I recently stripped down a Bachmann Porter and found a printed circuit board with a bunch of doo-dads on it. OK, some is for the constant lighting, and some perhaps for the smoke unit. But there seems to be more. Spark suppression? Any ideas?
Voltage regulator for the smoke unit.
Current limiting resistor for headlight LED.
Noise suppression for motor (get rid of it).
Tie point for the LS/nmra switch.
I remove Bachmann non-smoke units and pitch them.
I determine polarity and remove the LS/nmra switch, hardwiring the motor.
I put a 14V GOW bulb in the headlight and eliminate the current limiting resistor.Then I remove the board.
TOC
Thanks. Pretty much as I suspected. I just wanted to be sure that removal of all that junk doesn’t contribute to climate change or some such.
Kevin Morris said:Hehehe
Thanks. Pretty much as I suspected. I just wanted to be sure that removal of all that junk doesn't contribute to climate change or some such.
It all depends how you dispose of all that junk! As it said in the major paper on the weekend, of all the plastics that have been produced so far, not one bit died a natural death, yet i.e. it’s all still out there as so much junk! For the next however many years and eons!
While you’re here HJ, do you know of any dire consequences of gutting LGB locos? I haven’t stripped a red box loco, but knowing the Germans it’s probably chock full of circuitry.
I try not to be a luddite but it seems that electrics have gotten hellishly complicated over the past 30 years. For example, I was looking at modern circuits for the control of stall motor switch machines recently. It seems they now need 4 intergrated circuits and a bag full of bits. Back in the 70s all they needed was a switch.
I’m just thankful our trains are not designed by the people who make cell phones.
Kevin Morris said:
While you're here HJ, do you know of any dire consequences of gutting LGB locos? I haven't stripped a red box loco, but knowing the Germans it's probably chock full of circuitry.I try not to be a luddite but it seems that electrics have gotten hellishly complicated over the past 30 years. For example, I was looking at modern circuits for the control of stall motor switch machines recently. It seems they now need 4 intergrated circuits and a bag full of bits. Back in the 70s all they needed was a switch.
I’m just thankful our trains are not designed by the people who make cell phones.
Kevin,
Which LGB loco were you thinking of gutting and why?
As far as I know, Tortoise stall current machines still only need a spdt switch.
Kevin Morris said:
While you're here HJ, do you know of any dire consequences of gutting LGB locos? I haven't stripped a red box loco, but knowing the Germans it's probably chock full of circuitry.I try not to be a luddite but it seems that electrics have gotten hellishly complicated over the past 30 years. For example, I was looking at modern circuits for the control of stall motor switch machines recently. It seems they now need 4 intergrated circuits and a bag full of bits. Back in the 70s all they needed was a switch.
I’m just thankful our trains are not designed by the people who make cell phones.
Kevin,
Those puppies are stripped of their innards by many people. Rather than jury rig all kinds of stuff it’s gut the beast and start from scratch. That’s what will happen with most of my LGB stuff when I get to installing ZIMO decoders (yeah, that’s another project that is “on the go”).
Of course it all depends what you have in mind i.e. some of the older engines - no decoders, no sound - should be quite easy with a analogue block system. The fewer doo-dads the less will go wrong. And if doo-dads I prefer those that I chose on merit, rather than what a mfg thought would be the cat’s meow. But that’s just me. 
BTW which stall motor switch m/c would that be??
I leave some stuff, like flicker drivers, but usually even gut the sound and put in something “real-time” controllable.
I rip out the 5V headlights, put in 14V GOW direct to my throttles.
I have had to re-wire a lot of track-power units over the years.
I recall an older Forney, derailed, power went in one truck, through the board and out the other and nothing worked.
Took the main board out, held it to the light, saw the barest shadow of where the circuit traces USED to be, and hard-wired over them.
Faster and cheaper than trying to get a new board.
Of course, I gut almost all manufactuer’s board.
Some, due to idiotic lighting, it’s cheaper to remove their board, cut off the switches, jumper power, silicone the board to the side of the shell, and drive it with a reversing relay off my throttle.
