The Trouble with Insulated Frogs...

Sounds like a great song title...

Anyway, Since upgrading to DCC, I've got a minor problem with my Class 08 shunters going at slow speed over some points. The insulated section at the join of the rails (go google if you want to know more, or start here) causes a rather jumpy motion for the loco as it looses power.

There are several resolutions to this. The one I've decided to try is implementing the Lenz USP feature - Uninterruptable Signal Processing. This involves upgrading the decoder from a "Silver" to a "Gold" and adding the optional "Power1" module.

As far as I can see from the photo, it's just an electrolytic capacitor and probably a diode or two on a circuit board. The idea being, that the capacitor stores a charge to power the loco and decoder during brief (sub 1 second) power interruptions (dirty track or insulated frogs) and keeps everything running smoothly.

I've found very few retailers stocking Power1. I've eventually bought one from eBay.

Having taken apart one of my Hornby Class 08s and looking at the dimensions of Power1 from the manual, it'll be a very very tight squeeze indeed. Watch this space to see my progress of the next week or so. I want to see if I can get a Power1 to fit in the chassis before I splash out £25 or so on a Gold decoder!

Fitting a DCC Decoder to a Bachmann Deltic (Class 55)

Nothing too difficult here, but thought I might aswell document it. Here's how to fit a DCC decoder to a Bachmann Class 55 - a.k.a. Deltic.

My "standard" decoder is the Lenz Silver Direct. However, and extremely annoyingly for a loco of this size, obstructions in the chassis prevented this. Instead, I implemented the good old Plan B of the Lenz Silver decoder.

First task as always is how to remove the body shell. On this model, three screws under each bogie did the job - two of the three are pictured here under the bogie. Once these are all removed, the shell can be removed.

Here's the bare naked loco. Reminicent of a Heljan loco. First things first, snip off that capacitor labelled "C1". It'll only cause problems on a DCC layout. Next, remove the little plug on the DCC socket.

Once that's done, simply plug the decoder in to the DCC socket, taking care to ensure the orange wire is at the Pin 1 end. Apply the supplied double-sided sticky pad to the circuit board and attach the decoder as shown.

After a little fidding with the positioning of the wiring, the body shell can be screwed back into place. Then, you're all ready for the programming track!

Don'cha Just Love eBay?

Further to my Hornby Class 37 upgrades of previous posts...

My two new Hornby 37s cost £37.50 each - and after a few eBay auctions, the unused, new DRS body shells, and two old motors and chassis sold for... £54.52!! What a bargin upgrade!!!