Hello,
be attentive when installing DCC in older Athearn Blue Box locos.
In any case the motor has to be removed out of the main frame. The reason is a mandrel at the retainer clip on lower side of the motor. This mandrel is partly stamped out of the long retainer clip which also retains the lower motor brush. The mandrel is bent downwards and reach out to the main frame, thus making direct electrical contact of the motor brush to the main frame (grounding); going further to the trucks, non insulated wheels and at least to the rail.
Running DC without decoder this short way is o.k.
But with DCC both motor brushes have strictly avoid any electrical contact to the rails. Indeed the motor must have only electrical connections to the decoder motor outputs. Otherwise you will fry your decoder and let the magic smoke escape. ($$ - $$$)
For this:
- remove the motor
- pry off the mandrel
- insulate the area with tape
- and it is much easier to solder a wire to the motor brush when it is outside
- and don't trust the electrical conductivities of the simple sheet metal stripes
- replace these all with wires
- clean thorougly the sinter iron wheels, they are prone to for sparking (DC only without decoder it does'nt matter, but with DCC it can be confusing for the decoder -> jerky running can be one of the cases)
Lutz
be attentive when installing DCC in older Athearn Blue Box locos.
In any case the motor has to be removed out of the main frame. The reason is a mandrel at the retainer clip on lower side of the motor. This mandrel is partly stamped out of the long retainer clip which also retains the lower motor brush. The mandrel is bent downwards and reach out to the main frame, thus making direct electrical contact of the motor brush to the main frame (grounding); going further to the trucks, non insulated wheels and at least to the rail.
Running DC without decoder this short way is o.k.
But with DCC both motor brushes have strictly avoid any electrical contact to the rails. Indeed the motor must have only electrical connections to the decoder motor outputs. Otherwise you will fry your decoder and let the magic smoke escape. ($$ - $$$)For this:
- remove the motor
- pry off the mandrel
- insulate the area with tape
- and it is much easier to solder a wire to the motor brush when it is outside
- and don't trust the electrical conductivities of the simple sheet metal stripes
- replace these all with wires
- clean thorougly the sinter iron wheels, they are prone to for sparking (DC only without decoder it does'nt matter, but with DCC it can be confusing for the decoder -> jerky running can be one of the cases)
Lutz