What to do with the surplus leads.

Anglian

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Hi. I'm attaching a Massoth e-motion L to a 4-pin U class. Do I just tuck the old leads away? Would I need to isolate them from the new ones? I won't cut them since if it's sold in the future it might be going to an analogue layout.
Beginner's question, but I hope I am improving. I will shield the decoder away from metal bits.
Thanks,
Trevor
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dunnyrail

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You most certainly should keep things separate as any flopping leads could cause short circuits not good. If you have any tight fitting heat shrink would do un schrinked, if not insulation tape would be the thing. But and a big but if you do not wire the lights to the new decoder you will not get any lights. You could investigate how they may fit, cutting the leads part way so that they could be rejoined if sold as an analogue loco and running them to the new chip will give your lights back.
 
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Good idea to insulate the "original" 4 leads... although if nothing else is connected except the 4 pins shown, then the original board is completely unpowered and the 4 leads touching would have no impact whatsoever.

But insulate them, since I assume you will also be wiring lights to the new decoder, and unless they are completely disconnected from the original electronics, you could have issues.

Greg
 

Paul M

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Always a good idea to insulate spare cables, you really never know what could go wrong
 

PhilP

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Use tie-wraps to hold bundled cables together, and not insulation tape! - It goes sticky, yucky, makes a mess over time, and comes undone.

Insulate with heatshrink sleeving..

PhilP.
 

Anglian

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Thanks Jon, Greg and Phil. Always good to have oracles to consult.
Trevor
 

Anglian

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Good morning.
Ok. Next stage in the idiot's guide. What do I do with the existing arrangement to wire the lights. I saw an unclear picture of where wires go to on the Massoth decoder, but also which wires? Existing ones? New ones? If the latter, where do they originate from? I assume from the lighting wires past the existing disconnected, unpowered board.
Sorry, but I do want the lights to work. I've searched the forums but it's all about CVs and things above my pay grade. I just want basics.
Trevor
 

PhilP

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Does your 'L' have 'sticky-up-pins' to plug thing s onto, or is it pads to solder to? - You will use the existing leads from your existing lamps..

Need to know what type of lamps (plug-in or screw-in) which will give us a clue to their voltage.. Then can advise further..

PhilP.
 

Anglian

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Hi Phil. Pins I think as in the Massoth Installation Manual diagram. Lights are as photos.
Thanks,
T
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Anglian

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Trying not too be too dependant. So I know the pins that are used by looking at the manual again. Will sort out the wires, but need to know about the bulbs. Do I just use one of the common pins if it is common? Also what do I use to connect to the pins. One questioners to another. T
 

Anglian

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Hi. This is like thinking out loud. So, I take off the clamps from the redundant leads from the board to reuse. Then I isolate the redundant wires. I know the pins on the decoder that I use for the lights but which wires do I use to connect to it.
T
IMG_20201115_121232.jpgIMG_20201115_121338.jpg
 

JimmyB

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The title of this thread, "What to do with surplus leads", could be coupled with Max's thread "Sources of lead", as one has too much ans the other not enough ;)
 

dunnyrail

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Not quite sure what you are asking here, if you use the old board and the lights they may only come on when the loco is moving. However if you connect the lights direct to the decoder they will be on when the decoder is powered providing that you have switched them on with whatever DCC/MTS you are using.

But the lights will be at track power as described in the chip instructions about fitting lights thus you MAY need to reduce the voltage to the lights depending on what type they are which was one of the responses made earlier in your thread.

The lights should be the black wires shown in one of your pics. There are 4 pins shown in the massoth chip in post 4 thus 2 will be front lights and 2 the rear ones. There will be no common involved with the setup having 2 pins for each set of lights.

If you use spare clips that came with the chip to plug the wires onto the chip (they may need tightening slightly) you can do one set at a time and not get mixed up with what you are doing. Worthwhile to drop some unheated but tight fitting heat shrink over the pins when you fit them.
 

Anglian

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Thanks for casting light (!) on it Jon. I have enough now to proceed. I didn't want to try a decoder. Thanks so much.
Trevor
 
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Really, it might have been wise to read a few of the "how to fit a decoder" articles, because you are indeed asking every fundamental question.

So, not all decoders will support incandescent bulbs, so you have to investigate the current the bulbs draw at the specified voltage, and then see if the decoder will handle that.

Then there are other bulbs, etc, so more wiring.

So a little research is in order. A little learning about measuring voltage and current, and setting current if converting to LEDs.

I won't interrupt the flow here, as it is progressing, but I'd pull all the incandescent bulbs, replace with LEDs and that eliminates the investigation stages that I'm sure will be more effort than you will want to do, based on my experience.

Greg
 

Anglian

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'fry
 

Anglian

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Thanks Greg. I think I was looking for too specific items on the Search forum link, rather than the more general which indeed would have been of more use to me.
Trevor
 
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Just gently suggesting you read a bit of that first, so some of the suggestions here will make sense.

Some people will buy an inexpensive meter, are comfortable with Ohms law, and figure things out, and some (and I respect and understand this view) just want it to work and don't really care why.

The reason I bring all of this up, is if you get familiar with the underlying reasons you need to check the current on a bulb for example, when you do your NEXT loco, you will have a head start, and can do more of this on your own.

Just some suggestions as I've been doing this a while. Again I respect both approaches.

Regards, Greg
 

Paul M

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Like a lot of things, what may seem simple on the outset, can turn into a nightmare