Life Like Proto 2000 SD 7

Scale:
HO Scale


This installation uses the following decoder:


This installation documentation is for the HO Scale Life Like Proto 2000 SD 7. This installation uses the T1P-MH decoder, and was performed by A.G.

The pictures above show the locomotive prior to the decoder installation.
Unscrew the front screw as well as the back one that holds the coupler pockets to the chassis and remove the coupler pockets. Grasping the shell by the solid area between the grills, lift the shell straight up and off of the chassis.
This picture illustrates the original light board with the DCC-ready plug. Remove this plug.
Here is a picture of completed T1P-MH (T1 with medium harness) decoder installation. Black, electrical tape was used to fix the decoder's wires to the locomotive chassis so that it stays in one place which makes shell placement easier. Hold the shell in one hand and the chassis in your other hand. Lining up the front of both pieces, lower the shell onto the chassis, keeping the lower edge of the shell parallel with the chassis. Do not forget to attach both couplers back to the chassis.

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