Oxford Rail Adams Radial.

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#263909 (In Topic #14372)
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Sound fitting.

I've just fitted a Zimo MS480 along with a lais stay alive and a 15x11x about 5 or six mm speaker. I forgot to measure it and it ain't coming out agai. I used the MS 480 because Digitrains had no MX648's and I think Zimo might have changed over to the MS range as they carry on manufacturing.

Anyway, after lifting the body off I cut the supports for the decoder off and repainted with flat black. I removed the wrapping from the decoder, de-soldered the wires that weren't needed,leaving the red, black, orange and grey wires. Then I soldered the stay alive wires to the pads. This decoder has dedicated stay alive solder pads, so no need to keep the blue common positive. Using Kapton tape I wrapped the decoder and the stay alive unit as I'd taken the wrapping off of that too. I had ESU 15x11 speakers with a variety of sound boxes. I just used the back plate to save space. The decoder goes on the bottom with the stay alive blu tacked to it. The body then goes on and the speaker is fitted and then the coal goes on. Some real coal went on top of the bunker and away it went.

One of these days I'll remember to do a step by step in case it helps anyone.

Cheers Pete.
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Hi Pete,

Unwrapping the decoder will probably invalidate any warranty unless stated otherwise. Are the solder pads inaccessible with the wrap in place?

Sounds (:roll:) a tight fit if you had to remove the original bracket. 


Nigel

©Nigel C. Phillips
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Hi Nigel,
I've just had two Zimos returned to me under warranty repair FOC and with no wrapping. It is really hard to de-solder and solder to the pads unless you take the wrap off. The space was so confined that I had to remove it from both the decoder and the lais stay alive. These and the speaker fit exactly so that the coal load drops straight on top without touching the speaker.

Cheers Pete.
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[user=1632]BCDR[/user] wrote:
Hi Pete,

Unwrapping the decoder will probably invalidate any warranty unless stated otherwise. Are the solder pads inaccessible with the wrap in place?

Sounds (:roll:) a tight fit if you had to remove the original bracket. 


Nigel
IIRC Youchoos exclude "unwrapping" of their ZIMO chips from voiding warranty by default and even provide guidance about the correct way to remove the original sheath but "at your own risk". Some procedures require you to access unused tabs located under the original heavy duty sheath. Youchoos will remove the sheath if you pay to have your extra wires added at purchase. It then comes covered by Kapton.

I'll check back thru my paperwork to confirm, I saw it in the last purchase which arrived recently

Colin


Edit: This appears under "Warnings - please read, or your Warranty may be void!"




 

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Yes, as I said, both the decoders I sent to Zimo were unwrapped and I'd removed the Kapton tape that I'd put on. One was faulty soldering on the processor and the other was burnt by the faulty tender wiring on the D class. They were both repaired and sent back uncovered free of charge.

Cheers Pete.
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[user=1120]peterm[/user] wrote:
Yes, as I said, both the decoders I sent to Zimo were unwrapped and I'd removed the Kapton tape that I'd put on. One was faulty soldering on the processor and the other was burnt by the faulty tender wiring on the D class. They were both repaired and sent back uncovered free of charge.
They've looked after you well here.

I wanted to clarify the Manufacturer's position up front for anyone with a newly purchased product who is in doubt regarding the written policy on removing the thick sleeve as supplied.

I had one loco, a Small Prairie, where getting the chip, as sold, into the boiler space was very difficult given the extra couple of mm which the thick covering consumes. The replacement covered in Kapton went in far easier.

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Yes I'm pleased with that. The thick sleeve can be troublesome in quite a few locos. Also, if you want to solder various wires to pads, I always think it's better to get that out of the way. I need all the help I can get.

Cheers Pete.
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Congratulations of adding sound to your Radial tank Peter - Ive heard it's a very tight fit.  :thumbs

On the subject of wrappers, I've had a few decoders, both sound and non sound, supplied by Youchoos without a wrapper.  At the time, I wondered if they were "used" or "ex test bed" items.

Only last week, they sent me a Zimo MX644C loaded with a Class 27 sound file - it had no wrapper………….. :hmm

'Petermac
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Petermac,

It's worth buying a roll of polyimide tape to protect your chips and so avoid unintentional and usually expensive shorts.
Kapton is the name brand product but there are generic alternatives available

Colin

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Sorry, I ought to have said Colin - yes I do have some Kaptan tape which I use to wrap any "bare" decoders and other electrical gadgets.

I often wonder, as Kaptan so thin, why the decoder manufacturers use something akin to a plastic screed - is it in case of punctures in the Kaptan ?   :roll:

'Petermac
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[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:
Sorry, I ought to have said Colin - yes I do have some Kaptan tape which I use to wrap any "bare" decoders and other electrical gadgets.

I often wonder, as Kaptan so thin, why the decoder manufacturers use something akin to a plastic screed - is it in case of punctures in the Kaptan ?   :roll:
I'd think it would be Peter. But if enough pressure was put on the decoder to do that, I think that would bring on problems anyway.

Cheers Pete.
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