I have an "ICE 2", 29785, and I'm trying to fit interior lighting in middle wagon. I used two pieces of the lighting kit "73400" and a pickup shoe taken from a "7330" lighting kit.

The pickup shoe was steadily hooked under the wagon. However, when passing from turnouts and crossings, the wagon goes off the rail. This happens because turnouts and crossings have taller pins (center feeder line), and as a result, the long pickup shoe hits the wagon's chassis.

Has anyone tried to fit interior lighting in such a train? Should I use another pickup shoe which may be shorter?

I have a similar set, but I'm feeding the coach lighting from the pickup shoe on the loco, via some contacts I'm making and fitting to the couplers.

The decoder in the loco doesn't seem to have a spare function output, so I may eventually fit a Lokpilot or Loksound decoder, and feed the train lighting from a spare function output. I'm using the 73400 lighting set in the coaches.

Hello Hemmerich,

I just saw the picture you upload and figured out that I have eventually done the same thing. Namely, I have taken the base from a pickup shoe like the one contained in 7330 lighting kit, and adjusted the pickup shoe from the 73404 kit. The pickup shoe seemed to be stable though it could NOT fasten as it should on the base.

Of course my first choice was to use current-conducting couplers but people in a local Marklin shop said that the current-conducting couplers of 39711 couldn't fit 29785. Have you actually tried the solution with the current-conducting couplers?

BR,
Dimitris

Thank you for the tip, Lutz.
I did it in a slight different way, I was using the most unsimetrical pick up shoe (I don't have the original packaging, so I can't remember the item number) and turn it 180 degrees. A drop of super glue solved the stability problem.
I have used 2 and 1/2 73400 for lighting the whole wagon.


Adrian

Hi Adrian,

you're welcome!

The number you most likely used was #73406 (which is mainly being used for the new 282mm cars and has the same contact shoe length as the one from my picture above.

I just finished the conversion of the same Hobby ICE (#29875) to HLA, but with mfx Sound (ESU #62467). Different to your method, I used the new white LED strip #73401 (1-1/2 in the steering car and 2 in the middle car) and the car lights can be switched by the loco decoder (which saves me the need for any pickup shoe(s) at the intermediate car(s).

The result looks like this:

No need to check your invoices - it's #73406.

It's rather easy to accomplish, if you're willing to spend the money for the sound decoder. I simply used the pcb with NEM socket from the ICE loco starter set #29795 and did the corresponding wiring (needless to say, the motor had to be converted to HLA). I also used the electric conducting couplings; you'll find those part numbers with every standard ICE model, like #3770, 37712, etc, but for the couplings of the Hobby ICE cars you could also just mount the contacts. I wired the two cars compatible with those "high value" cars, so you can expand the train with them easily.

The steering car of set #29785 usually has already direction dependent lights, switched by the wellknown little axle contacts. There are different options to make this light also switchable by the/a decoder; there is only the need of a stabilized voltage for the light switching transistors on the interface pcb (which is supplied by the decoder).
Same is the case for direction dependent slider switching (ESU offers the corresponding pcb). Another improvement of this train could be done for the front windows, etc.

Very nice already! Congratulation!!!

Hi Lutz,
It seems still a lot of work and money needed to build a nice model.
Now some stupid questions from a beginer:
- what does it mean to convert the motor to HLA?
- my steering cars are not equiped with direction dependent switches, just pick up shoes and ground contacts. Are those switches available as spare parts?
- I have seen that there are available a lot of decoders from ESU. To me, it make sense to buy such decoders in case of covertion from FX to mFX. I have some locos allready fitted with mFX decoders (37631 and 37433)but no sound. Do you know a cheaper way to fit a sound module on a loco with Mfx decoder?
- can you recomend a ESU dealer in Germany? There are two in RO, but ususly they have sky high prices and long delivery times.
Thank you,
Adrian

Hi Bob and Adrian,

the part# is 610739; if you have this ICE (#29795), you should also be able to find the pcb# in the spare parts drawing of the associated usage booklet.

No (assuming you mean this delta decoder pcb #603729). As you can see on the picture I just unsoldered the few wires going to the slider (black, soldered at the wire pad on the left side, just above the pad for the catenary contact), ground (brown), motor (black, blue, green) and LED pcb (violet, gray and yellow). There is nothing more and I felt it being simple enough to recall the wiring again later by this picture.

