SD90MAC Decoder Installation
The installation on this unit isn't all that hard. The lighting is the tricky part.
For the most part, Atlas, Kato, Athearn Genesis, and Stewart, among others, have adopted a standard design that allows a decoder to be installed on the top of the motor by a pair of locking tabs. Very nice, very easy.Some use a set of screws, but the mounts are in the same place.
You can actually buy a decoder for the unit, with the LED's already installed, but I went a different route, because the LED color wasn't what I considered acceptable. Too blue-ish for my tastes, and the ditch lights were run off the same lamp the headlights were.
I installed a Digitrax DH164KO in the unit for driving the motor and controlling the lights. A built in resistor takes care of keeping the LED's fed the correct power level, and I wired and soldered the unit in a half hour or so.
Rear headlights were fairly easy, as I used a PLCC4 style LED, which is a surface mount style, glued to the end of the plastic "light tube" that supplies the light to the rear headlights.
Front headlights were done the same way.
Front ditchlights were done similarly, but I cut off about an inch of the "light tube" and then attached the LED. This way the headlight LED doesn't feed the ditch lights much, and vice versa.
I put everything back together, and set it on the test track. I drilled in a four digit address, and the unit took off without a problem.
One thing I will say for Kato's, they may be expensive, but they are quiet runners. I actually picked these two units up for a good deal, so that made them worth buying. But at full retail? Forget it!
For the most part, Atlas, Kato, Athearn Genesis, and Stewart, among others, have adopted a standard design that allows a decoder to be installed on the top of the motor by a pair of locking tabs. Very nice, very easy.Some use a set of screws, but the mounts are in the same place.
You can actually buy a decoder for the unit, with the LED's already installed, but I went a different route, because the LED color wasn't what I considered acceptable. Too blue-ish for my tastes, and the ditch lights were run off the same lamp the headlights were.
I installed a Digitrax DH164KO in the unit for driving the motor and controlling the lights. A built in resistor takes care of keeping the LED's fed the correct power level, and I wired and soldered the unit in a half hour or so.
Rear headlights were fairly easy, as I used a PLCC4 style LED, which is a surface mount style, glued to the end of the plastic "light tube" that supplies the light to the rear headlights.
Front headlights were done the same way.
Front ditchlights were done similarly, but I cut off about an inch of the "light tube" and then attached the LED. This way the headlight LED doesn't feed the ditch lights much, and vice versa.
I put everything back together, and set it on the test track. I drilled in a four digit address, and the unit took off without a problem.
One thing I will say for Kato's, they may be expensive, but they are quiet runners. I actually picked these two units up for a good deal, so that made them worth buying. But at full retail? Forget it!
