DCC on smokey Joe

[ke100]

Hello All

I'm new to this DCC world and was attempting to put an R8249 decoder into one of my Smokey Joe's using the intstructions on the Hornby Website. Unfortunately both of my Joe's  only have one capacitor orange marked B 222K  not the three they show,

So I turned to the forum hoping to find someone who had my situation, Although i could find information about DCC and Joe there was no mention of a loco with only one capacitor. Am I right in thinking that the red lead off the decoder can be soldered straight to the pickup and the one capacitor then soldered across the motor terminals? At present both of my Joe's run well on DC

Any help will be much apprecited

[Fishmanoz]

Hi ke, welcome to the forums.

 

This is an instance where Hornby advice is not best practice.  When fitting decoders these days, all capacitors should be removed.  It's a simple red and black to the pickups, orange and grey to the motor connections and you are done.  Check running before replacing the body and if the loco runs the opposite way to what you expect, swap the orange and grey leads.

[96RAF]

Take all the caps off so the motor is bare and wire the decoder to convention - red and black to the track (pickup) orange and grey the other way (motor). The decoder has its own supression so the DC version suppression is supposedly no longer required.

Just make sure there is no contact between the motor and the pickups as some older 0-4-0s had the motor contacts directly touching the pickups, meaning the motor had to be inverted upon conversion to DCC to bring the brush contacts to the top.

[Fishmanoz]

Been at least 4 years since they stopped making them that way RAF, I've only ever seen 0-4-0 motors mounted connectors up in my time.  And the Hornby conversion guide still assumes they are down.

[ke100]

Hello All

Thanks for the info and so quick,upside down motor and no capacitors perfect.

Regards

ke100

 

 

 

[Fishmanoz]

Ke, the upside down motor discussion is just an aside between RAF and I, you'll almost certainly find the motor is the correct way up and doesn't need to be removed to turn it over.  Just remove the capacitor and solder as advised, dead simple.

[96RAF]

@Fishy

I have 5 of the little blighters. They are all at least 6/7 years old and all of them were 'Oz' motors.

 

Blue Pullman diesel, Queen Eliz II, BR 328, Caledonian and Lion works. Each one with a bit extra weight for better track contact and all with R8249 decoders and each one runs really well.

 

The bonus of taking the motor out meant that I could make sure when reinstalled that the gears meshed properly, often a problem with poor running of these guys.

[Fishmanoz]

Well, the plot thickens, or we are deeper in the goop, either will do.  I have at least 4, starting with the 2011 Club model, at least 2 converted to DCC.  All have motors the right way up.  I was dumb enough to slavishly follow the Hornby Guide on the first one, pulled the motor out etc, then discovered as I put it back together that I needn't have bothered taking it out.  Haven't taken any more out, haven't had any problems with gear trains and haven't added weights.  They seem to run fine.

 

So I suspect the plot must be like this - these things only run with the motor upside down wrt North.  So, either you run them up your way with the motor Oz, or you bring them down here and the loco is Oz so you don't have to turn the motor over.

 

And ke, please keep ignoring this lot and enjoy your DCCed 'Joe'.

[96RAF]

@Fishy

I'll stick with the V-8s...me and my boy are more than into them as a following - rock on Lowndsey.

Rob

[Fishmanoz]

Let's hope his motor stays the right way up RAF. And that he keeps it away from Olympic Park while he's at it.  That deal for V8s at Olympic Park was done by a minister since found to have had his fingers in the till up to his elbows. 

[ke100]

Hello All

It's only me as Harry said. Confused again, the website tells you to wrap the PCB in insulating tape, the instructions that came with the decoder say don't as the decoder gets hot, use double sided tape. If this is right which side of the PCB should the tape be attached to and deosn't tape use glue which is affected by heat as well, or am I getting too anal

Any assistance again really appreciated

Maybe I should get my old wind up 0 gauge stuff out of the loft

Regards ke100

[Fishmanoz]

The instructions aren't the best.  Don't use insulating tape, do use heatshrink sleeving which conducts heat.  Then you can use a small piece of double-sided to fix it in place, if you need to.

[96RAF]

@ke100

 

All we are trying to do is prevent the decoder touching anything metal inside the loco and shorting out, which will let the magic smoke out that makes it work and we don't want that to happen.

 

You can use insulating tape but stick it to the loco bits not the decoder. Others swear by Kapton tape - a modern type of insulating tape.

 

I prefer to slip the decoder inside a bit of heat shrink tubing (Maplins or other such suppliers), don't heat it up as all it is doing is acting as insulation. (I do heat mine up but just a little bit at each end to let it grab the decoder from falling out.)

 

Then you can stick your double sided tape to the heat shrink sleeve to stop the decoder rattling around inside the loco.

 

Clockwork 0-Gauge - flog it to pay for more DCC stuff.

 

Edit: - beaten to the post by Fishy as I was typing my diatribe.

[RDS]

I do the same as RAF96.  Use heatshrink tubing but only shrink it down enough to hold the decoder leaving a gap at each end.  I don't use the heatshrink tubing that contains an adhesive on the inside though.  After that, a bit of double sided tape just to hold the decoder in place in the Loco.  I was always concerned about the decoder touching something as I replaced the Loco body until I started with this method.

[ke100]

Hello All

Again excellent info mucho thanks I'm going to do it now. I found when doing the install that taking the pickups out then soldering the connections was easier for me due to the size of my soldering tip, what a joy and surprise when Joe worked afterwards.

Regards ke100

[96RAF]

Well done ke100

The next one will be even easier and then you will be on here giving advice to others...

[Fishmanoz]

Did you solder directly to the pickups ke, rather than to the wires already connected to them?

[Kent_Learner]

I am haaving problems seperating the body from the chassis. Can anyone give me guidance on this please. My Smokey Joe is over 35 years old and was inherited from my step brother after his death.

[Going Spare]

There are four clips holding the body. Click through the following chain in the Advice and Support menu to download the Maintenance Sheet for this loco which shows their locations: Product Support, Instruction Manuals, Locomotive Maintenance Sheets page 2, 0-4-0 Locomotive - HP Motor. Figure 4 on the sheet shows the Smokey Joe type of loco.

[ColinB]

The way I did mine, I have 3 of them in different guises, is to use a 6 pin flying socket. I found DC concepts ones are the best. I then use a 6 pin direct plugin Zimo decoder covered in heatsink as 96RAF says loosely shrunk around it. You will find this will fit on top of the motor case, I use black tack to hold it there. As to getting the body of, it is held by two plasic clips at the front of the loco, carefully prise them open using a screwdriver. Be careful as being very old they are very brittle.

[samfieldhouse]

Mine is spectacular on DCC, a truly excellent and reliable low speed runner.

[The son of Triangman]

Here's one I did quite a few years back.

[96RAF]

The various capacitors, etc are purely for RF suppression when the loco is being used on an analogue system.

When converting to digital you can safely remove them despite what the Hornby guide says. RF suppression is taken care of by the decoder.

You may want to fit a decoder socket rather than hard wire as this makes swapping out decoders much easier when required.

There are pictures on the forum of 4 pin, 6 pin and 8 pin sockets that members have fitted to suit many decoder types.