Piko BR89

Scale:
HO Scale


This installation uses the following decoder:

MC2



TCS MC2 Decoder Installation for HO-Scale Piko BR89 form Piko set. It was performed by Krzysztof Brocki – Poland.

The BR89 or BR80 HO scale. I don’t know exactly because it is a toy from PIKO starter set.  It was my first locomotive. This locomotive is twenty years, is still produced, and very popular In Poland. Last time I decided converted it to DCC.
There is enough space for the MC2 TCS decoder.
The eight-pin NAMRA socket was made from gold pin. The three pin socket will be used to light connection.
The coils from both sides were removed. The socket was glued to pace of CD cover.  The wires were solder as sown on the photo BR89 gray and orange to the motor, red and black to the wheel.

Decoder was placed in front locomotive.
Four yellow and one red LEDs were used to build the lighting. There are two yellow LEDs place on the front locomotive and one red place on the back which are serial connected with 470 Ohm resistor as a front light, and two yellow LEDs place on the back which are serial connected with 1 kOhm resistor as a rear light.

It’s finish, The two LEDs were visible on the front of 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