Morning folks. This past week, I completed another small dcc project that was on my list for a bit. I have a On30 Davenport gas electric locomotive that I bought when I first got into On30 approx. 9 years ago. It is a very small locomotive ( see picture below) and although it came from Bachmann DCC equipped, it had what I would consider a bottom of the line decoder - so that along with the very short wheel base meant that the locomotive had poor low speed control and stalled on any unpowered turnouts or small areas of dirty track. Overall I was disappointed with the way it ran and so therefore it didn't see much run time either on my home On30 layout or at the train shows where my On30 group set up their modules. After doing some research on line, I decided to purchase a TCS KAM4 LED decoder
https://tcsdcc.com/1479. This decoder has a built in keep alive and "should" fit under the hood of the locomotive. The decoder comes in a couple of different styles - because this locomotive comes with an LED headlight, AND because I decided to hard wire it place (removing the Bachmann circuit board), I decided on the version of this decoder shown in the link above. Others have used the NON LED version that is available with an NMRA 8 pin plug and plugged it into the 8 pin plug on the Bachmann circuit board, but I read that it was an extremely tight fit so I decided to go with removing the circuit board and hardwiring. I simply removed the circuit board, trimmed off the plastic retaining clips ( which left a smooth plastic piece sitting above the motor and used a double sided piece of tape to mount the new TCS decoder on it. The decoder was then wired up to the existing wires. The decoder comes with a few extra function control wires, which I covered the ends with Kapton tape to prevent any chance of shorts. The wires where then bundled up and taped to the top of the new decoder. The hood was then put back in place and everything buttoned up. I am still fine tuning the programming, but all I can say is what a difference in performance - where before I had to run the locomotive at least at 50% throttle to get it to be able to cross an unpowered frog ( where it would lurch through) , I can now creep through the very same turnout with out stalling. As well the slow speed performance is vastly improved. If you have a short wheelbase locomotive with stalling issues, I recommend investigating a decoder with a keep alive option. Till next time....
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| Bachmann On30 Davenport Gas-Electric |
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| Original Decoder Plugged into Bachmann circuit board |
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| New TCS KAM4 LED decoder in place ready to go |
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2 comments:
Neat post. The idea of installing a Keep Alive in these little engines is brilliant and must be every bit the game changer that it sounds it is. I still have one of the early production Porters. It's the DC model but I've always wondered about DCC in it without having to leash it to a permanent "tender" to carry the gear.
Chris
Hi Chris. The project has turned out well for me and certainly makes my Davenport a useable locomotive now. Most of the information that I have come across on the Porters unfortunately involves having a tethered tender or car. I agree that the Porter definitely would be a challenge to covert. All the best.
Wayne
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