R2141 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel'.

[Chrissaf]

Hi all, i have the above locomotive and need help converting to dcc. Thanks in advance for all help.

[Chrissaf]

The loco according to Hattons is DCC Compatible but not 'DCC Ready' [no socket]. The Hattons listing also says that the motor is a 'Ringfield' motor.

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Ringfield DCC conversions.

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TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

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See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/

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[ColinB]

According to the ad on EBay  https://www.ebay.co.uk/c/1357677986 it is loco drive, but according to the model rail database it is a ringfield motor. So is it tender driven (motor in tender) or loco driven (motor in loco)?

[Scumcat 01]

It will have the old Dapol pancake motor , loco drive but just terrible,  no slow control, noisy. I have a county with the same mechanism it's my worst runner. Mine is Dcc ready so it is possible to convert but I wouldn't bother 

[ColinB]

It is funny that, I have converted all the ringfield locos to DCC, plus added pickup by both sets of wheels in the loco and on some changed the motor to 5 pole (Peters Spares has some very cheap motor units) and they are really good. Not as good as motor in the loco, but not that bad. I didn't even know Dapol had a pancake motor. Those locos are really expensive second hand. There is a review on You Tube that says that they are good, but I suppose it depends on your acceptance level.

I have never done one of these,  but if you are going to do it, make sure you don't use the Hornby DCC chip, they don't seem to be able to handle the "stall current" of ringfield type motors, use a Hattons (1.5 amps max) or a Zimo (0.8 amps max). I blew a couple of Hornby ones up when the loco stalled on a point (admittedly because I got the wheel spacing wrong), but it is better to be safe.

[Fishmanoz]

At least some older Castles are loco drive with Ringfield. The original Harry Potter loco is one of these. Simple conversion too as there is no LH brush connection to chassis in this version. 

[michael_canham]

According to the ad on EBay  https://www.ebay.co.uk/c/1357677986 it is loco drive, but according to the model rail database it is a ringfield motor. So is it tender driven (motor in tender) or loco driven (motor in loco)?

Hi Colinb, it is loco driven.

[ColinB]

In that case all you need to worry about is where to put the socket. I would recommend using a socket as it means you can use different DCC decoders easily. The other thing is, if it fails then easier to replace. So all you do is isolate pickup wires from motor wires and wire to the socket. On 8 pin, motor goes to pins 1 and 5, pickups go to 4 and 8. If there isn't room in the loco or you need more room for sound you can put the socket in the tender and connect using the Hornby 4 pin lead and socket, sold as aftermarket items. Before you put the DCC decoder in the socket, again where a socket is really useful, check for continuity between pins. You should get open circuit, except between pins 1 and 5 which will be the motor impedance. Put the converted loco on the track, and check pins 1 and 5 are not connected to the track. This saves you blowing up the decoder, I know because I blew up many when I first started. You can now put in the decoder and you are ready to go.