Monday 19 November 2012

Conversion of a BR53 Fleischmann 4124 with a bit of Weathering

Hi All,

Continuing on with conversions - this is the conversion for the BR53 - as I did 4 of these at once these are a couple of different models with a few differences but basically the same method is used.



There are 4 clips holding the body to the chassis, the front two behind the buffers, the rear 2 along the cab, gently pry them open with a small screwdriver.



The picture above shows the view of the motor of the Locomotive, The above an earlier model – remove the Surface mount capacitor (arrowed) and the link connecting the chassis to the motor terminal (also arrowed). The below picture shows the later model with the NEM651 socket, you can plug a decoder straight into this or hardwire a decoder to this backplate. Replacing the backplate with Backplate #50 4732 is also an option.




Remove the RF Choke and cut the link (Shown on the picture) on the motor shield (backplate).

The wiring for the right hand rail pickups and the front light runs under the locomotive – to access this wiring remove the pickup assembly.

With a small screwdriver, loosen the tabs holding the assembly in place (arrowed right).
There are another two clips at the front of the locomotive that will require leverage and two in the middle between the wheels which will spring out when the assembly is pulled away from its mounts. The plastic is quite flexible so with care it will come out in one piece.





Above – This is the later model with separate power going to the front light (White wire). The early model has the contact for the front light electrically attached to the pickups (below). Cut the contact for the front lamp away. Replace the front lighting with an LED (small surface mount).



Warm White SMD LEDs – soldered directly to a 1 k Ohm 1/8 watt resistor and blue wire making a small package taking up very little room.



The lights ( after removing the originals) are put in place.




Glue the SMD in place of the original lamp with some CA glue running the wires down to the bottom of the chassis.

The LED faces straight up – the light will go directly into the light pipe from there and to the front buffer beam lanterns.


Below- the Blue and White wires from the LED running down the chassis.



Note – Heat shrink protecting the wires where they pass over the axles.

There is quite a bit of room over the axles for the wires but as they may rub on the axles a little bit of heat-shrink will give added protection against short circuits.

Wiring from the Harness







The preceding pictures show the pickup and the path of the wires through the chassis and out under the motor.
Top – the older model and directly above- the newer model with the red wire from the harness soldered directly to the pickup. The motors outer casing and ring magnet removed for easier access to the groove that the wiring is located in. The commutator on the motor  is also in need of a clean.

Modifications to the Original back-plate of the older model - Showing the place the link (electrically bonding the chassis to the motor terminal) is cut as well


 



The Standard 50 4732 Motor Backplate as it comes new from the factory. This will fit any of the motors with two mounting screws, unless they have pick ups attached to the backplate.

Remove the SMD Capacitors as marked. These are for RF suppression and are not required with a decoder in the motor circuit, they will also interfere with the decoders BEMF motor control.



Decoder harness soldered in place



Richard put the label upside down on this one biggrin.gif

 






Paint helps disguise the decoder.



Some pictures of the weathered BR53 ( Prussian P4.3) That I have modified a bit and weathered








Saturday 17 November 2012

Fleischmann LTD ED HO 4872 Streamlined 03

Hi All,


Having quite a bit of experience with DCC Conversions I shared a lot of my projects with fellow enthusiasts . Every new locomotive that I converted I took plenty of pictures as this sometimes helps with putting things back together or trying to solve small problems with wiring or light bleeding out from the lamps or LEDs. The PDFs I created are a great tool when planning a conversion or give an insight into how the loco comes apart. The more modern models are more difficult to pull apart as manufacturers  seem to be using more clip together and less screws! I enjoy fixing and converting the locos, recycling older models so they can perform on DCC is one of my pleasures. I have bought second hand locos just so I can convert them. One day I may make it through the entire Fleischmann back catalogue. The early locomotives had many variations, different motors, differing methods of assembly. I have bought many locomotives that were non runners but I have not had one that I have not managed to get working properly without replacing the motor. Sometimes a lot of cleaning is involved.    One of the PDFs covers basic fault finding and maintenance.

I thought I would share this DCC Conversion I have done and the "How To" that I have been working on.

Fleischmann Ltd Ed HO 4872 BR 03 Streamlined
Installation of a M1 Decoder





This is a Tender driven locomotive with power pickups on 6 wheels of the locomotive and 4 wheels of the tender.
Turn the Loco upside down to locate the screws holding the body to the chassis





Remove the 2 screws A and remove the leading wheel and trailing wheel trucks from the locomotive.
Next remove screw B .This will allow the body of the Locomotive to be lifted off.





Lift off the Tender body off by easing the 4 clips where the body meets the chassis, this will lift straight up.

The following picture shows the Locomotive and Tender bodies removed from the chassis.




Lift of the weight and Remove the wiring from the tender.



Unscrew the bulb (or Lamp).
I find the best method is to heat the lampholder up with a soldering iron and then unscrew the lamp with a pair of needle nose pliers
Replace the lamp with an LED. Feed the wires through the small hole in the Lampholder



The Picture above shows all wiring removed from the motor .

There is a link that needs to be cut with a Dremel or similar.

I will go over this in more detail further on in this description.

Lighting Replacement




Rear light LED in place





Remove the front light plastic cover, this slides up and forward.

Remove the lamp and wiring.



Above– the front LED in the original lamp holder. Extra TCS decoder wire is worth buying just for adding lighting to locomotives.

Note the blue and white wire passing through the hole in the bottom of the lampholder.

To feed the front LEDs wiring through the chassis the pickups have to be removed from the chassis
Unscrew the two screws holding this in place
The valve gear can be moved slightly out of the way.



Above - Locomotive power pickups and chassis ready for front lighting wiring.



Feed the Blue and White through the chassis and through the holes in the pickup holder, as shown above.

Put the plastic cover with the pickups back in place and test that the wiring is OK. Check that the valve gear is still moving correctly also.



Check 1,2




Add a 1k Ohm Resistor to the white wire, extend the pickup wires with some Red and Black decoder wire. This will be looped to the Tender pickups later. Feed the wiring through the path of the original wiring as shown below.





Above – Modified back plate

Below- Before



Nearly all the wiring will be soldered to the motor back-plate, this makes maintenance of the locomotive easier.

Below - this is the easiest way to solder the wiring onto the motor terminals , the "helping hands" is great for holding onto resistors , and aid in making good joints . I also use the self-gripping tweezers to hold the wire and solder against a white background to make it easier to see blink.gif





Above- Decoder wiring in place

Note the Blue wire has been soldered to the PCB circuit board , on an unused section.



Above- wiring from the Locomotive fed through the tender chassis and connected to the motor back-plate

Connect the white wire (from the front light) to the decoder harness.

Replace the tender weight.

Below-Fix the decoder in place with some double sided tape on the rear of the tender weight.



Put the loco on the programming track and if all is OK put the body back on.

Some more Pictures







Thanks for looking

Friday 16 November 2012

Links to Roco DCC Conversions

Hi All ,

I thought I would add some Roco Conversions to my Blog.
The Roco locomotives are a little more difficult in general to convert. The main issues are space for wires and the decoder. They generally work well when converted running very well at slow speeds.


Roco 4135A

Roco 4154

Roco 4178B

Roco 4178C

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