I did not look at your tutorial. I told you I have no need of your kind of assistance. Other people had suggested it before you, as well as the Kalmbach DCC book. Also I am going to ask you to leave me alone, davidmbedard.
That having been said Kalmbach employees also suggest the use of IDCs, which I have on the authority of an electrical engineer, is a bad practice, so I take everything they say with a grain of salt. See thread “IDCs failing after 10years”.
Also If you even bothered to read any follow up post, Im not going to pay the ridiculous shipping cost to obtain something that I dont actually need. Shipping a 100ft roll of 22ga copper wire from California (same place as the kapton tape), only costs $12.96. Shipping 8 rolls of copper wire costs $15.96. Why would I pay $22 in shipping for a roll of tape?
MB Klein had it for only $1 more than the manufacturer and at a shipping rate that was not insane. 1-3 year shelf life depending on the brand has me sort of concerned, also the high heat/high humidity combination degredation issues. Anyone experienced this?
Also the black tape is only on the back. The photo from the other forum post had black tape on both sides for handling the decoder until installed, to prevent ESD breakage. I will probably still remove the kapton tape from the top, as it will allow more heat dissapation (larger surface area of individual components being exposed to available air flow.
If I may ask a question about the Kapton without someone taking it the wrong way, the $9.75 Klein price is for 1/4 inch wide stuff. Would it not make more sense to use the 1 inch wide item?
The trolling was initiated by YOU…I am not trolling…I just find it funny that you are switching to Kapton tape after I bumped my tutorial…which features the tape in the exact install that you attempted…and i say attempted because it failed…I just call a spade a spade. Enjoy your railroading…
I suspect that the shipping calculator on the Kapton web site is acting up or else they are discouraging small orders. I placed an order for one roll of 1" x 36 yards for $15 and got a shipping charge of $23, so I changed the quantity to 6 rolls at $90 and got a shipping charge of $14.
I think they are discouraging small orders. If you look at their terms and conditions, http://www.kaptontape.com/terms.php, it says that their minimum order is $50, and that orders less than that amount will have a $20 service charge added to them.
But maybe they’ll cut one a break if called directly. (or not)
Depending on the specific application. But if im just using it to tape the motor lead clips on an athearn diesel, then 1" is a little overkill. I know ill have to use several small overlapped strips for the decoder.
The install failed not because of improper material, but from insufficient material used. Black electrical tape is an excellent insulator both in a electrical and thermal sense (8mils of Pvc tends to hold in heat apparently). I have run locomotives with black tapped decoders for 3+ hrs continously without decoder overheat issue. There was not even enough heat generated to deform the black tape. I bought a roll of kapton for the decoder use mostly. Also I find tearing black tape annoying. I still plan to use black tape for extra wire ends, taping over the right rail pickups on athearn locomotives, and for the back (non component side of unwrapped decoders).
Since you don;t really need all that much of it, some places will sell smaller quantities. Check Litchfield station, for one. That’s where I got my first supply. Yes, if you extrapolate out, the price per foot they are charging for those small spools is kind of insane, but for a few bucks I got enough to last me through more than a half dozen installs.
Here are pictures of how I installed an Atlas lightboard to an Athearn BB GP38. Its not a decoder, but an NCE DA-SR would be the same. I used three pieces of scotch double stick tape to secure the board (decoder) to the top of the motor. You can see, its quite secure since I’m suspending the loco in the air by holding it only by the board.
Unless scotch tape conducts electricity, and unless their is actually a circuit on the undersided of a decoder, I don’t see the need for special tape.