Quick Kato/Tsunami question

[montyvox]

Good afternoon-

I just purchased a Kato SD70MAC for BNSF, and I bought a tsunami decoder for it and plan on putting it in soon.

I noticed on the motor and going into the circuit board now there is a copper bracket going into the decoder and it looks like it wraps around the motor.

When I swap the board for the AT-1000 decoder what do I do with that little strip around it?

Get rid of it, keep it- I'm not quite sure what to do with it.

Thanks
Matt

[MONONC420]

Matt, What I have done with Kato's is to cut the strip down below the board and then drill a small hole in it at the top. Stick a section of wire through there, solder it on and solder it onto the decoder.

Christian

[montyvox]

Ok- but where do I solder it too? Does it go to the pickups on the side of the decoder for power to the moter?

Sorry, I'm a bit confused by this strip.

[MONONC420]

Its CV 29.

[montyvox]

Thanks Jay and Christian.

I get it now- I should of realized this while I was writing this at work, and had a long day.

But it makes sense now.

The engine has led's, and I am going to need resistors for the headlights.

What ohm size resistors do you think I should get.

I believe they suggest 680 ohm resistors, but I want to make sure.

Thanks again-
Matt

[kwrengo]

I know it is a bit late to mention now but you can buy a Tsunami decoder designed to replace the Kato SD70MAC board that doesn't involve to much head scratching to install. I purchased one from yankeedabbler.com and swapped it out, wired up a speaker in less that 15 minutes. It's the simple things in life that keep me happy! ;D

Kent

[montyvox]

After doing some reading and looking around on the boards here, I think this will be an easy swap out.

I am going to take out the LED's and swap them out for minitronics 1.5v bulbs, it's the easier way to go- plus they tend to look better.

I have my railmaster speaker on the way, so I hope to have this done by the weekend.

Thanks everyone for the help!

Matt

[Raeder]

If you're looking at installing 1 LED, a 1K (1000) ohm resistor would be appropriate. For two LED's on the same circuit, a 680 would be good. Do a search for "Resistor Calculator" and several will come up that are useful for calculating the value you need for a certain configuration.

[montyvox]

Well it's funny, I looked at the bulbs last night, and I didn't like them for some reason.

I went with a minitronics golden white led with a couple of 680 resistors with it.

I got all of my parts in now, so hopefully it will be done this weekend.

[MONONC420]

The later (AC4400 etc...) Kato diesels have a really nice golden white LED.

Christian