idlemarvel
Neither idle nor a marvel
This is how I fitted a decoder into an Aristo-Craft 22500 Lil’ Critter 0-4-0 diesel.
I bought the critter through this very forum. One of the wheels had literally fallen off but I have a friend good at metalwork with a pillar drill and lathe who managed to refit it nicely. It worked fine in DC/analog on my test track.
I found this exploded part diagram PDF useful in removing the bodywork.
www.gscalenews.com/pdf/aristo-craft/22500.pdf
The lighting on the DC/analog critter works like this. The power from the track is connected to a small circuit board. Two 2-pin plugs fit into the circuit board, one connects to the front lights and side number lights and then on to the cab light, the other to the rear lights. The front and rear lights are LED and are arranged to come on according to direction of the track current, whereas the cab light is a filament bulb which comes on whichever direction.
To work with DCC, this arrangement needs to be changed. The front and rear lights can be driven from the decoder F0 light output, but the cab light needs to be on a separate circuit so that it can be on regardless of direction. DCC also allows you to switch the lights on and off independently.
I chose a Massoth eMotion M decoder, which has enough power (1.2A) for the Lil’ Critter and enough lighting function outputs for front, rear and cab lights. It has 4 plugs that conform to the LGB colour convention white/brown/green/yellow that fit onto pins on the motor block. Best price I found for this was £31 from Garden Rail Supplies.
Once the bodywork is removed, take out the small circuit board that connects the track pickups to the motor and the lighting. Remove the connectors for the lights located under the circuit board so you can reuse these to connect the lighting to the decoder. Cut the connections between the track pickup and motor block on the circuit board. I drilled a small hole through the board to make sure the connections were broken with no danger of a short.
I soldered four wires to a chocbox connector, and used small lengths of copper wire from the earth of a mains cable, which are just the right diameter to match the connectors of the Massoth decoder.
Cut the black wires from the front lighting board to the cab lights about half way along, and tape the loose ends to the inside of the engine body. On the cab ends of the light leads, I soldered pins from a DIL socket for the female end, the plan being to use breadboard jumper leads as the male end of the plug, connected to the decoder.
Now for some tricky soldering; attach 5 jumper leads to the decoder solder tabs, to pins LH (rear -), LV (front -), Dek+ (common +), A1 (F1 -) and the other Dek+ (refer to the Massoth eMotion Installation Manual.)
http://www.massoth.de/dlbereich/datei.php?id=406
I like using jumper leads for this kind of work as they are rigid and easy to handle.
Now I cut out a small piece of veroboard as a base for the front and rear light sockets removed from the circuit board earlier, connected the two red (+) pin sockets and the other ends of the LH, LV and DEK+ jumper leads. They are shown as blue and red jumper leads on the picture below.
Check the motor still works before connecting the lights. Fit the plugs for the front and rear lights, and the red and black loose jumper leads into the DIL sockets previously soldered to the cab lights. Check all the lights work and then reassemble the bodywork. I found it easier to leave out the metal right angle bracket that connects the engine cover to the cab (parts 16, 17 and 18 in the exploded parts diagram). This means you can fit the cab (2) and rear cab cover (4) before you fit the engine cover (3) which is where the decoder is placed, being careful not to trap any wires.
The end result is shown below. Directional lights come on with F0 and F1 turns on the cab light. The decoder is on default settings at the moment, I may play around with these a bit as the Lil’ Critter is a bit jerky at low speeds.
Hope this helps someone.
I bought the critter through this very forum. One of the wheels had literally fallen off but I have a friend good at metalwork with a pillar drill and lathe who managed to refit it nicely. It worked fine in DC/analog on my test track.
I found this exploded part diagram PDF useful in removing the bodywork.
www.gscalenews.com/pdf/aristo-craft/22500.pdf
The lighting on the DC/analog critter works like this. The power from the track is connected to a small circuit board. Two 2-pin plugs fit into the circuit board, one connects to the front lights and side number lights and then on to the cab light, the other to the rear lights. The front and rear lights are LED and are arranged to come on according to direction of the track current, whereas the cab light is a filament bulb which comes on whichever direction.
To work with DCC, this arrangement needs to be changed. The front and rear lights can be driven from the decoder F0 light output, but the cab light needs to be on a separate circuit so that it can be on regardless of direction. DCC also allows you to switch the lights on and off independently.
I chose a Massoth eMotion M decoder, which has enough power (1.2A) for the Lil’ Critter and enough lighting function outputs for front, rear and cab lights. It has 4 plugs that conform to the LGB colour convention white/brown/green/yellow that fit onto pins on the motor block. Best price I found for this was £31 from Garden Rail Supplies.
Once the bodywork is removed, take out the small circuit board that connects the track pickups to the motor and the lighting. Remove the connectors for the lights located under the circuit board so you can reuse these to connect the lighting to the decoder. Cut the connections between the track pickup and motor block on the circuit board. I drilled a small hole through the board to make sure the connections were broken with no danger of a short.
I soldered four wires to a chocbox connector, and used small lengths of copper wire from the earth of a mains cable, which are just the right diameter to match the connectors of the Massoth decoder.
Cut the black wires from the front lighting board to the cab lights about half way along, and tape the loose ends to the inside of the engine body. On the cab ends of the light leads, I soldered pins from a DIL socket for the female end, the plan being to use breadboard jumper leads as the male end of the plug, connected to the decoder.
Now for some tricky soldering; attach 5 jumper leads to the decoder solder tabs, to pins LH (rear -), LV (front -), Dek+ (common +), A1 (F1 -) and the other Dek+ (refer to the Massoth eMotion Installation Manual.)
http://www.massoth.de/dlbereich/datei.php?id=406
I like using jumper leads for this kind of work as they are rigid and easy to handle.
Now I cut out a small piece of veroboard as a base for the front and rear light sockets removed from the circuit board earlier, connected the two red (+) pin sockets and the other ends of the LH, LV and DEK+ jumper leads. They are shown as blue and red jumper leads on the picture below.
Check the motor still works before connecting the lights. Fit the plugs for the front and rear lights, and the red and black loose jumper leads into the DIL sockets previously soldered to the cab lights. Check all the lights work and then reassemble the bodywork. I found it easier to leave out the metal right angle bracket that connects the engine cover to the cab (parts 16, 17 and 18 in the exploded parts diagram). This means you can fit the cab (2) and rear cab cover (4) before you fit the engine cover (3) which is where the decoder is placed, being careful not to trap any wires.
The end result is shown below. Directional lights come on with F0 and F1 turns on the cab light. The decoder is on default settings at the moment, I may play around with these a bit as the Lil’ Critter is a bit jerky at low speeds.
Hope this helps someone.