I also noted there seemed to be less space than the Shay.

Amps draw running free after 25 hours brake in .9 amps @ 18 volts

Amps draw full stall after 25 hours brake in 4.5 amps @ 18 volts

I was concerned in this last test if I only partially locked up one truck momentarily and one spun the least bit I could damage the cylinder drive mechanism so I disconnected both drive shafts for this test.

The front and rear lights were LED's so I decided to replace them with 16 volt bulbs. With a bent dental pick you can pop out the lenses and the deflector from the back.

Since the LED's in the ash pan did not really flicker well I decided to use the FX flicker feature on the Digitrax decoder.

The smoke unit has a new board of its own so I decided to do some testing on it with the following results. On 18 volts track DC the smoke unit received 17 volts and the smoke element received 8.5 volts and drew .14 amps.

I felt with size limitations and past experience with the Shay I could use a DG380. I would have preferred to use the DG580, but wanted to reserve the tender bunker for the sound system so I decided to do the decoder installation in the fire pan.

I first removed the cab roof by removing the four screws front and back.

I then removed the tender bunker. To do this, I first pulled out the small water cranks on the front on each side being careful not to break the handles. I then removed the two screws holding it on with a long magnetic Phillips screwdriver going down the holes. I followed the instruction in the manual by lifting and prying but had trouble getting it a part. I ended up putting a small flat screwdriver under the back and prying up, as the sand pipes would not come through the floor. It came apart with no damage.

I removed both trucks as per the instructions and I marked them front and back, but I believe they are both the same. I did have a bit of trouble pulling out the spring packs after I removed the screw, but the trick is to gently pry with an Exacto knife on each side and try to pull straight up. Two came right out and two took a bit of fiddling. I really liked the new mount method as it was easy to get at the top where the wires are.

I then pulled off the ash pan cover, which just pops out from the front.

I pulled off the smoke box cover, which just pry's off and I removed the two screws holding the smoke unit in. It needs a bit of jiggling to get it out. I actually did this before I did the smoke unit test above.

I removed all this to be able to run wires from the front and back to the ash pan.

I next identified all the wires on the ash pan board with masking tape, which just sits there, and removed it

Right rear pick-up is- black.

Right front pick-up is- black.

Left rear pick-up is- red.

Left front pick-up is- red.

Cab lights are two yellow lead.

Front headlight is black and red. The red went to the LED positive

Rear headlight is black and red. The red went to the LED positive

Red firebox light is black and red. The red went to the LED positive

Yellow firebox light is black and red. The red went to the LED positive

Power to sound in tender 2 black.

For rear motor, one orange and one gray. I fed these through the tube and left them by the bunker.

For front motor, one orange and one gray. I fed these up the boiler and left them hanging down through where the truck goes. There is already a red and black pick-up there, but there was enough room for the orange and gray.

For bell and whistle three wires blue, green and violet. I use the fine wire found in surplus stores where there are 30 or so small colored wires all in a ribbon. I cut off three of colors closely matching what I needed which was blue, green and violet and ran them three the tube to the bunker.

I then added a small gray and orange wires through the tube for the sound system response on a Sierra sound system which I am also adding.

The tube took all theses additional wires to the bunker with no trouble. (well it was tight)

I mounted the DG380 decoder with Velcro on the right side of the ash pan with the wires facing to the back as far up into the ash pan box as I could mount it.

I then cut a predrilled PC board from a surplus store a little shorter than the length of the firebox and about 5/8 of an inch wide and connected the wires as per the following diagram. This mounts on the left side of the ash pan when completed.

THIS IS A PHOTO OF THE ABOVE BOARD MOUNTED IN PLACE

The next small board I made up, pictured below, fits in the ash pan and includes the flickering ash pan bulbs and the connections for the smoke unit and the fire box LED,s. I used a perforated board from the surplus sore, with the soldier holes on it and cut it so it will just fit in the ash pan. I used 16 volt colored bulbs 2 orange and 2 red with the correct resistors for track voltage and hooked the to F3 and F4. I later programmed these two terminals to random flicker and put one out of phase to the other ie A on F3 and B on F4. Since I had not had good luck with the Bachmann smoke units I hooked to F 3 as I felt after some testing it had enough voltage to handle it and also is the only decoder lead that allows a full 1 amp. It seems to smoke reasonably well, but I have only made some initial tests. I used a 1N4001 in this circuit as the smoke unit may act as a coil and that is what the instructions recommend. I also tied all the blue + wires from the lights to this board and the heavy blue from the decoder.

The diagram below is a representation of the trucks. The motor wires are attached to the pick-up wires with a small brass clip for each motor lead. I removed these clips and put them back in place when reassembling in case they were needed to make up the space. I then took the orange and gray wires and connected them directly to the motor as per the diagram and of coarse using shrink tube.

I would like to mention one should be very careful when wiring this unit and you should ensure there are no shorts. Shrink rap was used on all wire joints. It is also necessary that all instruction in the decoder manual be followed to prevent any damage to the decoder including the pretesting.