R8249: How to secure in tender?

[RMRED]

Just fitted an R8249 decoder to my county class loco.

The problem is best illustrated by the attached photos - the decoder is on the ends of a bundle of wires, with a spare (purple)one floating about.

At present its temporarily encased in its antistatic bag for protection - but how do I secure it in place and protect the components? I'm reluctant to tape it over (warnings on the decoder installation sheet) or use heatshrink due to the risk of damage.

Clearly I can't leave it unprotected or flapping about either!

Any pointers anyone?

[Rog RJ]

The end of the purple wire needs to be insulated, either with tape or heatshink.

Decoders used to be supplied with a piece of heatshrink to put over the decoder. If this is not supplied you can put insulating tape over any bare metal to provide insulation.  I would try to avoid wrapping the decoder in tape.

[dBerriff]

Kapton tape insulates electrically without trapping too much heat. As a non-sound decoder less heat is generated anyway. You can always put the tape over the chassis rather than the decoder. For Hogwarts Castle (Hall class) I then just blue-tacked the decoder to the (plastic) tender body under the water filler. A year or so later when I replaced it with a HM7000 decoder it was still held in place. Black-tack is stronger than blue.

Edited May 3 by dBerriff

[96RAF]

Do not power up a decoder in the anti-static bag as it is conductive to discharge static. Use a single slip of kapton tape or heat shrink.

[RMRED]

20 hours ago, dBerriff said:

Kapton tape insulates electrically without trapping too much heat. As a non-sound decoder less heat is generated anyway. You can always put the tape over the chassis rather than the decoder. For Hogwarts Castle (Hall class) I then just blue-tacked the decoder to the (plastic) tender body under the water filler. A year or so later when I replaced it with a HM7000 decoder it was still held in place. Black-tack is stronger than blue.

Thanks for the tip - I've had a look in the bits that came with the loco and found a sleeve for the decoder, so plan to attach the sleeve to the tender body so I can slp the decoder into it, out of harms way, as I put the body back on. Thanks again - Richard

[ColinB]

Here is what I do. Wrap the spare wire around the other wires (Zimo decoders come with it like that) and snip off the end so no parts of the inner conductor are showing. Seal the end with nail varnish (it is cheap and dries quickly). Obviously do not use metallic. You can then basically in bed the wire inside the bundle using the previous wrapping to hold it in. Now you can either loosely cover it with sleeving or alternatively just insulate where it is going. The tender is plastic but the weight is metal so just put a couple of strips of insulation on the tender where it will sit. Use a small piece of black tack to hold it there, to stop it falling out as you try and get the tender top back on.  

Edited May 4 by ColinB

[96RAF]

With heat shrink sleeves I heat the ends just enough to get them to shrink so the decoder can't slip out but leaves it open for ventilation.

[Fishmanoz]

Yes, the sleeve you have is indeed heatshrink.