Upgrading MTH HO SD70ACe to LokSound 5 Questions

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Hey guys!

I have an MTH HO SD70ACe, one of their latest runs, with ProtoSound 3. I’ve done several LokSound upgrades in Athearn locos, but have yet to take on an MTH loco.

One of the challenges is actually opening up the loco. From what I can tell, MTH has one of the trickier processes for removing the shell. I want to confirm if the procedure shown in this video is accurate: https://youtu.be/MH9PNj2n7BU

I don’t know anything about the types of boards MTH uses. For anyone who knows, what type of board / LokSound 5 decoder will I need for this project?

In the video above, it looks like the board has a header on it. I can also solder.

Thanks for any and all information you guys have for me!

Matt

NOTE: Already checked through the MTH manual that came with the loco, and it has no information for any of the questions I have, including how to even remove the shell.

2

In the past, MTH made their engines with common cathode wiring for LEDs, while DCC engines used common anode. This means that a simple decoder swap won’t work for lights. I don’t know if MTH ever changed their incompatible policy or not. Anyone know?

3

I can’t confirm the opening up process but, looking at the video I think the MTH board just unplugs from the wiring harness. From there, you would need to clip off the header and figure out where the wires lead to. You could then solder those wires to the LokSound 5 Direct (58821) or a Decoder Buddy V5 and use a LokSound 5 21MTC Decoder (58429).

Hope this helps,

Dean

4

There are some decent pictures on the TCS site

The have installation pics for two differend MTH SD70’s