My Kato F40PH can suck it

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I wanted to bring some Amtrak action to a recent show and was significantly let down by my F40PH.

I've had a decoder in it for ages but it recently started acting up.

It seems that I'm having a hard time getting reliable contact between the decoder and the motor tabs.

I'm trying to decide on a plan of action: either fight with the tabs and decoder to get better contact OR to say screw in and install sound.

Have any of you done a sound install in one of these? Isn't there a "hack" to make it easy?

[nickelplate759]

is this one of the decoders where the motor tabs make contact with the decoder board but aren't soldered to it?  If you, you might try a bit of solder.  Downside is you'd have to unsolder it if you ever need to get to the motor.

[kscessandriver]

Doesn't the WVD adapter board fit the F40PH? That gives you a board to install a Next18 decoder onto...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Doesn't the WVD adapter board fit the F40PH? That gives you a board to install a Next18 decoder onto...

That's what I was thinking about.

What's that board?

[mu26aeh]

No affiliation with YD but first on the LMGTFY list 😁

https://yankeedabbler.com/wvd-loksound-5-next18-decoder-adapter-board-designed-for-kato-dcc-ready-n-scale-f2-f3-f7-f40ph-and-p42-locomotives/

[kscessandriver]

That's what I was thinking about.

What's that board?

I've got a couple P42's in various stages of upgrade with them. I've got no complaints with them.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Hot damn, thanks man.

[keeper]

These boards work like a charm in my F7.

[Sokramiketes]

is this one of the decoders where the motor tabs make contact with the decoder board but aren't soldered to it?  If you, you might try a bit of solder.  Downside is you'd have to unsolder it if you ever need to get to the motor.

Solder the motor tabs to the board.  Same issue in E units, PA's, P42's, etc.  I solder everything out of habit and it doesn't slow down things too much when servicing. 

[Jim Starbuck]

Solder the motor tabs to the board.  Same issue in E units, PA's, P42's, etc.  I solder everything out of habit and it doesn't slow down things too much when servicing.

I totally agree with this.
Build it to run, don’t build it to fail.

[peteski]

I totally agree with this.
Build it to run, don’t build it to fail.

As I see it, you are looking at it from the wrong angle.  I build my models to be serviceable, not fail. All mechanical/electrical things will need maintenance, even without failures. 

With  this type of design I polish the contact areas to a mirror-like finish.  The polishing not only exposes fresh bare metal for good contact, it also seems to preserve the surface from oxidizing.   I would however solder the pickup tabs to the decoder.  But that still leaves the loco set up for easy servicing.

[Sokramiketes]

  I would however solder the pickup tabs to the decoder.

That was quite a trip around the world in one post, Peteski!  Glad you arrived at the same conclusion.   

[kiwi_al]

Now to admit my shame, I have an earlier run of the Kato F40PH  undec and I was wanting to see what sound was like so I installed an MRC sound decoder in it. Just a drop in replacement. This was over 10 years ago when choices were limited. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ok, next question for anyone who's installed sound in one of these: what was your go-to speaker?
I'm trying to find one I like on Yankee Dabbler since I have a bunch of stuff in my cart there already.

I'm thinking this: https://yankeedabbler.com/esu-50342-all-scales-esu-50342-speaker-8-ohm-1-2-watt-11-32-x-1-2-x-1-8-9-x-13-x-3mm-with-4pc-sound-chamber-kit/

Should I be good?

[peteski]

That was quite a trip around the world in one post, Peteski!  Glad you arrived at the same conclusion.   

Well either I phrased it incorrectly or you misunderstood me.
I would solder the tabs which snap onto the decoder,  while polishing their inner surfaces that contact the motor strips. Then I would also polish the motor's strips.  That way the decoder can still be removed without a soldering iron.

I would not solder motor's strips directly to the decoder.  Is that clearer?