing and I'll try some of what you are doing. I ordered the LED/wire holding tool from ngineering.com (along with other items)... https://www.ngineering.com/other_cool_tools.htm .... and think that will also help along with their magnet wire. Sumner
Ngineering is an excellent resource. Lots of information and excellent products. They’re one of my go-to suppliers.
