Chipping a Austrian Kleinbahn

[Lensmeister]

Hi all,

 

Has anyone chipped any Kleinbahn locos at all ? 

 

I have a few of them any one day I may do them too 

 

 

Thanks in advance  

[Phil S]

2-part answer:

1/ Search on the web and you will find, as I did, when I bought one recently, someone has converted and chipped the electric locomotive with 2 motors - by replacing the motors. He quotes quite high currents for the original motors !??? - possibly due to the 2 in parallel.

As a result he had a more complex problem - and higher cost. 

 

2/ I converted the BR52/OBB 2-10-0 and used just a simple 10GBP Hornby 4-wire decoder !! - not the 'best choice' but a cheap experiment which works...

At present I have not converted or reconnected the lighting - I usually change this to LEDs at the same time, but not yet.

Partly because I have not yet worked out how to open up the tender (tub tender design) to access the rear dummy lighting, to install something that works. 

 

I kept the conversion as simple as possible (unusual for me 8-) ) - hence the 4-wire only version of the basic Hornby decoder, at 10GBP from Hattons - no other wires in the way.

I have 'mounted' (floated, more appropruate description)  it directly above the 'worm drive' ( a novel method - wire round round the 3mm shaft - I have seen this use for insert threads in plastic cases before, but never as a worm drive - but it works!)

This way I was able to install it in the top part of the firebox, and make no other modifications - no metal weights to shrink for space, and no multiplicity of wires across to the  tender (that I have not yet opended up)

 

I found the motor was only taking quite a low current - hence being able to use the Hornby decoder,  I think I recall measuring 300ohms which is quite high for motor resistance -   Even without CV5 available, the speed range is not excessive.

 

Test run okay on RocoGEOline R3.

[Phil S]

An update on this: I have just bought another Kleinbahn Class 52 on Ebay: Slightly later production than my other, double-chimney, version.

This one uses a mabuchi Motor in the cab - similar large size to the Klein motor, but NOT screwed to the chassis as the older motor... this relies on a clip-fit  plastic bridge

to retain the motor, which on this example, required a piece of 'infill' to keep the motor worm engaged at all times.

.(A Brass worm in this case, not wound wire - the gears it meshes with appear to be the same as earlier.)

Once I had lubricated then flushed the 5-driving axles, it ran freely (it was jammed/very stiff on arrival - forcing the motor to disengage) on a 9V battery.

DCC-fitting is again going to be smply dependant on choice of fitting ease:   1 Hornby 4-wire for 10GBP will fit over the worm and work,

Wiring to replace the front lights (a bulb and optic), and to fit lights into the tender, would require a decision about wiring: at present t has no tender pickup (or lights)

A Decoder in the tender will allow a std size decoder, and sound but lots of wires to the loco.  A  small decoder over the worm, with just a pair of wires to the tender for the reverse lighting

is ll that is needed.

[Coldgunner]

Holy thread resurrection Batman!

 

I've picked one of these up and I'm about unsure one where to 'intercept' the wiring to fit a chip. I see that its gonna be a tight fit for a decoder, but not sure the best way to go about it. My intention is also to try and fit an LED up front too, as I fine the light arrangement to be quite clever. Still not sure where to hide the decoder as i'm trying to not use the tender space.

 

It looks like a live chassis to me?

 

[WIMorrison]

Red wire to the red wire coming from the pickups, black wire to the chassis. orange wire to motor where red wire was connected and black wire to other motor tab - you might need to cut a connector between chassis and motor, the photos don’t show enough to answer that one

[Coldgunner]

I'll take another look thank you. Thinking about modding the light as it'd be a shame to lose that. Possible stick an LED in.