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Finished RailPro Installation Examples / Re: Another Scale Sound Systems speaker install
« Last post by LVRR1856 on October 31, 2025, 08:58:50 PM »
Great install ON28 - Did u keep the original board on this ? Can see the 8 pin plug - so I am assuming...?
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Finished RailPro Installation Examples / Re: Kato SD40 (SP version)
« Last post by LVRR1856 on October 31, 2025, 08:55:14 PM »
Looking good so far EspeeLark - keep us posted with pictures.
I'm working on an Atlas C424 and a P2k GP18. Almost ready.
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Finished RailPro Installation Examples / Re: Athearn SW1500 Install
« Last post by sieggs1 on October 31, 2025, 12:59:41 AM »
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"
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Finished RailPro Installation Examples / Kato SD40 (SP version)
« Last post by Espeelark on October 30, 2025, 05:01:23 PM »
Finish one install (SW1500), start another.....

Kato SD40's are noted for their smooth operation and this one is no different.
So here's an SD40 that I super-detailed and painted quite a handful of years ago:
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I wish I took a picture of the "under the hood" factory arrangement before I gutted it, but, I didn't. Here's the bare chassis, motor and driveline after everything got stripped. Note the PC board in the foreground.
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I reduced the height of the two factory motor brackets on either side of the motor and use them to mount the PCB board which will serve as my base for the LM-3S and also allow me to connect wires (like the common blue) together. Also, I'm using a Scale Sound Systems speaker & enclosure which installs at teh back end of the chassis. I also placed an LM-3S module in place to get an idea of where it might go - as can be seen in this photo.
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Watch this space for updates!
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Finished RailPro Installation Examples / Re: Athearn SW1500 Install
« Last post by Espeelark on October 29, 2025, 06:23:10 PM »
Nice one Ken!
I'll have to "break that one out" (see what I did there  :D) on my next switcher install.
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Finished RailPro Installation Examples / Re: Athearn SW1500 Install
« Last post by faithie999 on October 29, 2025, 06:16:15 PM »
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
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Finished RailPro Installation Examples / Re: Athearn SW1500 Install
« Last post by Espeelark on October 28, 2025, 06:24:25 PM »
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.
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Finished RailPro Installation Examples / Re: Athearn SW1500 Install
« Last post by Espeelark on October 28, 2025, 04:02:50 PM »
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.
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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:
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Finished RailPro Installation Examples / Re: Athearn SW1500 Install
« Last post by Espeelark on October 28, 2025, 03:49:21 PM »
So then I made my first attempt to place the shell onto the chassis.
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.
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Finished RailPro Installation Examples / Re: Athearn SW1500 Install
« Last post by Espeelark on October 28, 2025, 03:45:17 PM »
Update time!
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.
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Here's another view with the pigtails connected to the shell.
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