How to digitize an early LGB 23510 V52 Bo-Bo diesel

[idlemarvel]

There are two versions of this model, later ones (2004-) have an MZS/MTS decoder fitted, earlier ones (2001) just have a 6-pin DCC interface. Mine is an earlier model. It was bought second hand and came with 2 x LGB/Lenz 55020 fitted by a previous owner, but as discussed in another thread they generate an annoyingly loud buzzing noise due to low PWM frequency so they had to come out, to be replaced with a Massoth XL decoder.

Fitting the XL decoder is very easy, getting into the loco not so much. In principle it is easy, just 8 screws and pop the top off, but some of the screws are very difficult to access and take out, even more so to put back. Picture below shows roughly where they are, matching set on the other side of loco.



Once you're in, you just need to connect two sets of standard LGB track power and motor cables onto the pins protruding from the circuit board (these cables come with your XL decoder). The pins are conveniently marked gn (green), ge (gelb/yellow), ws (weiss/white) and bn (brown). Then plug in a 6-way ribbon cable (this doesn't come with your XL decoder) and attach to the XL light and F1 connections as per the XL installation manual. Finally, set the 6 DIP switches to off for digital. The 6-way ribbon cable is available as Massoth part number 8312061 (Massoth eMotion LGB Interface Cable 6-pole); fortunately I already had one from one of the 55020 decoders the loco came with.



The decoder can use all default settings, you just need to change the address to suit. This model loco uses full voltage light bulbs so no worries about blowing bulbs. The bulbs use 6v but if you use the existing circuit board that reduces the voltage for you. You probably want to reduce Vmax and Vmid speeds (CV5 and CV6) as it goes way too fast at full throttle.

Whilst it was open I put in a generic diesel sound module, LGB 65006. This is basically a rebadged Massoth S sound decoder but with no SUSI interface, so you have to connect it to track power. (Note that the sound module is a another decoder and the address should match the address of the XL motor and lights decoder for ease of operation.) As I didn't want to take cables through the cab - the speaker is on the opposite side to the power circuit board - I decided to take track power from the multi-purpose socket (see brown and white cables in picture below).



The speaker provided with the LGB 65006 soind module is large but not as large as the space allowed for a speaker in this loco, so I had to make a speaker surround out of plasticard to keep it in place, see below. (Should you need to make one, the surround is 65mm square and the octagonal hole is 45mm across and centred.)



As mentioned, putting it back together with all the extra cables to mind is quite challenging, but once done it all worked a treat. Some pictures and maybe a video to follow tomorrow.

 

[PhilP]

I only see one screw holding the sound card in place? - I think I would have put a piece of plastic under the board.

My 'weapon of choice' is from a Chinese take-away tub. - Thin enough to cut with a decent pair of scissors, but more than adequate to prevent any inadvertent shorts to the weight it is mounted on.

PhilP.

 

[idlemarvel]

I only see one screw holding the sound card in place? - I think I would have put a piece of plastic under the board.

My 'weapon of choice' is from a Chinese take-away tub. - Thin enough to cut with a decent pair of scissors, but more than adequate to prevent any inadvertent shorts to the weight it is mounted on.

PhilP.

Thanks PhilP, good tip. Actually there are two screws, my poor photography. It's behind the large grey "stay-alive capacitor" socket.

 

[idlemarvel]

Some pictures of the model, side and front. In lieu of attachments working, here are two dropbox links which I hope are public.

IMG_20200524_115711.jpg

IMG_20200524_115726.jpg

Here is the real loco:

Yes I know this is V51 901 (750 mm gauge) and mine is V52 901 (1000 mm gauge) but outwardly they are much the same. I'm pretending mine is the 750 mm gauge version. I need to look at fitting different couplings and making the handrails red. Luckily the model came with a pack of red handrails but I'm not sure how good the colour match is to the body, I'll try one and see how it looks.

And a short 35 second video

 

[idlemarvel]

Yesterday I added a Massoth digital pulsed smoke generator (from muns ) part 8413501 to the loco. The prototype has the main engine in the larger front bonnet so most of the diesel exhaust in normal running would exit via the large front cowling. There is just enough space for the smoke generator in the front bonnet above the speaker and just below the main exhaust cowling.



I drilled out a 6mm hole in the top of the cowling, and a 7mm hole from below to fit the piping. You can buy the piping from Massoth (part 8412901) or some other source. I nested the 7mm piping A inside the larger B and then largest piping C which just fits in the hole in the top of the smoke generator. The pipe A fits in the exhaust cowling and there is easily still room for the cable for the cab light that also passes inside the exhaust cowling.




I would show you a picture but I'm not taking the loco apart again, it's a PITA to get those screws in place.

I wired the smoke generator, which has a built in decoder, directly to the track power in the same way I did for the sound generator described earlier. In diesel mode you don't need a source pulse generator for "chuffs" but you do want to vary the output. By default the smoke generator provides different volumes of smoke when idling, accelerating, and cruising. These are adjustable by CV settings, but the default seems fine.

I set the address to match the loco (9 in my case) and a "program on main" address of 239. The default is 10239 but my Lenz system does not let you address locos higher that 9999. The POM address is useful as it lets you adjust settings of the smoke generator decoder on the track without accidentally changing those on the motor or sound decoder. It can be any address you want as long as it is higher that 127.

I set the configuration CV 49 to diesel with load detection direct from the track signal. You could plug it into the SUSI port of your sound or motor decoder if you wish. I used the default value for the function key to turn it on - by convention Massoth use F7 for smoke generators - and I set the "blow out" option to F9.

Here is a short video of it in action.

 

[dunnyrail]

Yesterday I added a Massoth digital pulsed smoke generator (from muns ) part 8413501 to the loco. The prototype has the main engine in the larger front bonnet so most of the diesel exhaust in normal running would exit via the large front cowling. There is just enough space for the smoke generator in the front bonnet above the speaker and just below the main exhaust cowling.

View attachment 267211

I drilled out a 6mm hole in the top of the cowling, and a 7mm hole from below to fit the piping. You can buy the piping from Massoth (part 8412901) or some other source. I nested the 7mm piping A inside the larger B and then largest piping C which just fits in the hole in the top of the smoke generator. The pipe A fits in the exhaust cowling and there is easily still room for the cable for the cab light that also passes inside the exhaust cowling.


View attachment 267212

I would show you a picture but I'm not taking the loco apart again, it's a PITA to get those screws in place.

I wired the smoke generator, which has a built in decoder, directly to the track power in the same way I did for the sound generator described earlier. In diesel mode you don't need a source pulse generator for "chuffs" but you do want to vary the output. By default the smoke generator provides different volumes of smoke when idling, accelerating, and cruising. These are adjustable by CV settings, but the default seems fine.

I set the address to match the loco (9 in my case) and a "program on main" address of 239. The default is 10239 but my Lenz system does not let you address locos higher that 9999. The POM address is useful as it lets you adjust settings of the smoke generator decoder on the track without accidentally changing those on the motor or sound decoder. It can be any address you want as long as it is higher that 127.

I set the configuration CV 49 to diesel with load detection direct from the track signal. You could plug it into the SUSI port of your sound or motor decoder if you wish. I used the default value for the function key to turn it on - by convention Massoth use F7 for smoke generators - and I set the "blow out" option to F9.

Here is a short video of it in action.

I can smell the smoke from here!