mkwolf1877 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place. Does anyone kw of a guide for converting the Hornby APT to DCC? Many thanks, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crewlisle Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I have converted my Hornby APT to DCC using three Bachmann 36-553 8-pin decoders. The diodes fitted to the front and rear cabs have to be removed plus the capacitor fitted to the motor. All the plugs will have to be cut off the decoders so the wires can be soldered to the existing APT wiring. For the motor, solder the grey and orange wires to the motor brush springs/clips and the red and black wires to the pickup wires. In each cab I used DCC Supplies bi-coloured LEDs (red/white), solder the red and black wires to the axle pick up wires and the yellow and blue wires to the LEDs. You will probably have to alter CV29 to change the direction of travel on all three decoders because when it is going forward (in my case, pantograph leading) you want the leading cab to show white lights and the rear cab red lights. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, all three vehicles will have to be programmed seperately. Wrap insulating tape/shrink fit over ends of all unused wires and ensure all wheel/axle pickups are clean. I converted mine over three years ago and have never had any problems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkwolf1877 Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 I have converted my Hornby APT to DCC using three Bachmann 36-553 8-pin decoders. The diodes fitted to the front and rear cabs have to be removed plus the capacitor fitted to the motor. All the plugs will have to be cut off the decoders so the wires can be soldered to the existing APT wiring. For the motor, solder the grey and orange wires to the motor brush springs/clips and the red and black wires to the pickup wires. In each cab I used DCC Supplies bi-coloured LEDs (red/white), solder the red and black wires to the axle pick up wires and the yellow and blue wires to the LEDs. You will probably have to alter CV29 to change the direction of travel on all three decoders because when it is going forward (in my case, pantograph leading) you want the leading cab to show white lights and the rear cab red lights. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, all three vehicles will have to be programmed seperately. Wrap insulating tape/shrink fit over ends of all unused wires and ensure all wheel/axle pickups are clean. I converted mine over three years ago and have never had any problems. Thank you ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil S Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Using the semi-permanent nature of the couplings; with the articulated wheelsets, in particular, you should also be able to extend interior lighting to the intermediate coaches, by adding copper-foil conductors to the push-fit half-bogies. If you were to replace the original power-car couplings with the similar type used on the class142 railbus, which now have power connections, then you could also use just 1 decoder ... but as with many similar projects, the cost and difficulty of changing couplers v the extra 'basic' decoders needed, may mean the decoder route is cheaper ... I use the cheap Hornby decoder for such basic lighting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkwolf1877 Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 This is the motor removed from my APT, is anyone able to tell me what colour wires I Solder where? Sorry for sounding thick, just don't want to screw it up & end up frying a chip! Many thanks, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 That is a ringfield motor. There have been many posts about the conversion of this type of motor. Try this thread Take note of the advice to ensure that the left hand motor brush is isolated from the chassis. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dagworth Posted November 20, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 20, 2012 The Yellow lines denote places to cut wires. The coloured boxes show which wire from the decoder goes where. Cover all joints with heatshrink if you can. The other decoder wires can be ignored, make sure they are well insulated from each other to prevent them shorting to anything they shouldn't. The blue star is the place where these bogies sometimes have a metal lump that makes contact with the back of the brush tag. Bend the brush tag forward to make sure it is isolated from the bogie frame. The piece of tape at the bottom is vital, it stops the brush covers shorting against the bogie flexicoil casting. One last thing, the APT motor is a higher current motor than all other Hornby motors of the same type, it was made that way to be faster, make sure your decoder is man enough for the job. Good luck and let us know when it works, the world needs more APTs, here is mine Andi Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkwolf1877 Posted November 20, 2012 Author Share Posted November 20, 2012 The Yellow lines denote places to cut wires. The coloured boxes show which wire from the decoder goes where. Cover all joints with heatshrink if you can. The other decoder wires can be ignored, make sure they are well insulated from each other to prevent them shorting to anything they shouldn't. The blue star is the place where these bogies sometimes have a metal lump that makes contact with the back of the brush tag. Bend the brush tag forward to make sure it is isolated from the bogie frame. The piece of tape at the bottom is vital, it stops the brush covers shorting against the bogie flexicoil casting. One last thing, the APT motor is a higher current motor than all other Hornby motors of the same type, it was made that way to be faster, make sure your decoder is man enough for the job. Good luck and let us know when it works, the world needs more APTs, here is mine Andi Many thanks for this Andy, got it done & runs like a dream! Runs better in one direction than the other tho! Considering the age of it I'm very pleased. May have to look at doing some more mods to it, may even put the Pan on lol. Now for the lights, don't suppose anyone does a lighting kit? Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkwolf1877 Posted November 20, 2012 Author Share Posted November 20, 2012 That is a ringfield motor. There have been many posts about the conversion of this type of motor. Try this thread Take note of the advice to ensure that the left hand motor brush is isolated from the chassis. Many thanks for your help, that's an excellent link, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
7APT7 Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Hi Andi aka Dagworth Great information and the Photo and YouTube clip... I want one that long.... Hope you are well mate and getting sorted... Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Very nice vid guys!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
7APT7 Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Hi Andi Any new Updates on your latest APT Motors or modifications... I would be interested to hear or see Photos mate. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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