As known, this Hobby ICE version came just with the standard 3-pole DCM; that's why it is also neccessary to convert it to a 5-pole HLA in conjunction with the new pcb and the sound decoder (but a "normal" decoder with NEM plugs would be ok too if the sound version isn't desired, like ESU #61600).

Märklin uses a dedicated "simple" decoder (#100295) together with this pcb in their ICE model #29795; the advantage there is that the required stabilized voltage is already provided (brown wire from the decoder). In essence, this ICE model would be even a better basis for a sound conversion since it comes already with a HLA. See also next picture.


The bottom view of the pcb with my conversion looks as follows.



Adrian,

your steering car (and most likely the whole ICE-2 model) is probably not #29785, but rather #29795, which has indeed no direction dependent LED switching, but rather this one here:



You'll find the switching parts within the explosion drawing of the ICE model #37712 (the LED pcb itself has already the two red LED's).

Hope this helps you in succeeding also with your conversions.

Hi Lutz,

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I appreciate you doing so. This particular train is kind of special to me. It was the first Marklin train I purchased for myself. It was 29786. It contained all the stuff to get up and going in the big expensive world of Marklin.

I would like to convert it to a pure digital train as you did. So correct me if I am wrong but all I need to do is order the following parts?

1 610739 PCB?
2 100295

I cannot find the original pamplet that came with the set (it is here somewhere, the question being where?) Neither will it come up on the marklin.de website. No pictures, nothing except 4 parts.

I did notice you added another part in a later picture. Some sort of speaker module of some sort? One type of speaker in one photo then a later conversion perhaps?

One last question (promise) where did you find the type of current conducting couplers for the ICE Train and cars?

Thank you Lutz,

Bob R

No Bob!

#29795 is the complete ICE-2, #100295 is the "simple" decoder used within #29795.

For your train conversion you'll need the interface pcb #610739 from set #29795 which I mentioned and showed already above. You will also need the HLA motor parts (magnet #389000, rotor #386820, motor cover #386940 and inductors #515520). You can then mount any decoder with an 8-pin NEM plug (#100295 from set #29795 is just one of them); I used a ESU mfx sound decoder with ICE sounds. If full sound is too expensive, mounting just the single shot pcb and 16Ohm LS from set #29795 is also a possible alternative; the four pieces have the part #519000, #508607, #207648 and #206749.

Never mind. The booklet for set #29785 has part #603731
Märklin's website today indeed shows only the remaining standard service parts for this train.

The two pictures above show a) the ICE engine #29875 converted with a ESU mfx sound decoder with its 23mm 100Ohm LS and b) the original engine from #29795.

Very easy - in the explosion drawings of set #37712, as well the reversing contact stuff in the steering car that Adrian asked for. And - needless to say, also from Märklin's excellent service people.

If you want to have current conducting couplers with your Hobby ICE's you have two choices:

a) replace the couplers with those from the "high value" product line
(part numbers #395640, #374340 (2) and #374060) or
b) mount the corresponding contacts to the original couplers (each one #374090/#374100 for every coupling).

For the steering car light reversing; there are again different options:

a) switch the LED's using a decoder
b) use the well known Märklin mechanical reversing wheel contacts. They have part #574058 (contact holder), #574059 (contacts, two needed) and #310880 (contact spring). You will also either need a second pcb #109421 for the "white" LED's or -preferably - the dedicated light switching pcb #603588, which is used in #37712 and several other steering cars.

If you have any further question, don't hesitate to ask.

BTW: I did/will not buy any spare parts at LokShop since their prices are quite higher than those of my dealers here. For comparison you might also want to compare with the spare parts of Bahnhoefle.de.

PS: Sorry, there was a typo in the part#'s for the current conducting contacts. The correct numbers are #374090 and #374100. As long as the orignal coupling still has the two studs you can mount the contacts easily (use a soldering iron and a flat screwdriver). When done it looks like one the second picture (there with the coupling for the ICE engine).

Hi Adrian,

You did some good homework (but there is much more than just pils, etc.)

your model has a complete different construction than the one for which I described the conversion. There is no need to change the motor of your ICE (since it is already a DC motor). If you still want to change it to mfx sound, you might take a look at the thread where the mfx sound conversion of the Superman loco was discussed; for your ICE you could basically use the same interface pcb with NEM socket as it is used in those locos.

