hawthorne village marine loco

[CarlGCioffi]

I recently purchased a hawthorne village marines locomotive and have install a digitrax dcc decoder with sound. My question is: Do I have to isolate the motor or is it already isolated the way it is? If it is not isolated how do I remove the motor to isolate it from the frame?

[jbrock27]

I am confused, did you do the install, before determining this?

[CarlGCioffi]

Yes I did but it looked like the motor was isolated. However, I am concerned about cooking my decoder that is why I am asking this question. I assume there is a way to test this with a multimeter without disassembling the loco.

[jbrock27]

Have a pic with the shell off you can post?

[CarlGCioffi]

I tried but it tells me the file is too big and it's only 103kb

[jbrock27]

(see my reply to you on the other Thread you started)

[CarlGCioffi]

[jbrock27]

Bigger picture in a wider field would be better, but it's a good start.   If there are a total of 4 wires from the trucks that are soldered directly to the motor (2 wires to each contact on the motor) then I say, yes, it's isolated.

[jbrock27]

It looks like what you have there is a chassis type found on the Plus and Standard Lines F7A which is also very similar to the FT Standard Line chassis.  Check out this site below as well as on here for info (Search under something like "DCC install on F7A") and pics that match what you have there:

http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/Bachmann/FP7-B/bachman_fp7-b.htm

**Note that the one in the above site, bc it uses the frame to conduct, does not start off with the motor isolated.

[CarlGCioffi]

I can see the two wires from one side of the trucks but the other side is grounded to the chassis.

[Len]

Decoder installation should be similar to the Bachmann F-9 installation shown at:
http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/Bachmann/EMD%20F9/EMD_F9.html

While this shows using a TCS decoder, the steps are the same for any brand hardwire decoder.

Len

[CarlGCioffi]

From a pure electrical point of view I don't understand why they clip the chassis wiper but I am going to remove the motor and trucks and check this out. I did notice they remove the wire from the chassis. I will have to make some modifications to my wiring just to be safe.

[jbrock27]

From a pure electrical point of view I don't understand why they clip the chassis wiper...

...bc it uses the frame to conduct, does not start off with the motor isolated.

Decoder installation should be similar to the Bachmann F-9 installation...

Len

...or this one, right Len?

http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/Bachmann/FP7-B/bachman_fp7-b.htm

[Len]

JB - Similar, but I like the F-9 description better because it shows you need to remove the fuel tank to access the screws on the bottom of the chassis.

Len

[CarlGCioffi]

So after resoldering and wiring I get to the train club and I hear this grinding sound. After close inspection I find the end of one of the driveshafts is split where it connects to the worm gear but the decoder install is fine.