That cab-end headlight is really sickly. I installed a decoder, and wired up the original incandescent bulbs. The hood end is fine. The light there is close to the end, and has a direct path. But in the cab end, they put the bulb behind the cab and tried to route the light out with a piece of “light pipe” plastic. Yeah, you can see it if you know it’s on, but that’s about it.
I looked into installing a LED directly behind the headlight lens, but that looks like a complete dis-assembly of the whole cab-hood assembly. I’m a little reluctant to attack this, since it’s fine except for the wimpy headlight, and I’d hate to find something that’s been glued together and isn’t made to ever come apart.
Has anyone else upgraded their headlights on this engine? Thanks.
I, unfortunately, have no solution for you. However, I have a question. How difficult was the decoder install? I’ve heeard the p2k and p1k decoder installations are VERY involved, which has caused me to avoid these brands. Might you be able to clear this up for me?
I’ve installed decoders in my P2K GP-9 and S-1, and my P1K RS-3 and R-17 Subway train. For the GP-9 and RS-3, I went to LEDs right away for the headlights. I stuck with the incandescents in the S-1, and also in the R-17’s. None of these was particularly difficult, although I had trouble getting everything crammed back into the P2K’s, because the shells are more tightly filled. Looking back, I realize that much of this problem was my own lack of experience. I didn’t trim wires short enough, and I used electrical tape rather than shrink-tubing for insulation, which increased the “clutter” inside the locomotive.
I think the GP-9 and S-1 both had plug-in decoders, while the others didn’t. The S-1 required additional work to isolate the motor from the frame, not a difficult job, but kind of a surprising thing to find in a modern, not-quite-DCC-ready engine. Since these all come with 3-volt incandescent headlights which are initially wired for DC, all the headlight wiring has to come out anyway, so I see no advantage to the plug-in connectors.
These are all wired with basic decoders, since they don’t have anything more than headlights to control.
Gee, the P2K engines decoder install are ‘drop dead’ easy - Digitrax and NCE have good decoders for these engines. The P1K light boards are a little tougher and I just pull the light board and ‘hard wire’ the decoder.
I went with the 3mm golden-white (GW) LED for the front headlight and - WOW! - what a difference in output! I soldered in a 750 ohm resistor to bring the voltage down so the LED wouldn’t blow. I also added black heat shrink to the front of the LED to help focus the light through the front lens.
Bruce, Bruce Petrarca @ Litchfield Station did an LED install or the back cab fo an S1. There was a slight issue with some extraneous signals being emitted through the LED and the output not being as strong(?) The info should be on the Litchfield Station web site. Here’s the link:
Installations
Examples
HO Scale
Diesel
Proto 2000 S1
There’s a blurb somewhere where Bruce describes the issues with the rear LED installation.
Yoshi,
As Bruce already pointed out, the extra work required to isolate the motor from the frame is somewhat involved but not terribly complicated. Randy (rrinker) put together a very fine and helpful “how-to” pictorial for walking you through the process, which is available on his web site. (You should be able to find it in Randy’s profile.) If you can solder - or, at least are willing to learn how to - you can do the conversion. Thankfully, this is the only Proto 2000 locmoitve that I am aware of that you have to go this far to convert over to DCC.
I used a Z-scale decoder in my S1 so that helped to buy be some extra room under the shell. Bruce from Litchfield Station gave me the recommendation and I’ve been happy with it.
Hey, guys, I have three of these switchers from an eBay auction, but I have yet to purchase the decoders. Which decoders have you used? Let us know the brand and the model numbers of the decoder. Thanks very much.
The S1’s are great engines, run smooth and really good slow speed response, one of the best switchers out there. Taking the cab apart is not really difficult, but you have to be very carefule not to break it. The Sw1’s are more difficult to install decoders than the GP series. But it is a smaller loco to. Installing the led’s just takes a bit more care but it can be done.
I’m sorry. I’m away from home on vacation so I can’t tell you exactly which Z-scale decoder I used. The recommendation came from Bruce @ Litchfield Station. You could e-mail him at his web site and he could tell you which one. I think it was a Lenz decoder. I think the size was no bigger than 3/4" x 3/8".
I used a generic DH123. It’s not plug-compatable, but since I had to add a resistor for the lights, and isolate the motor, and replace the common-frame ground on the lights, it was just easier to get rid of the plug-in thing and hard-wire the decoder harness, too. Once I got heat-shrink tubing, decoder wiring became a lot easier.