Well I thought I would do a quick install on one of my EH500. I had a spare N163K0A/B and though I would use it. As usual there is problems. The Digitrax N163K0A/B can be used but K0A has the perfect LED power output that will save you time and effort.
This unit is difficult to disassemble. I will show you in reverse order so you can see what you have to contend with. There is a drive shaft between the two units with a bracket. Although the bracket supports the connection it does not seem sturdy enough to handle any heavy movements.
So try to handle the two units as one.
Turn the unit on its side and use your thumbnail to lift one side of the shell up, with the other hand slide the chassis out.
Decoder Overall Fit The fit into the chassis is good but it does not make good contact on the brass pickup.
The dowel that retains the brass pickup lifts the decoder board and prevents the cab from securing flush. Everything aligns except for the retaining pin/dowel depicted by the blue arrows.
The decoder covers the gray pin/dowel as you can see in the comparison picture.
You can see the red cab in the back ground that the cutout on the roof fits the boards perfectly but I not sure on why the gray dowel pins don't match up but we will address that.
Decoder install Step 1. remove motor car light board by removing gray center clip.
Step 2. Dowel modification. Dowel prevent decoder from making contact with brass pickups.
I shaved the tip of the dowel off just enough to hold the pickup in place.
Step 3. DC motor tab isolation. The motor no longer gets its DC power from the track. The DC power comes from the decoder now. We must isolate the tabs coming from the motor brushed.
There are two Methods.
Methods A
Isolate the pickups with kapton tape. I modified/bent the pickup like this to insure good contact with the decoder.
You can see how the DC motor tabs are isolated from the brass pickups. The kapton tape creates the insulation.
Method B is much harder
The motor is completed disassembled and the tabs are router through the inner ports isolating the DC tabs from the brass pickups. Only advance installers should try this.
The tabs are folded onto the decoder DC powers section and the gray clips hold them in place.
CAUTION :Sometime you can solder the tabs but it takes skill to complete the solder without melting the surrounding plastic. Step 4 . Install the decoder.
Fold the DC motor tabs over the decoder and replace the plastic clip. Be careful the clip only goes in one way.
This completed the Decoder install.
Next installing the rear lights.
