United Brass 2-10-2 Steam

Scale:
HO Scale


This installation uses the following decoder:

M1



This installation of TCS M1 Decoder is for HO Scale United Brass 2-10-2 Steam Locomotive and was performed by Bill Van der Meer of Williamsport, PA.

The decoder leads were connected as follows: Red to engine frame (right) Orange to motor lead (right) Black to the drawbar (left) Grey to motor lead (left) I used mini-connector disconnects to which the blue and white leads were soldered and protected by shrink tubing. The two black wires towards the front in the white shrink tubes are the bulb leads that trail off to the boiler which rests upside down next to and on the right of the drive train assembly. I used a 350 ohm resister to protect the 1.5 volt 30 milliamp bulb. I did not install a reversing light on this locomotive so the yellow lead is inactive and just looped on the mounting pad. The locomotive runs great with excellent slow speed. I hope this little case study helps alleviates fears of installation of your decoders on brass steam locomotives. It's really a snap if you just follow some simple rules and do it the same way every time. Photo on left shows the decoder mounted with double stick tape foam tape to the brass motor mounting bracket underneath the drive shaft.
The decoder leads were connected as follows: Red to engine frame (right) Orange to motor lead (right) Black to the drawbar (left) Grey to motor lead (left) I used mini-connector disconnects to which the blue and white leads were soldered and protected by shrink tubing. The two black wires towards the front in the white shrink tubes are the bulb leads that trail off to the boiler which rests upside down next to and on the right of the drive train assembly. I used a 350 ohm resister to protect the 1.5 volt 30 milliamp bulb. I did not install a reversing light on this locomotive so the yellow lead is inactive and just looped on the mounting pad. The locomotive runs great with excellent slow speed. I hope this little case study helps alleviates fears of installation of your decoders on brass steam locomotives. It's really a snap if you just follow some simple rules and do it the same way every time. Photo on left shows the decoder mounted with double stick tape foam tape to the brass motor mounting bracket underneath the drive shaft.
"Thanks to Fred, Bob and Mike for their continuous technical support."
"Thanks to Fred, Bob and Mike for their continuous technical support."

Important Soldering Tip

Please do not use any flux either liquid or paste on the mother board. Over time, the acidic properties of liquid or paste flux will begin eating away at the fiberglass PCB and will damage it. Use only Rosin-core solder or no-clean flux approved for electronics use.

TCS recommends the use of Kester "44" Sn63 Pb37, .015" diameter Rosin-core solder. Kester part number 24-6337-0007.

You can order this solder from the following retailers:
Digikey - PN:KE1110-ND
Techni-Tool - PN:488SO6775

Other solder tips

When stripping wire, only strip a tiny little bit of the insulation. Strip no more than a 1/32 of an inch. When the wire gets tinned with solder, the insulation will shrink back more. Try to not expose any more wire than half the length of the solder pad at most. In no case should solder or exposed wire wire ever be outside the boundary of the the solder pad you are attaching a wire to.
Click here for important information on properly Stripping and Tinning wire