3 PIN (OLDER TYPE) LGB Gearboxes decoder fitting INFO/Suggestions

stevelewis

stevelewis

Registered
Although I have fitted decoders to many locos over the years one type has never come my way ,,,,,,,,,,UNTIL NOW.......the LGB old pre digital era 3 wire/3pin gearbox..........This type uses a common cable for pick up and motor power supply on one side! In the case of the locos I have looked at the white cable appears the common one.

I have thought through the decoder fitting process but not actually got around to doing one yet, so any thoughts suggestions are welcome........

The way I see it is the 'common' pin cable has to be designated as EITHER Motor feed OR pickup from track and a new cable then fitted to facilitate the 'other' requirement, I feel that it may be best to provide a new motor feed cable and use the existing white cable for pickup purposes, obviously isolating the contact on the motor from the white cable pin in the motor bogie block.

The locos will be hard wired to a Massoth decoder so as far as on board original LGB pcbs are concerned they will all be redundant, so there will be no problems associated with them, all lighting will go direct to the decoder.

So any one who has any advice or thoughts please let me know, I will try to remember to take some photos when I get around to doing it!!
 
Thats how I did it Steve. You need to chop a bit of plastic out to allow the motor tag to sit clear of the pin that it used to touch. I used a razor saw and my soldering iron - smells a bit though!
 
I did it the other way round, Steve, but it may depend on the configuration. When I converted an Alco for a friend, there wasn't much room around the common pin where the motor contact was, so I cut the pin short, blocked the bottom of the hole with epoxy, and soldered a new wire to the common pickup plate, which I then fed out through an existing hole in the gearbox.

Part of the point of this was that it was easily reversible with a couple of easily available (then) spare parts.
 
When i do my 3 pin conversions;
[OL][*]I drill a hole all the way through the motor block where the fourth pin would normally be.[*]I bend the pick up bus wire into this new hole.[*]I fit a piece of solid copper wire (out of old mains cable) through the old hole to allow the motor pin to touch as it does on the other side.[*]It can then be treated as a four pin block from that point. [/OL] Sadly i never took any picks to show how simple it was.

Any questions drop me a PM

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