How to fit a stay alive into the small Class 03

I bought a new Bachmann 31-368DS Class 03 which came with DCC sound for my youngest son. Unfortunately due to the small wheels and limited pickup it stalled a bit, enough to make my son lose interest. I couldn't find anything on the internet on how to do this, other than permanently connect a wagon behind with the capacitor in that, so I thought I'd write up what I did.



At first I couldn't see anywhere that was large enough to fit a stay alive. I have made my own in the past but this time due to the limited space I decided to get one of these. 
 
TCS KA2-C (2020) Its only 8.9x8.9x15.5 mm in size but packs nearly 10 seconds of run time plus it has the needed electronics to protect against surges.

Start by prizing out the coupling mounts to reveal the two screws that hold the body on. Once undone gently pull the body off.



Now remove these next four screws and pull the chassis off. Be careful not to squeeze the body too hard as one of the the door panels popped off on mine and had to be glued back.



Next, using a small blade prize the sides of the cab open a little to free it from its clips and slide the cab up and off. Note the 2 contacts for the light, they will be OK if you don't catch them.



I wrapped a bit of black electrical tape around the Stay Alive but you could paint it too and then super glued it to the floor of the cab threading the wires through the base.



Reassemble the cab and chassis and then solder the two wires to the DCC chip. The blue wire is positive, the black negative and on this particular chip there were 2 copper pads either side of the onboard stay alive caps, so easy to solder onto. The positive was next to the red wire on mine but put it on the track and measure the voltage on these two pads to make sure you get it the right way around. It should read around 15VDC.



Carefully put the top back on and test before putting the two screws back and slide the couplings on.

It isn't that noticeable in the cab….and it doesn't stop at all anymore.



Its a very well made little engine, we love it!

Great 'how to'  Ed. Not even sure I would have tried, its so Tiny !!  I've got an old Lima 08 that runs reasonably well, at rocket speed ! that  the Grand kids love  :). I'll maybe give it a try on that  :thumbs
Cheers

Matt

That's a great "How to" Ed - well photographed and well explained.  :thumbs

I need to fit some more to my fleet - interesting that a cap that small gives you so much "dead" running time.  I was planning to go along John Dew's (Granby) route of Tantalums but they looked much bulkier than ytour TCS offering……………… :hmm

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

That's a great "How to" Ed - well photographed and well explained.  :thumbs

I need to fit some more to my fleet - interesting that a cap that small gives you so much "dead" running time.  I was planning to go along John Dew's (Granby) route of Tantalums but they looked much bulkier than ytour TCS offering……………… :hmm

Yes these super capacitors are real powerful. You don't need big ones anymore. I did a test and this engine ran over a foot on dead track…..way more than you would ever need.

Hi Ed.  When I was browsing online recently I thought that I saw an 03 with a truck to alleviate that problem. Your answer was a terrific response to the problem though. Best wishes Kevin