Installed a decoder in a Proto 2000 SD 7 and things went bad for some reason. Runs fine still on DC, but on DCC with new decoder lights will come on and that is it. I listed it on E-Bay and gave a warranty on DOA for DC and it sold for a whole $15.00. But winning bidder so far has not paid.
I like to fix things and love the looks of the Rio Grand anyway so what the heck. Fixing the board is way above my level of skills. My train of thought is with the board removed it is pretty much an Athearn blue box engine, but the engine is grounded. Am I right? Could I use a kit for hard wiring a decoder a Athearn on the Proto?
I have never been impressed with the pulling power of the SD-7 anyway but kept it because of the looks. What about re motoring the SD-7? Weights would help a lot and my other PK 2’s pull very well. SD-7 spins the wheels with a 12, car drag so more weight maybe the only thing needed. I would it to haul around 25 or so up my grade. SD weights in at 1 pound and 1/8, ounces.
I have to admit I don’t have one of these units although I have a couple of proto units and seen a few others so my comments will be general.
Are the tracks on the PC board still intact. It could be that you have inadvertedly earthed some aspect of your board against the frame. If your board is intact but perhaps burned a bit, clean it of any carbon tracking, make sure that nothing is going from the board to the frame including solder. You might also need to bridge some of your tracks if they were burned through. Make sure at the end that it is insulated from the frame.
Is your decoder OK in all this? Have you tried another? Do you feel confident to hard wire the decoder into the engines circuit?
I have a couple of proto steamers and they are quite slippery on my sharper than average curves with longer trains but the diesels are OK… I wonder if the earlier diesels such as yours might also have been slippery. Are your other locos able to manage 25 cars easily up your grade? By weight, it should be able to haul such a train up a reasonable grade but is may not need much extra weight if you can indeed fit it.
From the picture it looks like the decoder has been fried also. Cudaken, you’re in over your head. This and your other posts clearly indicate that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew with selling things on ebay and your much debated warranty/repair charge. How can you charge for a service you can’t even perform without coming here, or other forums, and asking for help on the most simplest and basic issues. How much should we (I) charge you for providing the advice needed to fix the problem?
Be up front to the high bidder and tell them that unit has now been damaged and can not be delivered.
Also, your concept of how many cars a locomotive can pull being THE sole measure ofthe quality of a unit was misplaced. Good luck on putting more weight in a P2K SD7, there’s already more than enough weight in there.
I’ve heard it said that every piece of electronic equipment comes factory-equipped with a small amount of smoke. But once you let that smoke out, it will never work again. Looks like you let the smoke out.
In all seriousness, I can’t quite tell what you’re asking… Did you fry the decoder before or after it was purchased on eBay? Either way, unless the buyer knows it’s coming toasted, then you will have to let him know.
I toasted my first hard-wired decoder and damaged the second one… Now I can do a full decoder install in a very short time and have it work right the first time, because I got practice. And I figured out what not to do!
I disagree that you should give up on this idea as some have suggested. You restore cars, right? That tells me you have some mechanical and electronic sense. As such, I don’t see why hardwired DCC would be “over your head.”
BUT, that said… Maybe you don’t want to sell your first attempts. Get some of the lower-end Digitrax decoders and practice on your own fleet of locos. Also, check out TCS (Train Control Systems). They do a free no-questions-asked replacement when you toast one of their decoders. I know. I took them up on it once! And they’re decent decoders.
Just please, please be honest with anything you sell. Don’t be “that guy” that everyone then comes back here to the forum to complain about becaue they got screwed on eBay.
I would remove the decoder and take out your multi-meter. Look for shorts between the motor leads and the track leads. Any short between the two will spell destruction for any future decoder.
It looks like the end of the decoder shorted out against the resistor because you didn’t properly insulate it. You can’t rely on the shrink wrap that is around a decoder to be adequate insulation, because there are still bare spots on the ends.
As far as the motor leads on the Proto locos, they are NOT grounded to the frame. See the two connectors on the side of the board? Those are the motor leads. I’d recommend taking the board off and checking that there are no shorts between any of the wires (motor, track power, and light) and the frame. If there is, simply remove that wire and replace it with new wire.
Hardwiring these locos is probably the best thing you could do.
Oh, and the decoder is toast, judging by the photo. [:(]
Sorry Dave V., I gotta disagree with you on this one. Upon further examination of the picture, I’ve gotta stick with my first comment - installing hardwired decoders is more than cudaken can handle.
From the picture it appears that cudaken tried to hardwire a decoder in, when the better option would have been to utilize the 8 pin socket on the factory board. Further examination shows that the lead from the front truck is still attached to the factory board. It is not clear where the power input leads for the decoder are wired to. Are they wired to the truck leads on the opposite end of the loco. Are they connected to the factory board? It is also unclear where the motor input leads from the decoder are connected. let alone the possibility of it shorting because of not being insulated from the chassis/weights. You can also see the extra light function wires dangling around, unprotected and another source of a short that would fry the decoder. Add to this that cudaken doesn’t even know whether the motor is isolated from the frame or not by the factory. Also his question about using a digitrax ‘AT’ decoder is evidence of him being over his head doing this install.
Installation of a decoder in a P2K SD7 is not a difficult install.
IF he’s serious, the guy’s gotta learn sometime. It’s his money. As long as he’s not trying to sell stuff he toasted as “good condition,” then I say let him toast as many has he wants until he gets it right.
There are tons of descriptions online about how to install decoders in specific locomotives. Again, IF CudaKen is serious about wanting to take this step beyond “open box, place on layout,” I won’t discourage him. As long as he has realistic expectations (i.e., rushing the job and doing it blindly will lead to failure, but proper research and technique will get it done).
Sometimes getting in over one’s head is the best motivation to take a break, do some research, and learn to do it right.
Ken, did you read the wiring instructions that came with the decoder? Also, as JK very correctly points out, before you even start, you have to check that the motor is isolated from the frame AND that the frame halves do not touch. The wiring I see in the photo looks a bit haphazard.
Ken, don’t feel too bad. I toasted the first decoder I installed. I got pickup leads wired incorrectly and didn’t catch my mistake. The leads to the front truck were wired correctly, + right, - left. However the leads to the rear truck were wired - right, + left. Only after the decoder went up in smoke did I realize what I had done. I have been very careful not to let that happen again since then. Could you have made the same error?
I see on what happened. He hardwired the decoder ((to what I do not know)) and place it on top of the factory light board. OMG The burned resister is on the factory light board.
Uninstall what you did!
All you need is a new plug-in decoder for your Proto 2000 SD 7 and plug it into the factory board.
That’s not correct. “SR” stands for silent running. It does not mean they are specifically designed for P2K locos. NCE does make a P2K-SR decoder for P2K locos such as GP7/9 and GP30, butt hat will not fit this SD7. For more info find the thread from a month or so ago about install in a decoder in a SD7/9.
Oops. That’s right. I know the SR stands for silent running aand not specifically designed wholly for P2K units (that was bad writing on my part), but for some reason had it stuck in my head that a P2KSR would fit in a SD7. I have a couple sitting in the drawer downstairs, so I should have looked at that. I even recall that thread now.
Regardless, there are a few plug and play options for those P2K boards.