Bachmann, I keep the flicker boards in the loco.
Smoke goes, and so does that stupid, HUGE dcc-ready board.
Gotta be selective.
One thing on the ex-LGB line, the bigger units often have voltage dropping networks before the motor.
Older catalogs claimed main-line and switching, you could run a switcher up behind and take cars off or put them on and the mainline unit wouldn’t move…much.
Later, they used it to cause the lighst, smoke and sound to come on before, or just as, the loco started to move.
I have found every ex-LGB loco will exceed prototype speeds on 14.4v of battery if you connect motor leads direct to the throttle and bypass that board.
My old, old Moguls have those boards ripped out. Later units had the flicker as part of the board, so we leave them and drive the board with battery voltage.
The 6-wire plug has all you need (until the wires break).
TOC
TonyWalsham said:
Kevin,Which LGB loco were you thinking of gutting and why?
As far as I know, Tortoise stall current machines still only need a spdt switch.
I have 2 Corpetts and a Cambrai which seem to run fine. Then I bought a 6-coupled diesel (presumably the same motor block as the steamers) and it seems to need a much greater starting voltage, presumably because it’s “DCC Ready” and maybe something to do with the lack of a smoke unit.
I don’t plan to run these locos double-headed, but I’d like to get everything as predictable as possible.
As for the switch motor, I was looking for a source of them on the net when I came across several “contol circuits”. The circuits seemed absurdly complex for a machine whose big appeal is its elegant simplicity.
An aircraft designer once said, “Simplificate, and add more lightness.”
If the lights of the locos come on either just before they move or as they move, they will have 5 volt regulated lighting circuits built in.
I am sure the Corpets do.
The six coupled is probably the same loco as the D&RGW # 50 but with three axles, in which case it also has.
The # 50’s I have seen all perform exactly the same as the Corpet’s.
Maybe something wrong with the six coupled?
I am not familiar with the Cambria.
Probably no tricky circuitry in any of them.
So why would you want to gut them if they work OK?
The Tortoise switch machines only require two reversible polarity DC wires. Instead of a DPDT switch reversing DC voltage, you control them with a simple SPDT switch and “steering” diodes. No complicated circuitry needed.
Tortise do have the ability to also control signals via built in terminals.
I have a friend with a large “0” scale layout outdoors controlling his Tortoise machines, which are protected from the weather, with simple R/C controlled relays. They have been working reliably for years.
TonyWalsham said:It runs fine. It's just that there's not much throttle left once it gets started.
SNIP Maybe something wrong with the six coupled?
TonyWalsham said:It's the same as the Corpet except it's red and the cab is slightly different.
I am not familiar with the Cambria.
TonyWalsham said:I plan to add sprung buffers and maybe 3-link couplings (haven't decided on this for sure). Remove all interior lighting, the multiple headlights, and the smoke units. Add single headlights, maybe firebox flicker, and maybe even sound. It would be easier to design the electrics from scratch rather than trying to adapt whatever circuitry is already there.
So why would you want to gut them if they work OK?
TonyWalsham said:That's what I always thought and was surprised to see complex control circuits on two different websites. Perhaps these circuits were designed by politicians: "take something simple and complicate it".
The Tortoise switch machines only require two reversible polarity DC wires. Instead of a DPDT switch reversing DC voltage, you control them with a simple SPDT switch and "steering" diodes. No complicated circuitry needed. Tortise do have the ability to also control signals via built in terminals. I have a friend with a large "0" scale layout outdoors controlling his Tortoise machines, which are protected from the weather, with simple R/C controlled relays. They have been working reliably for years.
I’m glad to hear that they’ll function reliably outdoors. I was thinking of using them only on the interior portion of my proposed layout and use air control outside. Here in Alberta we can get down to -45C and although I wouldn’t be operating in those temperatures, I’m not sure how they’d survive the temperatrure and humidity fluctuations of winter and spring. It doesn’t seem to hurt anything in my car, so maybe I’m just being too cautious.