Anyone get their Stealth SD40-2 yet?

[TW877]

I've been chatting with Bryan from Streamlined Back Shop and the LokPilot E24 decoder is coming.  While the timing is not optimal (model released first), you will get that LokPilot decoder.

Seems that it is already available - at least several German online retailers are showing it in stock.

https://www.besserepreise.com/modelleisenbahn/esu/esu-lokpilot/esu-59925---lokpilot-5-nano-dcc,-e24-interface,-retail,-spurweite:-n,-tt.htm

Chris

[ridinshotgun]

I've been chatting with Bryan from Streamlined Back Shop and the LokPilot E24 decoder is coming.  While the timing is not optimal (model released first), you will get that LokPilot decoder.

I like Brian and I buy almost all my decoders from him and chat quite often with him about installations and decoders but even he didn’t know about the e24 lokpilot until I showed him the European dealers listing it. Even ESU didn’t have it listed on their website until the past few weeks. So yeah maybe sometime this upcoming year. Still doesn’t fix the fact that it is a pretty major faux paux for the manufacturers using the interface and ESU. I am sure they will be great once they eventually arrive. 

Until then BLI kind of holds an edge especially for the SD40’s since you can actually use them with either a lokpilot or a loksound decoder.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Decoder installation will be covered in the article. I plan on approaching ESU. NCE and Soudtraxx at the Springfield show next month about compatibility and new standards. Next18 really has grown on me. I do not know why ESU went with a proprietary E24 when they already had and entire line of Next18. Sure it can add a few more functions, but Next18 could already do sound, electro-couplers and full SP light packages with individual control. Just how many more functions do we really need?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I just did some minor disassembly, and oh boy is this the hardest "plug and play" installation I've ever seen.

1. I believe the dynamic brake slot is meant to access the decoder.
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2. The flange makes the board inaccessible from the top. We'll need to find another way in.
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3. The couplers secure the shell onto the body. These need to be removed. The shell then lifts off, but only barely.
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4. You can get a little more room if you remove the fore and aft plugs. But the plugs still have wires running shell to chassis, so this only gets you a few millimeters more room.
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This should give you just enough room to pull the jumper board and replace it with a board of your choice. I'll check if the Loksound fits, but my hopes are not too high. I'll probably just use a NCE board here until ESU comes up with something smaller.


So not an easy installation by any means. It's not impossible, but it feels more like this was an afterthought than planned. You're putting a lot of stress on a lot of small wires. I think this could have been avoided by using ribbon cable with flat anchors on the adapter board instead of the current wire harness. This would save a lot of room and can be folded to allow complete shell removal to access the cable anchor.
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This is a good example of a low profile ribbon connector. This would be a lot more user friendly for access in future BLI engines.