DCC fitting to a Lima Class 50

[TravisM]

I’m thinking of getting a Lima Class 50 for nostalgia reasons but as I run DCC, is it easy to hard wire a chip in the loco or near on impossible?

[Pete the Elaner]

It is an easy one to do. Red & black to the track, orange & grey to the motor. Give it a good service first & use a good decoder. The motor is rough by today's standards so a cheap decoder may not handle it very well.

[giz]

I recently dcc fitted a Lima 156 using a Lenz Standard+ V2 8 pin chip (about £20) with which it runs well. I actually wired it via an 8 pin socket rather than hard wire so I could change the decoder easily if necessary and to make it easier to add lights later.

[nigelwright7557]

1 hour ago, giz said:

I recently dcc fitted a Lima 156 using a Lenz Standard+ V2 8 pin chip (about £20) with which it runs well. I actually wired it via an 8 pin socket rather than hard wire so I could change the decoder easily if necessary and to make it easier to add lights later.

Will the Lenz work with Hornby select ?

Are all these encoders/decoders compatible or is it bets to stick to one make ?

 

 

[giz]

10 hours ago, nigelwright7557 said:

Will the Lenz work with Hornby select ?

Are all these encoders/decoders compatible or is it bets to stick to one make ?

 

 

I don't have a Select so can't say definitely but dcc protocols mean all decoders should be compatible  with all command units.

However, there can be compatability problems between some decoders and motors. I have never had much success with ESU Lokpilots (or their Bachmann equivalents) with Hornby Railroad type motor bogies as used in the 153 dmu, whereas Lenz work fine with them.

Edited January 10, 2021 by giz

[JohnR]

10 hours ago, nigelwright7557 said:

Will the Lenz work with Hornby select ?

Are all these encoders/decoders compatible or is it bets to stick to one make ?

 

 

 

I think the issue is the Select can be a bit fussy, as I believe its not 100% standard. Having said that, my son's Select has never had any problems with either a Lenz Silver, a Hattons original, or a Bachmann Sound fitted. 

 

I think the best solution might be to, as @giz has done, to hard wire in a socket, so that you can easily change the chip if you need to. 

[APT Fan]

Good Afternoon,

 

I've just converted one of these recently, it is a lovely model and was well worth the effort in my opinion. I've converted a couple of other Lima models such as a Class 09 and a 47 and a few Mainline 56s. I've standardised on using the Plux 22 socket as the 8 pin approach places a limit on the number of functions that can be controlled. The sockets are between £2-£4 and the decoders are between £10-£25 depending upon which manufacturer I've used and the quantities ordered.

 

Probably the trickiest part of converting the 50 was removing the cab for the cab lighting, although fitting the LEDs to the rear lamp fibre optics is always quite fiddly too. The cab lighting uses a yellow LED, the spotlight uses a white and the rear lights use reds, all with 10K load resistors. All of the decoders are a minimum of 6 function and for this particular model, I've wired the rear lights independently so that they can be turned off whilst pulling a load. I'm quite pleased with the results, if you have any questions let me know.

 

A nice looking model!

 

High intensity light and subtle cab lighting illuminated. 

 

Independently switchable rear lighting with fibre optic painted lenses which appear red when switched off.

 

Chassis wiring harnesses made up for motor, roof wiring harness for the lighting and body to chassis wiring harness includes a connector to seperate the two parts.

 

Six function load resistor board utilises SMD resistors to keep the size small. It is fixed to the roof with a doubled sided pad and sits behind the glazing unit with the connector passing through it.