I am considering converting my 33951 BR 03 Delta Locomotive.

I have never attempted a conversion before and I haven't soldered anything for quite some time. My digital knowledge is limited. In the exploded view of the tender of this Lok, the decoder looks very different from what I have.

Should I get a 60760 conversion kit with both motor and decoder, or just buy the 60942 decoder? The Loco lacks the gradual speed steps and doesn't maintain a consistent speed. Also, the reversing light is mounted directly onto the Delta decoder board. Do I need to buy the 61008 2-pin light bulbs? Any advice or tips would be most welcome.

Thanks,

Gary

[img]http://www.mejuba.com/member/functions/PicturesResize.ashx?aspect=1&height=&width=546&path=//174.142.61.69/e/1/1d17787f-0d7a-4e9c-851b-7441e3865fe8.jpg!546[/img)

francishohg,

I attached the pic of the decoder with the bulb.

Thank you franciscohg. I think that I am going to have to do some 'practice soldering' before I attempt anything yet.

Gary, with the soldering, use a resin cored solder for this electronic work. The thinner the better and get the stuff with lead in it as it is much easier to use especially when just starting off and learning.
As Francisco has suggested you can cut the existing printed circuit board so that the mounting holes and lamp securement are preserved.
The most difficult parts of the soldering are firstly identifying the tracks that you want to use and secondly preparing that track to take the solder.
You could simply solder your new wires from the decoder to the existing solder "blobs" which the lamp wires are already using. If however you want to use the track then you will have to VERY gently scrape the conformal coating (that green stuff) with a scalpel blade or similar. A you remove the coating you will see the bright copper underneath.

The actual soldering process - less solder is better and be careful with the amount of heat that you use on the tracks. The glue that they use to stick the copper to the fiberglass board is good but it does have its limitations when it comes to heat. Keep the time that you have the tip on the copper down to less than say 4 seconds.

Remember to "tin" your wires before applying them to the printed circuit board. Strip about 2mm of the insulating plastic from the end and then apply the soldering iron tip to the wire and also the solder to both the wire and the tip simultaneously. Yes you need 3 hands but with practice you will get the hang of it. You will notice that as you apply the heat to the wire that the remaining insulation will heat up and retract exposing more wire. You can cut the excess wire later before terminating it onto your printed cct board.

I also keep the tip of my soldering iron clean by using a damp (not wet) cloth. Simply apply some solder to your tip and wipe it onto the cloth. That solder will attract the rubbish and the be removed by the wiping action.

If your joints start to take on a grey rather than a shiny look it means that you are overheating them and causing the lead to evaporate and leaving more tin on the joint. Better to just reheat that that joint and flick the solder off. (wear safety goggles or glasses!)




Enjoy.

Regards............Chook.

Hi Gary,
did You finish the conversionm of the 33951? I got this model yesterday and realized the bad driving performance. Therefore, I will change the decoder, too and install the 5-pole HLA (60760) in the first step.

There are two undocumented AUX ports on the 60760 decoder, which can be used for switching the steam generator on and off and e.g. for cabin light.



https://www.marklin-user...itor-and-F3-enabled.aspx

Moritz