The son of Triangman Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Making the X.04 DCC fitted, the proper way!To make the X.04 motor DCC fitted the first thing to do after removing a loco body is to remove the suppression capacitor. This should NOT be discarded unless it is to be replaced, a certain online auction site has sellers selling proper replacements. Leave the motor/capacitor securing screw and solder tag that the capacitor was fitted to in place.Next remove the brush holder spring insulation and put in spares bin, fit both arms with thinner insulation so the pressure on the motor brushes is the same as before. the insulation should go right up to the magnet screw.You will noticed a feed wire with clip from the pickup plate, remove the brass clip and keep to one side as it will be needed.The motor should be now isolated from the chassis and supply, a simple multi-meter test will confirm this.Next acquire another brass brush feed clip of the type that was fitted to the pickup wire feed.Fit one clip with an orange wire, the other with a grey wire. Wires can be made longer or shorter depending on where you choose to site the decoder. Solder the capacitor across the two brush clips leaving room to fit these clips into place on the motor. Insert the brushes so the insulation is behind them and then insert a brush clip with the attached wire in front of each brush. The orange one on the side where the pickup wire feed ran to. Some people solder directly to the brushes but this can cause problems when you need to change the brushes and is best avoided.Now we come to wiring up the decoder. A beefy decoder such as the Hornby Sapphire will be required to take the higher current required by the older motors such as the X.03 and X.04. Anti-static handling precautions should be observed to ensure decoder has a long life.Attach Orange wire from decoder to orange wire attached to the brush clip and the grey decoder wire to the grey wire attached to brush clip, using solder. Heatshrink tubing is best used on wiring joints, insulated tape looses it's stickiness over time.Next solder a Black wire to the solder solder tag at the back of the motor where the capacitor used to fit and attach to the decoder's black wire and insulated the joint.Finally attach the red decoder wire to the brown wire running from the pickup plate.The function wires can be insulated using heat shrink, making sure any bare wires ends aren't touching and finally site decoder.The brush clips may need to be moved into prefect position and a little tinkering with the motor control wires and capacitor attached to these clips is required, once happy I tend to fix a tiny little double sided self-adhesive pad to the top of the motor and press the wires down onto the pad, with a little superglue to make sure they stay there when the motor gets warm.One DCC fitted X.04 powered loco, neatly and correctly fitted.Syncrosmoke will be covered next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 The method is my own Son of Triangman method and may not suit some, but hopefully it will provide some useful info. Those old locos can be made DCC easily, in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 This is a guide for those who want to DCC fit an X.03/X.04/X.05 powered loco the right way, it is only meant as a guide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 I am not responsible if you make a mistake and wreck your loco and this is only a guide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksdown Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 Hi in your guide above, para 4 quote 'The motor should be now isolated from the chassis and supply, a simple multi-meter test will confirm this.'On the loco I am converting (Hornby R055. LMS Class 4P-2-6-4) which has an X.03 motor. The Chassis is cast so motor in contact completely.Do you have any ideas to get isolation ? I thought perhaps a strip of insulation tape underneath the motor,but it may throw out the alignment to the drive !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted November 24, 2011 Author Share Posted November 24, 2011 Shouldn't need it. By isolating the motor brushes with insulation on both sides of the brush spring you effectively isolate the brushes from the motor frame, also the brushes are held in with a paxolin type material which acts as an insulator. Providing you have no contact between brush and the motor frame it should be ok. Feed wires (one from the live chassis, the other from the pickups are attached to two feeds clips instead of the normal one) so feed is essentially isolated on one side of the chassis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted November 24, 2011 Author Share Posted November 24, 2011 Providing the current collectors are pushed correctly down into their plastic sockets on part L.5268 on the pickup side of the chassis and aren't in contact with the live chassis block part part number S.4425 the method should work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted November 24, 2011 Author Share Posted November 24, 2011 The paragraph 4 isn't as good as it should be, be isolating the brush spring you are effectively isolating the motor from the chassis.Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksdown Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 Many thanks a great help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 No problemo, glad to be able to help. If you need any more help then feel free to let me know here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 Hi SOT, although I don't use DCC I would just like to say that this is a great thread, just what the Forum needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 Hi WTD Thank you that's very kind of you to say so, I am fitting older locos day in day out so i thought it would be nice to pass the knowledge on. My only regret is that I cannot put stage by stage pictures up here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashbang Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 The son of Triangman said:My only regret is that I cannot put stage by stage pictures up here.Hi Open an account (its free) with a photo hosting web site, like Photobucket. Upload your pictures to the hosting site and then Copy the pictures URL and Paste it into a reply back here. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted November 26, 2011 Author Share Posted November 26, 2011 The next one I convert I will post pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbird Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 The son of Triangman's instructions are correct and helpfull. However one line in the instruction: 'The motor should be now isolated from the chassis and supply, a simple multi-meter test will confirm this.' may be misunderstood. It is the electrical connections to the motor (brushes) that have to be electrically isolated. The motor frame can still be attached (electrically connected) to the chassis as this has no part in the motor electrical supply. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted December 7, 2011 Author Share Posted December 7, 2011 I did say the paragraph wasn't correctly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted December 7, 2011 Author Share Posted December 7, 2011 worded correctly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 My method also works for the Tri-ang/Tri-ang-Hornby/Hornby Stephenon's Rocket X.500 motor if you use a suitable mini decoder as a decoder can just be squeezed into the body behind the motor magnet on the Rocket provding insulation is put on the motor magnet end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godiva1107 Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 I have followed these instructions, and I have successfully installed my first decoder.What's more, my loco runs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Son of Triangman's second article on adding Synchrosmoke to the DCC fitting instructions can be found here: . https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/making-syncrosmoke-locos-dcc-fitted/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The son of Triangman Posted May 22, 2018 Author Share Posted May 22, 2018 Glad my article was of use. A lot of people shy away from fitting these old locos, but they are about the easiest to hardwire. It's good to see the method has been used and works for someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaloum Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 Hi folks, On an X03 motor, can a 0.75A decoder do the job, or does it need to be 1A ( or more... ) Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jane1707819582 Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 Hi folks, On an X03 motor, can a 0.75A decoder do the job, or does it need to be 1A ( or more... ) Thanks If the motor is in good condition ,then I would expect a 0.75 A decoder to work OK , if possible do a stall test Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 Stall checks need to be done on DC, with the decoder out of circuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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