Your other questions were IMHO already answered in my reply to Bob.

Enjoy your models and improvements (as much as I do).[:p]

Hi Adrian,

how about this one? (the title gives the hint; Looney Tunes and Superman locos are basically the same, like any TRAXX and Hercules loco)
https://www.marklin-users.net/fo...7&SearchTerms=611654

You'll just need the interface pcb #611654 that I showed on my pics. Wiring the front LED pcb to the ifc pcb should be straight forward (you can then also use the existing red LED).

Lutz:

One final question...

do you know the part number for the copper grounding strip for the ICE wheels?

r/mark

Hi Mark,

Sure! #210240; it's length is 38mm.



#291180 with 30mm is also suitable; just the middle cutout is slightly out of the center.



Again, for such kinds of conversion items I can just recommend you to take a look at the valuable explosion drawings of the high-end ICE model #37712 - which is for example included also in the 1997 Märklin spare parts CD.

Here a few more pics which might be helpful.

First the one Bob had asked for earlier showing the engine with the original (DELTA) decoder mounted.



The following two showing the steering car with the LED reversing parts (these were actually factory built-in with the first delivered sets #29785 like shown here).

The fact that the Märklin traffic light for this spare part shows red doesn't necessarily mean that it will be no longer available - just be patient or ask the spare parts service directly.

I'm not aware of any other part number. I solely buy my spare parts from my local dealers here who don't sell aboard; very rarely I also buy some special parts from ETS (only if they have it in stock).

Yes. Normally one connection is used for the car interior light and the other for the slider supply between the steering car and the engine. If you don't have a slider reversing circuit in the engine you might use it for any other purpose.

Hope this helped.

I finally got all the parts for converting the ICE 2 from fx to mfx. Still missing the contact holders, but this are necessary for the steering car.
The problem is that I do not have any instructions (pcb #611654 and ESU #62647). I got only German language from ESU.
I suppose that I should connect a wire for the red light from the middle point of the light block to somewhere to the pcb, but I have no idea where. Also I can only guess that the connection points must be some of the ones I numbered in the second picture.
I suppose that the red and brown wires for power supply, should be connected as I have indicated, but this is only a guess.
What is the usage of the violet wire from ESU decoder?
May I have some tips from anyone of you with more experience than I have?


Thank you,
Adrian

Adrian:

To prevent damaging your Loksound decoder, you need to use a 100ohm speaker! I also noticed in your photo that you have the decoder plugging in incorectly to the board. Pin 1 is the orange and you need to rotate the plug 180 degrees.

r/mark

Adrian:

The Hobby ICE only has white forward lights. You will need to solder the wires for the forward lights. Check and see if they are leds or bulbs. It will make a difference where to connect them at.

You may want to try to get the light parts from the Delta or starter version of the ICE as those have white/red forward/reverse lights.

r/mark

Adrian:

I would agree that these are LED's. The English manual for the Loksound 3.5 can be found here:

http://www.loksound.de/us/index.php?showId=28

Hopefully Lutz can confirm, but it looks to me like you will need to solder the lead (gray wire) for the forward (white light) to the bottom metal just to the right of the black connector for the 'ribbon' light connector. The return lead (brown wire) should be connected to the the top metal.

To add the red lights, you should add a wire from the upper connector (reverse light) to the center of the light board.

I have not yet done this conversion on my ICE, so I would again ask Lutz or another member to confirm.

By the way, the violet wire on the Loksound is for AUX2 and not needed on this conversion.

r/mark

Mark,

After burning two lights, still no resoult.

The circuit consisting of gray wire and orange one should get the withe lights, and the circuit consisting of gray wire and the middle point (should be a yellow wire) should get the red lights. Am I right? The point is that I can't get the red lights.

Than I shoud conncect somehow the white light circuit to the front lights connection and the red light circuit to the back light connection.



1+2 and 3+4 should be connected together (following the stripe logic)

May I connect the wires on the back side of the light connector?

How shall I do it? I do not afford to burn more lights?
Thank you,
Adrian

Correct, Adrian. You can see this by the missing components for the rear light function on the decoder pcb.

I see it has the same motor as the ICE 3. Very good lighting work guy's.