IHC 2-8-2

Scale:
HO Scale


This installation uses the following decoder:


TCS KAM4 Decoder Installation for HO-Scale IHC 2-8-2 locomotive. It was performed by TCS. 

First separate the tender from the locomotive. Next, remove the screw highlighted in blue below from the from underside of the locomotive.
Now remove the screw from the back of the cab as seen below.
Next slide the shell and weight forward while tipping its front up and lifting it off the chassis. You should be presented with something similar to the image below.
The two black wires seen above connect the rails, to the motor and the lights. Desolder these wires from the rail pickups found on either side of the gearbox, and clip both wires in half at the point where the copper is bared for connection to the rail pickups. Your locomotive should now look like the image below.
Next attach the white and blue wires from the KAM4 to the two black wires proceeding from the front of the locomotive (these wires are for the headlight). Solder the red and black wires to the track pickups on opposing sides of the gearbox, and then solder the orange and gray wires to the leads coming off the motor. Now attach a 2-Pin Quick Connector (or just long wires) to the blue and yellow coming off the KAM4 and fish them out the back of the cab (these wires will be used for the reverse light in the tender.Your installation should look something like the image below.
Use a bit of Kapton Tape to route your wires and mount the decoder.
You can now re-close the locomotive and move on to the tender. First, remove the rear coupler, and use the extra space that provide to remove the black screw highlighted in red below.
With the shell off your tender should look something like this.
Desolder both wires from the diode and brass pad.
Solder the two exposed wires to the other end of a 2-Pin Quick Connector or the long leads you attached to the KAM4. Your tender should now look something like the image below.
Close the tender back up and you can connect the tender light to the decoder and run your locomotive!

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