# Rewiring n-scale locomotives



## jimmiejump (Feb 3, 2021)

Have a couple of old dc diesel locomotives that the wiring needs replacing. I'm sure it needs to be multi-strand but what gauge? Silicone bronze or just plain copper? Can someone point in a direction? Thanks in advance.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

jimmiejump said:


> Have a couple of old dc diesel locomotives that the wiring needs replacing. I'm sure it needs to be multi-strand but what gauge? Silicone bronze or just plain copper? Can someone point in a direction? Thanks in advance.


jimmiejump;

Small copper stranded wire would work. You can get it through hobby or electronics web sites. I would think wire in the 28-32 ga. size range would work. I use phosphor bronze wire for making catenary for my electrified railroad, but I've never heard of "silicone bronze wire. What is it used for? 

Traction Fan


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## breckheart (Mar 29, 2021)

I really have not much experience modeling, been 3 years since I started buying stuff. I made a small layout in DC and got interested in DCC so I made myself some loco conversions.
In reality I just bought a bunch of Digitrax replacement boards and installed them. Since the very first conversion made I noticed a lot of sudden stops and I thought it was the price to pay for the digital Kodi nox system.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

breckheart said:


> I really have not much experience modeling, been 3 years since I started buying stuff. I made a small layout in DC and got interested in DCC so I made myself some loco conversions.
> In reality I just bought a bunch of Digitrax replacement boards and installed them. Since the very first conversion made I noticed a lot of sudden stops and I thought it was the price to pay for the digital system.


breckheart;

Going to DCC should not make your locomotives run rougher than they did in DC. In fact, one of the many advantages of DCC is smoother running, especially at slow speed. So something is wrong to cause those sudden stops. Let's eliminate the easy fixes before going any further. Have you cleaned the track by wiping it with a rag dampened with alcohol? Have you cleaned the locomotive's wheels by laying an alcohol soaked paper towel across the track and running the front truck of a locomotive up onto the towel and running the wheels against the towel? That's the two easiest things. Going back a step, are you running your now DCC locomotives with a DCC controller or with a DC power pack? Many new DCC decoders have dual capability and will run on DC, but they typically run a lot better on DCC. Do you have a locomotive with factory-installed DCC, as opposed to one you have converted yourself? If you do that could be used for comparison. Does it run smoothly on DCC? I gather that the conversions you have done are to "DCC ready" locomotives where you simply unplugged a DC circuit board ad replaced that with a DCC decoder, is that correct? Some photos of the inside of the converted locomotives would be a great help. Instructions for attaching photos to your posts are in the "Forum News Updates and Help" section of this forum. You need to have at least five posts under your name in order to add attachments. You have three now, so two more will do it. 

Good Luck;

Traction Fan


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

breckheart said:


> I really have not much experience modeling, been 3 years since I started buying stuff. I made a small layout in DC and got interested in DCC so I made myself some loco conversions.
> In reality I just bought a bunch of Digitrax replacement boards and installed them. Since the very first conversion made I noticed a lot of sudden stops and I thought it was the price to pay for the digital Kodi nox system.


If you're looking for the actual words -- DCC stands for Digital Command & Control.

If you're omitting words that are less than family friendly.... well, then my response is "don't blame the tool".


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

traction fan said:


> breckheart;
> 
> Going to DCC should not make your locomotives run rougher than they did in DC. In fact, one of the many advantages of DCC is smoother running, especially at slow speed. So something is wrong to cause those sudden stops. Let's eliminate the easy fixes before going any further. Have you cleaned the track by wiping it with a rag dampened with alcohol? Have you cleaned the locomotive's wheels by laying an alcohol soaked paper towel across the track and running the front truck of a locomotive up onto the towel and running the wheels against the towel? That's the two easiest things. Going back a step, are you running your now DCC locomotives with a DCC controller or with a DC power pack? Many new DCC decoders have dual capability and will run on DC, but they typically run a lot better on DCC. Do you have a locomotive with factory-installed DCC, as opposed to one you have converted yourself? If you do that could be used for comparison. Does it run smoothly on DCC? I gather that the conversions you have done are to "DCC ready" locomotives where you simply unplugged a DC circuit board ad replaced that with a DCC decoder, is that correct? Some photos of the inside of the converted locomotives would be a great help. Instructions for attaching photos to your posts are in the "Forum News Updates and Help" section of this forum. You need to have at least five posts under your name in order to add attachments. You have three now, so two more will do it.
> 
> ...


Traction Fan is right on, and has given you a good path forward. I'll quibble with one point, however. DCC won't make your locomotives run worse than they did before... but DCC _*is*_ more sensitive to dirt and corrosion than DC is, so follow his advice above on cleaning track and locomotive wheels before you waste any time trying something else. And remember: new does not equal clean. Track and locomotives come from the factory with all kids of junk on them -- oils, mold release compound, dirt and dust, etc. And if they sat around in a warehouse for a while before you got them, it'll be that much worse.

Also, I hope that "Digitrax replacement boards" was a figure of speech (the controllers that go in the loco are called "decoders"). Depending on the locomotive, it might replace all, some or none of the previously-installed circuitry.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

xwavesix said:


> Sounds like you have a loop in your circuit. Take a couple feet of track and make a straight section of track all on its own. Hook up your controller and try the train on that. Simplify and reproduce. Work from there. shareit vidmate app


Unless he redesigned and re-layed his track concurrently with converting to DCC, probably not. Any reversing loop would have manifested itself in shorts in the DC circuit as well. That said, testing things on a very simple section of track is good advice.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

And, I just noticed that this is a fairly old thread that the OP never returned to. Oh well...


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Yep, but he managed to get in the SPAM link in the post.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

CTValleyRR said:


> And, I just noticed that this is a fairly old thread that the OP never returned to. Oh well...


CTValley;

I've "been there & done that" many times, as you know. Stuff happens. 😄

Traction Fan 🙂


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## jaspritvid (3 mo ago)

i think copper stranded wire would work, go for it, and post the results 
 vidmate.app saveinsta


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

jaspritvid said:


> i think copper stranded wire would work, go for it, and post the results


As stated just a few posts above, this is an old thread and the OP (original poster) never came back.

Since you're new, we'll let this one slide, but please check the age of a thread before responding. Most of the time, it's not worth dredging up old stuff. The "Recommended Reading" area is dangerous, because it will show you threads that have been dormant forever. It really is just that: threads to read, but not to reopen.


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