How to open a BB 22200 from LS Models

 

I'm starting a series of videos on how to open engines and I'll make those videos public on YouTube. Hopefully, it will help others:

Digitization of BB 22258RC from LS Models

 

This engine is a BB 22200 with the PACA region livery; you may ask "why the PACA livery while you do the north of France". Here's why:

https://lapassiondutrain.blogspot.com/2020/10/bb-22256-provence-alpes-cote-dazur-sur.html

Here are the references:

• LS Models 10436 - BB 22258 RC
• ESU LokSound V5 Sound TMC - link

Opening the BB 22258RC engine

Opening this model is supposed to be easy: no screws, just move the body away above each bogie. Except for a cable on each that is connecting the body to the chassis:

Luckily, it was pretty easy to detach those, by sliding a flat screwdriver at the top and separate it slowly from the body. It didn't seem to be glued and would come off quite easily.

Once those two cables are separated from the body, I was able to pull/stretch the body from the chassis above each bogie:

You'd think the manufacturer would provide such details, but no. Here's a link to the manual.

Installing the decoder

To install the decoder, I have to remove the dummy decoder on the left and position the speaker in the round spot on the right hand side:

Since the decoder from Train Modelisme came with the speaker soldered to the decoder, I need to unsolder those and solder the round speaker onto the main circuit board as explained in the manual:

Testing the sound decoder

And here's how it looks (sounds) now: 

And when putting everything back together:

Digitization of BB 75022 VFLI from Rails Models Creation

 

Another amazing creation from Rails Models Creation; this time it is the BB 75022 VFLI:

https://lapassiondutrain.blogspot.com/2020/05/quelques-circulations-hazebrouck-du-27.html

The base is an Os.Kar 1538 model:

Even in analog, the engine is running beautifully:

I equipped this model with an ESU LokPilot V5 decoder purchased from Train Modelisme. To open the engine, there is a small screw underneath each bogie, so 4 in total:

And a final test in digital:

AGC X 76500 Nord Pas-de-Calais from Rails Models Creation

 

In a previous post, I included a video from YouTube of an X76500 NPDC leaving the Ascq train station! I'm uber happy to now own that AGC model, with the identical numbers X 76709/76710!

The transformation was done by Rails Models Creation from an LS Models 10078 model with the sound decoder from ESU purchased from Train-Modelisme.

I had to update the names and icons of the functions on the ESU ECoS from this document, and here's the command screen:

And finally, here's how it looks - at the end I'm testing the interior lighting:

Consist of two Piko engines BB 460000 - part 2 (partial success)

 

After the relative failure of my previous attempt described here, I'm now trying with two decoders from the same manufacturer and the same "source". I've purchased a sound decoder and a no-sound decoder from Train-Modelisme:

• Décodeur sonorisé 2 rails pour BB 4600000 SNCF PluX22, sonorisé TMC Bastiani - link
• Décodeur ESU Lokpilot PluX22 pour 60000 Piko - link

Speed matching

I installed both decoders and ran a running test, and - thanks to my awesome test stand - I could see that both engines are running in a very similar fashion; I, therefore, do not feel like further speed matching is necessary.

Command consist

Following the video from the previous post, I'm going with a "command consist". It means that both engines will have different addresses and that none will have a value in CV19. The consist will be created and operated from the ECoS Command Station.

When testing the consist, here's what I get:

The video is not super helpful because we cannot really see the lights and the running is not smooth. This last aspect is quite surprising because when I run those engines through the ESU LokProgrammer, it is very smooth, but not with the ECoS. I will have to investigate further once I can run the engines on the layout - hopefully, nothing is wrong with the ECoS!!

Consist functions

As you can see on the screenshot above, the command consist displays the functions from the first engine; in my case the functions from the sound decoder. Unfortunately, the no-sound decoder has a very different function mapping - see below. Therefore, as it stands F1 starts the sound on the sound decoder and starts the red lights on the no-sound decoder. In short, I cannot independently control the functions from the command consist.

Functions for sound decoder

Functions for no-sound decoder

After a little research, I've found a working solution based on the following video:

The idea is to add a consist function on the sound decoder and use it as an indicator on the no-sound decoder that it should use the "higher" functions such as F22 or so. In details:

• The sound decoder has functions from F0 up to F20 - I did not change any of those
• I've added the F21 function and an icon to the sound decoder; that function is not mapped to anything
• I've added the F22, F23, and F24 functions and icons to the sound decoder; those functions are not mapped to anything
• I've added "not F21" on all existing functions on the no-sound decoder
• I've added the F22, F23, and F24 functions and icons to the no-sound decoder; those functions are mapped to white lights, red lights, and cabin lights "with F21"

I'll summarize with a few screenshots:

Sound decoder	Before consist	With consist
Functions
Mappings

No-sound decoder	Before consist	With consist
Functions
Mappings

And this works just fine as I can control white and red lights on each engine independently. There is still some work to do when reversing the direction: the side of the lights should remain the same and only the color should change.  

On the ECoS Command Station, everything looks neat:

For complete success, I need to get to a smooth running and fix the reversing; next post!

 

Using CV 54 for Auto Adjusting

 

I have a AM08 Desiro from Van Biervliet that I want to digitalize:

I plugged an ESU 59620 LokPilot V5.0 DCC, but the running was not smooth at all - similarly to what I experienced by inputting a "blank" decoder into the Piko BB 60000.

After a little research, I found this article on auto-adjusting decoders with CV 54: link. ESU actually released a video explaining exactly what to do:

• Make sure the engine has 2 to 3 meters to run
• Set CV 54 to 0
• Press F1
• The engine will run at maximum speed for a short period of time
• CV 54 has a new value and the running should be smooth

And it worked beautifully:

The next step is to look into interior lighting for this AM08, but the goal of this post was about auto-adjusting decoders with CV 54.

