Greetings everyone. I'm new around here. I've been a Märklin amateur for years, but am just now (early 40s, finally have some money for serious hobbying) diving into it deep, and hoping to achieve journeyman status. So, as the old maxim suggests, I'm diving in headfirst -- no toe dipping into the water for me.

I've just purchased (via ebay) a Märklin 3093 Br 18.4 Steam Loc. I'm guessing it was made in the mid 1980s, as it still has its box, which is of the white with red lettering type, not the old blue box.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with one these puppies? The magnets and rotors appear to be of a shape I' unfamiliar with. I've found an old parts schematic on the Märklin website, and I'm attaching the portion which shows the motor.

I want to upgrade this thing as much as I can. If I can get the 5 arm rotor into it, that's what I want, plus a top-end decoder (probably an ESU 3 or 4).

Any thoughts, advice, or warnings (RUN AWAY!) before I begin?



Many thanks,

K

Edited by user 14 November 2010 23:40:55(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Welcome to the forum Kepler
Your locomotive is a simple, easy to convert model. you should not run into major problems with it.
So far I have converted 4 locomotives without blowing up decoders. The process is quite simple

I'll assume you have a basic understanding of electronics, and that you can handle a soldering iron. If not, first ask someone who can teach you these skills.

First, get all the parts. As Nev suggested, you can buy a kit, in your case for a LFCM motor(No. 60924). They can be a bit expensive, but it cotains all the parts required.
Alternatively, if you want to choose your own decoder, you can buy the parts yourself.
you will need:
-a decoder of your choice. it must be compatible with motorola and/or MFX
-a permanent magnet(No 60904).
-a 5 pole rotor. You will have to count the number of cogs on the origional rotor and buy one with the same number of cogs
-a new motor cover. this must match roughly in shape with the old cover (either 210881 or 214121). Other members will know which one to use
-new DCM brushes

The first thing is to check wether the loco runs as it is. if not, fix the loco first.
Then I unscrew everything from the loco exept for the wheels and gears, unsolder wires where nessecary (pick up shoe connection, the rest should come out intact) remove and save all the parts and give the non-electronic parts a very god scrub with an old toothbrush in warm soapy water to get all the dirt and grease out.
Next I reassemble all the mechanical parts.

According to the instructions, solder all neccecary wires(motor, pickup, lightd, earth(a small bit of brass screwed to the motor cover, on the top left screw on your drawing)). make sure you solder the wires to the new motor cover. Make sure all wire connections are insulated, a good option for this is heat shrink tubing. It may be a good idea to isolate the lightbulb from the frame to stop the light from flickering. You may need new parts for that.

Now reassemble the motor, magnet first, then the new rotor and finally the motor cover. make sure you don't forget the earthing lug(small bit of brass)
Now test everything with a multimeter. shorts are often fatal for decoders. The motor connections should not have any connections to either ground or the pickup shoe.

Once everything looks sound, pop in the brushes, oil it lightly and with the top off, put the locomotive on the test track and enter it's adress in the controller. Test everything, and if it works, put on the cover and program the loco to your preferences. Your locomotive is now fully digital!

If you run into problems, or are unsure of something, there are plenty of people here who are willing to help you on this forum.

Good luck
Rick

Nev and Rick,

Thanks so much for the replies. You've already helped me past the initial hurdle, which was identifying which kind of motor this is. There are lots of kits and parts available, but almost all of them say something like, "If you have the SFCM, buy this; if you have the LFCM, buy that..." Not having much...erm, any...experience in this, I didn't even know which kind this is...so thanks even for that, and for everything else.

Cheers,

K

This is a good site for basic information on M Locos engine type etc.

http://www.bahn.hfkern.de/Maerklin/Menue.html

NN

To me there is not too much difference between a 3 pole and 5 pole rotor, after converting to a permanent magnet and a digital decoder.
The 5 pole motor dose give more control and more torque at low speeds.

The only major problem with a 3 pole motor is that most decoders are programed for a 5 pole rotor, so for speed regulation it looks for 5 pulses for its feed back speed control. In turn the decoder thinks it turned the rotor 1 time but in actually it turned 1 and 2/3 times. so the lok runs a little fast.

But most decoders can be programed ( set a CV) to set the number of poles that the motor has.

Well, the good news is that the loc is indeed mechanically sound. Runs fine, forward and backward. The magnet inside is HUGE. Doesn't look anything at all like any of the Hamo, ESU or Marklin magnets out there. A bit perplexing...

On the upside, I got my BR41 converted with a ESU Loksound 3.0 52425 decoder,a dn it's running great. Although it wants to run REALLY, REALLY fast.. Now toi figure out the programming and dial that speed down. Whew!