Athearn SW1500 Install

[Espeelark]

Shell install attempt #2.
Okay, the back of the shell now drops all the way down, but, the front won't go all the way down and is doing and bit of a teeter-totter. I determined that the heat-shrinked, solder joints for the speaker wires is the issue. You can see that in this photo of the brown speaker wires running across the top of the speaker.


This one took some head-scratching to figure out.
I decided the wires had to come up a different way, so, the first thing I had to do was pry out the 6-pin wiring harness to allow me to remove the speaker and work on it. Then, I peeled the wires out from the slots in the side of the speaker. I then cut a new groove/slot in the corner. Like this:

[Espeelark]

All I can say is that there is hardly any space between the inside bottom of the shell and the top of either the SSS speaker or the LM-3S module!
You remember that ~0.2" clearance that I determined I had between the shell and the LM-3S? Some of that gets consumed by the double-sided tape used to mount the module. What's left will only tolerate the wires themselves. The last issue I had getting the shell to sit down flush was determined to be a heat-shrinked, solder joint for the common blue wire - it wouldn't fit between the shell and the LM-3S. Luckily I had enough extra length in the wires such that I could move them back behind the LM-3S, towards the cab, where there was enough of a gap for it to fit into.
When I do the next switcher, I will forego using heat shrink over the soldered connections because there simply isn't enough room for that extra thickness. I will probably trim the soldered leads close together and then coat it with liquid electrical tape.

[faithie999]

Don't tell Mr. Ring i did this (haha) but in an install with almost no room for the LM, i removed the plastic shell of the LM and wrapped the naked board with Kapton tape.  it will void the warranty but it will give you perhaps just the extra clearance you need. 

Ken

[Espeelark]

Nice one Ken!
I'll have to "break that one out" (see what I did there  ) on my next switcher install.

[sieggs1]

Espeelark,

That's fantastic. Thank you for sharing your photos.

Tonight, I finally got the shell seated properly and was able to install the couplers. If you can install the couplers, you know it's good!

I will post photos of the final install here shortly. I was able to get the Ring PBM-2 Power Backup Module in there as well.

I didn't see one in your install. Did you use a third-party keep alive or go without one entirely?

There is no way I would go without a PBM-2 now that I have installed one in four other locos. Incidentally, I have had to remove the plastic case on two PBM-2s just to re-solder the wires to the board. I also thought about discarding the case entirely but I was able to fit it in the top of the shell near the front of my SW1500.

Again, photos shortly.

Thanks for sharing your install.

Rob S. "Sieggs1"

[ON28]

Good work! Tim Ring told me his team spent months during the design process test-fitting the new 21-pin LM into a wide selection of HO diesels. I highly recommend calling, he is open to discussion and new ideas. Such as, I said it would be useful to be able to apply the brake with the throttle open.

[Espeelark]

Well, I knew it was to good to last.....
Even though my track work is really quite good, this short wheel-base switcher needs a Keep-Alive to get across my diamonds without dying. With a Scale Sound Systems speaker under the hood, there was no way a Ring PBM-2 was going to fit. I've read here on this site that others have employed TCS Keep-Alives successfully, so, that's the route I went. I picked their smallest option, the KA2.
The only place I think it could fit was within the dead space in the center of the cab's interior. Here's a shot of what I'm referring to. The cab shell has been removed leaving the interior. The spot I'm targeting is that space in the center of the green cab interior in between the walls.


Next I removed the cab's interior. Here's a shot of that.


So, you have to remove/cut-out a piece of the floor so that the KA2 can be slid in from inside the SW1500 shell. Here I popped off the wall assembly from the floor and you can also see what I cut out from the floor.


Unfortunately the KA2 is a bit wider that the space between the walls, so I popped the glue joint on one of the walls. Here's that.


Then I glued everything back together.


Does it fit? Yes it most certainly does!


Here's a shot of the cab's interior reinstalled with the KA2 stuffed up into that dead space.


Then it was a "simple" matter of connecting the wires and tucking everything back into the shell. Obviously this would have been way easier if I installed the KA2 from the git-go, but, it worked! Runs like a champ across my long 19 degree diamond!

Now that I've shown it's possible, you can do it too!