So to complete the conversion of this Mallett, oh and there are simple non compound Malletts (according to some experts but who am I to say who is right) in the world as well. Live and learn eh! Sill as this is a Compound (yes I measured the cylinders to check) a point has been scored somewhere.
Thus another Battery DCC Conversion up and running. This Black LGB Mallet (22852) has been in bits for a while as seen earlier in this thread and awaiting a decision on a chip. This arrived Saturday and is a Locsound 5XL, thus I got it installed yesterday after a few days of pondering and am pretty happy with the result. Inevitably with a conversion like this there were decisions to be made and a week or two back I decided to bite that bullet and pull out all the old LGB sound guts to replace it with this new decoder. This was a great decision as now there is plenty of space for a big chunky long battery that I had in stock. I got this for a Railcar job but it proved to be 2 cells too long so got used as just a test set. I also made a bit of a blooper with some AAA cells for one of my Steam Tram Battrey conversions so one that set is now acting as the Test Set.
So the first pic shows the Chip installed with my oatented wire trunking. This was a bit of till roll cut and modified. Hells teeth why did I not use some small proper cable trunking Doh! Still this abomination does the job and helps keep tye wiring a little tidier. The chip is held in place with a couple of screws, one in an original place that the LgB board was held in place with. The other a new hole drilled into the weight. I also made a couple of washers with 2 x bits of 30 though plasticard glued together and drilled 4mm so that the bottom of the chip is not touching the metal weight.
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Below can be seen the big lumpy battery that fits into the smokebox and will lay nicely in the top of the Boiler. I have also fitted the switching to another piece of Black Plasticard that will bolt into the Smokebox in place of the unseen bit of LGB detailing that normally lives here. The Chock Block couples the Track Power Wires (Brown and White) for each Bogie Section that then go to the DPDTCO Switch that allows the loco to run on Track or Battery Power. this is the higher of the two switches on the bit of Plasticard, the other is the Fosworks Wiring Loom On/Off and then the Charging Socket. The bit of Red Heat Shrink in the Firebox hides a small connector that allows the rear bogie to be removed if necessary. At this stage lighting wire has also been added to the chip.
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A close view if the Choc Block and the all important Fosworks DCC receiver and other vital bit to get a link to the XL Chip via Battery Power.
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These 2 plus are unused at the moment. The one with the centre Brown Wire is connected to the Reeds below and I would live these to be connected to the Chip but not sure that I understand how or where to connect them. The all 3 black wires is the Piston Sync setup again unused and nit entirely sure how they can be as I am not sure why 3 wires are necessary as I do not think they connect to a Hall Sensor just some roundy thing in the bowels of the rear chassis.
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Below the Battery is nicely tucked into the Boiler held in place with Gaffa Tape. The Fosworks DCC bits are a little bit mobile as I am not too sure that they will be happy nect to the Speaker. I think another top off and stick to the tank sides with tape may be necessary.
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Closer view of the mess to keep the switches together, I do realise that I could probably have used the LGB Switch for all of this, but I spent 10 or so minutes with it trying to work out what the heck it does with a Meter and decided that a DPDTCO and the Fosworks Loom was easier as I understand how these function.
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Here is the front showing the various switches all screwed in place and labelled, yes I got the TOB (Track off Battery) printed upside down Or the wrong way round if you prefer. I can live with that. I love these puffers with opening Smokebox doors for Battery Conversions, should be made the law! Oh and yes the Smoke Generator has been removed.
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So now all that remains to do is to decide what to do with the original LGB Sound Board?