Consist of two Piko engines BB 460000 - part 1 (fail)

I found this video that explains the 3 ways to do a consist:

1. Basic consist: both engines have the same address - I don't want to do that
2. Advanced consist: both engines have a different address, but they both use CV19
3. Command consist: the ECoS Command Station manages two engines as a consist

I also found this article very helpful: https://tonystrains.com/news/complete-guide-to-consisting/

One of the pre-requisite for consisting engines is speed matching. To run a test, I created a command consist and put each engine on separate tracks as my test bench allows for this:

Unfortunately, Piko's decoder seems to have the M4 protocol, so it's very different from the ESU decoder in the other engine. I've tried to overwrite the ESU settings with those from a different engine to have a smooth-running, but it didn't help.

At this stage, I've decided that I will use the Piko decoder in another engine. For my consist, I'm ordering two decoders from Train-Modelisme. Stay tuned!

Digitization of Piko engines: BB 460000

 

Following on my quest to digitalize my engines, I want to make a digital consist of two BB 460000, just like the prototype below:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/150753720@N04/48536721122/

For this consist, I have BB 460054 and BB 460050 as Piko 96479 and Piko 96470, both in DC.

Digitization of BB 460054

I decided to have the BB 460054 with the sound decoder from Piko. First, let's do an analog run:

Then, I opened the engine: there are 3 screws to remove; it's easy to follow the instructions. The cabin comes out first, then the back of the structure, and by pivoting the front comes out fairly easily too.

For the decoder, I chose the Piko 56427 SmartDecoder 4.1 Sound PluX22 

It can be purchased here and at several online stores as well. The manual is here. The speaker needs to be soldered onto the engine's circuit board, so I decided to test the decoder first:

For the sound, there are two steps:

1. Solder the wires from the speaker onto the engine's circuit board. It's well explained in the instructions and there is no + or - wires;
2. Remove two screws that hold a metal weight and place the speaker into the plastic holder provided as a spare part.

And let's give it a try:

And here's the final result for this engine:

Digitization of BB 460050

For the BB 460050, I used a blank ESU decoder LokPilot V5.0 DCC Plux 22 - ESU 59622. 

As you can see the running is not as smooth as the other engine which will be an issue when trying to run as a consist.

Digitization of Piko engines: G1206 and Traxx BR186

I have several Piko engines that are frequently present in configurations running in the north of France: G1206 and Traxx BR 186.

G1206 VFLI

The typical configuration is this G1206 VFLI with unloaded flat freight cards:

Piko released this engine as 97719:

I used an ETF G1206 also from Piko to try out inputting the decoder. Here's the engine running on DC:

I purchased Piko 56403 Smartdecoder 4.1 to digitizale those engines: 

The only thing to pay attention to is the way to plug the 8-pin connector - the orange is on pin 1.

On the circuit board of the engine, there is usually an indicator for pin 1 as circled in red below:

Just need to replace the "fake" decoder with the real one:

And here's how the machine is running in digital:

Traxx BR 186 Railpool

Another typical engine running in the north of France is the Traxx BR 186 Railpool:

Piko released this engine - or very similar - as 59952:

I used an HLE 2813 also from Piko to try out inputting the decoder. Here's the engine running on DC:

And here's how the machine is running in digital:

ESU lighting for passenger cars

 After my previous post, I did a bit more research and came across those two videos:

I found the neon effect, the red taillights, and the control of sections to be very valuable. The lighting kit has its own decoder, so compared to the previous solution, this allows for much more features.

List of components

ESU has several items for interior lighting:

• ESU 50708 - Digital LED lighting strip "warm-white"
• ESU 50709 - Digital LED lighting strip "yellow"

• ESU 50710 - PowerPack for LED lighting strip
• ESU 50707 - Power wheel pickup for LED lighting strip

• ESU 50705 - red taillights
• ESU 50704 - "warm-white" cabin light

By default, the ESU 50708 and 50709 come with red taillights, so ESU 50705 could be interesting for fret wagons. Both ESU 50708 and 50709 have an AUX output, which means that that decoder could control the driver cabin light with ESU 50704.

Power wheel pickup

ESU 50707 seems to work quite well, but there are alternative solutions. Probably, the easiest one is from Miniature Passion with kits specific for each type of cars:

• MP906 & MP906-2 for LS Models Corail cars
• MP902 for Roco UIC and Vitrains VB2N

Another option is explained in this video.

Digital LED lighting strip

The English documentation is here. I found the documentation a bit complex, and using the LokProgrammer makes it actually very easy. Here's what I've done to have the "Neon" effect"

I did the same adjustment to each group of LEDs and uploaded the settings into the decoder.

Here's a summary of the functions to call:

• F0 F0 turns on the red rear light (direction of travel)
• F1 switches the external load (AUX1)
• F2 switches all the LEDs together
• F3 switches the LEDs 1-3 (group A)
• F4 switches the LEDs 4-5 (group B)
• F5 switches the LEDs 6-7 (group C)
• F6 switches the LEDs 8-9 (group D)
• F7 switches the LEDs 10-11 (group E)

Here's the neon effect on my LED strip:

The next step is to decide between yellow and warm-white and then to mount those into my passenger cars:

• Lima & Jouef RIO Nord-Pas-de-Calais
• Trix & Märklin TEE
• Vitrains VB2N Nord-Pas-de-Calais
• LS Models Corail +
• Lima & Os.Kar M4 and M4m
• Electrotren TEE Talgo
• Models World MW1802
• LS Models Corail + Carmillon
• LS Models I11, I10, and I6
• Models World MW1702
• LS Models DB Sleeping cars
• LS Models M6