Mysteries of the new LokSound in the Intermountain SD40-2

[ednadolski]

The Pace soldering station you recommended should make quick work of a project like this.

Nice work gents!   I have a Weller WESD51 station, anyone know offhand of an equivalent lo-power tip that would be equivalent to the Pace?  (If not  I can try to find something, I was just hoping to save some research time.)

Side note:  what is the current/projected availability of these decoders?  And will they fit the Kato 6-axle units (e.g. Gevo, C44-9W, AC44, SD70*, ...)?

Thanks again,
Ed

[jdcolombo]

Nice work gents!   I have a Weller WESD51 station, anyone know offhand of an equivalent lo-power tip that would be equivalent to the Pace?  (If not  I can try to find something, I was just hoping to save some research time.)

Side note:  what is the current/projected availability of these decoders?  And will they fit the Kato 6-axle units (e.g. Gevo, C44-9W, AC44, SD70*, ...)?

Thanks again,
Ed

Not familiar with the Weller - just find a very fine conical or chisel tip for it and you should be fine.

As for the decoders - I've not seen them actually in stock anywhere yet.  Since we haven't actually seen any of the retrofit boards, no idea whether they will fit a Kato chassis, though I doubt it - Kato does things a bit differently from Atlas, Fox Valley, IM, etc.  But until we actually get the retrofit boards in hand, no one knows exactly what they will and won't fit. 

John C.

[AKNscale]

I use an ST5 for my pointy tip and an ST8 for my flat one on my Weller.

[reinhardtjh]

Side note:  what is the current/projected availability of these decoders?

As for the decoders - I've not seen them actually in stock anywhere yet.

In the video that Matt Herman did at Trainworld he said the expected arrival time of the decoders was late March/ early April.  So figure June and you shouldn't be far off.  Since they've produced successful ones for Intermountain they hopefully, won't have any problem with these versions.

[AKNscale]

And I believe that Katos were the locos that they were thinking that they wouldn't fit in

[Nick Lorusso]

Top:



Bottom:



Front of board is to the left in both photos.

The originals are on photobucket:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt217/jdcolombo/Intermountain%20SD40-2%20LokSound/IMG_4845_zps8dx7ntfe.jpg

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt217/jdcolombo/Intermountain%20SD40-2%20LokSound/IMG_4849_zpsti7dc0vb.jpg

John C.

All,
How does this board compare for frame connections to a Digitraxx DN163AO or DN163IM. I'm looking forward to this board for some SD7 installs.

[Steveruger45]

Impressive detective work and advice.
Has anyone tried the additional capacitor install yet?

[Smike]

Thank you @peteski for this info, now that I have received my SD40-2 units I'm going to have to install caps. (even with clean track they just drop out too much) I have a total noob question though. Where you marked the green (ground) locations on the board, do you just solder the ground from the cap to the green board coating?  (Circuit board geek I am not)

Thanks in advance!

[jdcolombo]

Thank you @peteski for this info, now that I have received my SD40-2 units I'm going to have to install caps. (even with clean track they just drop out too much) I have a total noob question though. Where you marked the green (ground) locations on the board, do you just solder the ground from the cap to the green board coating?  (Circuit board geek I am not)

Thanks in advance!

You can't solder to the green board coating.  You must solder to an uncoated portion of the board, or scrape away the coating to get to the metal underneath. 

John C.

[peteski]

Yes, what John said. The green coating is actually called "solder mask" and it prevents solder from sticking to those areas of the copper during manufacturing.  It is a fairly tough coating that sticks to the copper well, but you can scrape it off . Make sure to scrape it down to bare metal (but yet be careful not to damage the copper layer).

[RBrodzinsky]

What are the four small round pads on the underside of the board?

[peteski]

What are the four small round pads on the underside of the board?

I don't remember and I don't have the decoder anymore.  Usually this type of pads is used as connection points for automatic testing/programming fixture at the factory.

[Smike]

Thank you Peteski and John.

[reinhardtjh]

What are the four small round pads on the underside of the board?

I have the 73100 in retail packaging and the included information has a rough diagram of both decoders.  The pads on the bottom of the 73199 are not documented so probably Peteski is correct.

[Steveruger45]

Thank you @peteski for this info, now that I have received my SD40-2 units I'm going to have to install caps. (even with clean track they just drop out too much) I have a total noob question though. Where you marked the green (ground) locations on the board, do you just solder the ground from the cap to the green board coating?  (Circuit board geek I am not)

Thanks in advance!

Have you tried installing caps on this yet.
Pls tell us as I am sure many of us would like to know
Thanks