Post by: Espeelark on April 02, 2025, 05:06:53 PM
I took the shell off of my recently acquired Athearn Southern Pacific, DCC-Ready, SW1500. I plan to do a hard install.
So the first thing I did was remove the factory adapter board and test fit a loose LM-3S module inside to see if I could get the shell back on. No dice!
The inside width of the shell is OK until you get to the four fingers of the removable exhaust hatch. These reduce the inside width such that the LM-3S module can't go all the way up into the shell. Look at what the yellow arrows are pointing to in this photo:
I plan to remove those four fingers on either side and glue the removable exhaust hatch into place. That should give me the width needed.
Anyone else do an install into one of these? If so, any tips? Tricks?
I'll update this post as I proceed (may take some time).
Post by: Espeelark on April 03, 2025, 01:31:14 PM
Here's how I plan to place the LM-3S.
Then I got to thinking about how could I determine the clearance between the top surface of the LM-3S and the underside of the shell. First I drilled through holes into the bottom of each of the exhaust stacks. Figured this would help (marginally) with cooling as well. Then I placed the shell onto the chassis with the LM-3S sitting on top of the motor and inserted a toothpick into one of the exhaust stacks and marked the side of the toothpick.
Now, taking off the shell and holding the toothpick at the same location, I measured ~0.2" of clearance. That should work for the wires that have to pass over the LM-3S.
It's going to be tight but I'm thinking this is all going to work out!
Post by: CPRail on April 04, 2025, 08:57:23 AM
Post by: Espeelark on April 04, 2025, 12:24:36 PM
I have a number of iPhone 4(?) speakers on hand, but I think they are too long to fit between the LM-3S and the front of the shell. I was thinking of cutting it down to fit. I have no idea what that will do to the sound characteristics.
Scale Sound Systems advertises a speaker for the Athearn MP15, but no mention of it fitting the SW1500. Suppose I could email and ask.
If anybody has any other suggestions for speakers I'd love to hear them!
At this point I am NOT planning to use a keep-alive as my other 4-axle units appear to be happy with my trackwork.
Post by: CPRail on April 04, 2025, 12:41:49 PM
It fits over the front truck:
https://www.scalesoundsystems.com/product-page/athearn-rtr-sw1000-1500 (https://www.scalesoundsystems.com/product-page/athearn-rtr-sw1000-1500)
Post by: Espeelark on April 12, 2025, 04:54:48 PM
From what I can tell, it appears to be just narrow enough to fit inside the shell. With the speaker connections on the underside, I got to thinking about how I would route the speaker wires top-side. I could go forward and then up and wrap them around the speaker to go aft, or, go aft and come up right behind it. I didn't like either of those two options so I created a third. I filed two slots into the side of the speaker to route the wires up. I used CA adhesive to glue them into the slot. Here's what that looks like.
Here's what the speaker looks like temporarily installed onto the chassis.
With the speaker in place there will still be space between it and the underside of the shell to allow the wires from the headlight LEDs to run aft to the LM-3S module.
Still lots of space issues to reconcile to get everything to fit. Working on that.....
Post by: ON28 on April 16, 2025, 09:27:59 PM
Post by: Espeelark on April 17, 2025, 12:24:57 PM
I just completed creating four pigtails for the lights: front headlight, front gyralight, rear headlight, rear gyralight.
Each pigtail includes a 1206 sunny white LED, a 15 mA current limiter (in place of a resistor) and a micro, two-pin connector. All have been bench tested and they work.
Post by: LVRR1856 on May 26, 2025, 08:33:43 PM
I would prefer to use the factory board if it allowed enough room, but then again, I have not installed any yet.
Would leaving the board work ? Maybe not in Switchers ? But bigger locos ? Lots of questions - newbie here.
Thanks
Pat
Post by: Espeelark on May 27, 2025, 08:35:21 AM
Unfortunately I have not progressed my SW1500 install beyond my last post - way too many other things competing for my time now that nice weather has arrived. Not to worry however, I will update this post as I progress the install.
I don't see any way to leave the board in and make everything fit. On bigger locos however, sure. I initially used the OEM PC boards but have since then made a choice to remove all boards and do a hard install. Personal preference.
ON28 - Copper beading tape is definitely a plus. I have tried it. For this SW1500, I plan to use some printed circuit board strips for the common blue wire needs of the headlights.
Post by: LVRR1856 on May 27, 2025, 05:48:41 PM
I like the copper tape thing also - very slick.
Post by: sieggs1 on October 13, 2025, 06:18:10 AM
Did you ever finish this install?
I spent many hours on installing a LM-3S-21 and later, a LM-3S in my BN SW1500. It's still not right.
I am trying to shoehorn a PBM-2 in there as well. I keep having to shorten the wires, file the chassis and reconsider other ways to do it. Probably NOT a good candidate for my first install. Then my HC-3 failed and I had to return it to RE.
Now that I have done some other installs in larger locomotives (Two GP35's and a GP38), I am going to revisit the SW1500 and try again.
I think I might replace all the Athearn bulbs for LEDs and that might simplify the wiring a bit.
Let us know your status, if you would. Thanks.
Rob S. "sieggs"
Post by: Espeelark on October 13, 2025, 11:26:57 AM
Nope. It's still sitting on my workbench waiting for the weather to turn. I've been very busy with outdoor activities: travel, yardwork, deck stripping and re-staining, exterior house painting, golf, yada, yada, yada....
When I get back to it, I will definitely post updates.
Yeah - starting out with an SW1500 as your first install was probably not the best choice. Good luck trying to shoehorn a PBM in there as well! I want to see how you accomplish that!
Paul Mac
Post by: Espeelark on October 28, 2025, 03:45:17 PM
The first thing I did was decide to abandon the idea of installing fwd and rear gyralights. Trying to stuff two additional wiring harnesses and micro-connectors into what is already a tight spot made me decide that I shouldn't make my first switcher (SW1500) install any harder than necessary. I figured that I could learn from this first SW1500 install and attempt to install gyralights on any second SW1500 I attempt to do down the road. This turned out to be prescient - more on that later.
Here's what the everything looks like after being wired up.
Here's another view with the pigtails connected to the shell.
Post by: Espeelark on October 28, 2025, 03:49:21 PM
I quickly found out that the micro-connectors are too thick to fit between the shell and the LM-3S, or the shell and the SSS speaker.
Luckily the pigtails were long enough which allowed me to tuck them back into the tunnel that goes into the cab. Here's what that looks like.
Post by: Espeelark on October 28, 2025, 04:02:50 PM
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:
Post by: Espeelark on October 28, 2025, 06:24:25 PM
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.
Post by: faithie999 on October 29, 2025, 06:16:15 PM
Ken
Post by: Espeelark on October 29, 2025, 06:23:10 PM
I'll have to "break that one out" (see what I did there :D) on my next switcher install.
Post by: sieggs1 on October 31, 2025, 12:59:41 AM
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"
Post by: ON28 on November 08, 2025, 10:37:41 PM
Post by: Espeelark on December 05, 2025, 07:33:56 PM
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!