TCS M-1 Decoder Installation in a ‘Mansfield 43 Class’
24/06/05
This
installation looked very easy at first, but then I realized there wasn’t as
much room inside as first expected!. Originally touted for a ‘normal’ size HO
decoder, I had to change it to a smaller decoder due to space restrictions.
There was no room on top of the motor, nor any room under the drive shafts. The
only space available was under the motor!.
I added LED lighting with fibre-optic cabling to improve the look of the ‘Twin Beam’ headlight as they really stand out on the 43 Class.
Step
One: Remove body and snip the wires joining the gear towers to the motor
terminals. As with any DCC installation, this direct connection needs to be
interrupted by the decoder.
Step Two: Fix decoder under motor and thread the decoder wires around the chassis using the wire holding tags to keep it all neat. Step Three: Solder red decoder wire to the top of the gear tower and the black wire to the other tower. Solder the grey wire to the wire coming from one motor terminal and the orange wire to the other motor terminal. Make sure to insulate all soldered joints.
Step
Four: Now for the lighting. If you haven’t already done so, drill out the
‘twin beams’ on the headlight on the locomotive body big enough to accept the
fibre-optic cable you are using (I use 0.75 diametre). Take an LED and file the
rounded top of it flat. Don’t get too carried away as we need to preserve as
much ‘body’ of the LED as possible. Next drill two holes, side-by-side on the
surface to accept your fibre-optic cable. Be careful not to drill too deep and
hit the diode inside the LED. Then cut 2 lengths of fibre-optic cable about
15mm long, but make one a bit shorter than the other so it is easier to feed
them thru the holes of the headlight in the body. Glue the cable into the LED
with ‘Superglue’ or Selleys ‘Kwik Grip’, leave to dry clear. Cut a piece of 4mm
x 4mm styrene block 5mm long and drill a 3mm hole in it, to hold the LED you
are using (I use a 3mm LED). Next solder the decoder’s ‘Function’ control wire
and ‘dropping resistor’ to the LED. Now Program the locomotive to make sure
it all works in the right direction!
After that thread the optic cable thru the holes in the body and glue the styrene block to the body to mount the LED. Snip off any extra optic cable flush with the body. Hold your soldering iron against the cut end of the optic cable to form a ‘pin head’ on the end of it.
Step Five: Refit loco body to chassis and test run
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