BL 2 DCC & Sound

Yes I have and I am sure many others have also. Not that hard of a job.

Here is the loco I did.

I disassemble the engine completely.

Inspect all parts and in this case the gear were all cracked.

The upper wheel set is the old one and you can see its cracked and the lower wheel set is the new one.

I add pickup wires to the trucks. you can see the solder by the upper right hand rivet.

I don't have a photo of it but you need to insulate the bottom of the motor from the frame and solder a wire to the bottom of the motor.

Here is the QSI decoder installed. Test the decoder confirm all is working correctly.

Here the front and rear LEDs are installed.

Speakers are installed just need to be seal up the holes and finish programing and the install is done.

Pick up wire

Where does the pick up wire from the truck go to?

Thanks,

John C.

The pickup wire soldered

The pickup wire soldered to the side (the red wire) of the truck goes to the track power on the decoder.

Most decoders the track power is the red and black wires.

See in the photo the red wires are the one soldered to the side of the truck. They go to fireman side of the decoder for track power. In the photo you can see the black wires are the engineer side for track power.

Athearn 5 wire system.

Bentley, do a search on "Athearn 5 wire system" and then look at Athearn DCC decoder installs.  These early P2K units copied the Athearn drive system to a T!  Be wary of cracked axle gears (common issue) and replace them all even if only 1 is cracked.  Tons of info on how to on the web.  Too many links to choose one for you that you would find usefull. Hope this will help.

Proto 2000 BL-2

Thank you very much Joe and Nelson.  This is very helpful.

Take care,

Jack Breddy

Speakers

What speakers did you use in the P2K BL-2?

Thanks,

Roger Huber

I believe the speakers I used

I believe the speakers I used where 28 mm square HIGH BASS 8 ohms like the ones in the link.

Replacement wheels

Where do you get replacement wheels for this engine?  How about other wheels sets for Athearn and Proto?

I purchased mine from Model

I purchased mine from Model Train Stuff

Wheels

The P2K engines actually have pretty good wheels.  The black coating is the issue.  I chuck mine in a drill press and use a metal polish with a sponge and polish it off until the wheel is clean and then reassemble as usual.  I pretty good results this way.