Dapol Pannier Fitting DCC and Stay Alive N GAUGE

[@johnkitchen9614]

Had to give this a go, I had a jittery rough running Pannier that stalled on points and cross overs. Not worried if I completely bricked the loco, I decided to give it a go. De pinning the dcc decoder was a lot easier than I thought. I found crocodile claws a real no-no far better to bluetack the decoder to the work bench then you can rest your hand and line up the wires to the solder pads. The battery was a problem it would not fit into the cab. The solution there was a small black plastic shield just by the front windows snap this off and everything was fine. Annoyed I broke the rear steam hose off and I never found it again. DCC decoder fitted with stay alive and the loco works wonderfully. Having followed you on the 08 shunter and now this I am in possession of 2 wonderfully working locomotives. Thank you very much and I look forward to your next n gauge project.

[@ThisWayWorksTWW]

That is fantastic work you've done Congrats 👍 its a very humble feeling to know i've helped in someway, Thank for letting me know, Rich

[@martianmagician6215]

Incredible, crawling over set track points. Great and clear explanation of the conversation too.

[@ThisWayWorksTWW]

Thank you 👍 Those Stay alives really improve the locos 👍

[@BillySugger1965]

Well, I’m an electronics engineer and I’ve done plenty of very small scale soldering. I have to say that was a beautiful job! I’d give you a few tips on your soldering technique, but you got it done, and what a fantastic result! I’m new to modelling, but want to fit DCC to an N gauge Farish Pannier Tank and a Class 08, both DC only with nothing like the space in yours, so I might have to rig up a miniature stay alive circuit to do it.

[@ThisWayWorksTWW]

It is possible to build your own Stay alives with smaller components, i tend to use these Lais Stay alives as they are a good price vs buying the seperate components. Tantalum Capacitors are probably the best option if you did go down the DIY stay alive route, also the tantalums are smaller. With your Farish pannier and 08 are they the older versions? You should be able to fit a decoder in all of them👍, if youve got a newer Class 08 you can fit a Lais Stay Alive in the cab area with a bit of help from a Dremel.. if you have a look at my videos a couple of weeks back i did my Class 08 with sound and Stay alive 👍

[@TheHeritageLine]

Beautiful work! I've seen so many mixed reviews on the Dapol Panniers and the issues all seem to relate to the pickups. You've certainly cracked the issue. This will make a excellent candidate for a shunting loco. Stay alives is definitely the way to go for shunting. All the best Tony.

[@ThisWayWorksTWW]

Cheers Tony, Yes i had pickup issues too whilst i had no stay alive. Grease gets in the contact bushes and the little panniers then just will never run rite until cleaned again which is no easy task at all... Stay alive for the win lol, take care dude 👍

[@Hal-Zuzzu_Model_Railway]

Now you have me hooked :)

[@ThisWayWorksTWW]

Haha 😂

[@paulsotheron710]

Excellent job, just what I want to do on the same type of shunter at some time. Amazing what can be done in such a small space.

[@ThisWayWorksTWW]

Il always try and fit a stay alive in my locos if i can, makes all locos then a joy over points etc, not a worry 😕😁👍

[@JamesPetts]

This is impressive. You might find this sort of work easier with Zimo decoders, especially the forthcoming next generation, as you will be able to use your own capacitors, and choose things like 470µF 16v tantalum capacitors, which can be smaller and fit into smaller spaces than the very large bank of capacitors that come with this chip. You actually have more capacitance than you need here.

[@gmantree]

Superb job! Can’t believe it ran for another 12 seconds, amazing! Could you put a link for the stay alive you used please?? Cheers

[@ThisWayWorksTWW]

You will get varied run times depending on loco and the type of motor used but ive been really impressed with these so far, they are made by Lais, they do a flat 4x1 pack and a 2x2 pack 👍 www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313952912442?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=fw9nx_rsrqs&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=u8TBKUlDSdi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[@timstrainvideos142]

well done!! i wont be trying this myself ss would definitely break the loco. i wish the manufacturers would just pre-fit a stay alive on the pcb for all 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 locos.

[@ThisWayWorksTWW]

Oh yeah that would be fantastic if they did 👍, mind you i dont think to date they have or will sell locos with stay alives in them, new gf locos will have the lovely sounds etc but still no stay alives unfortunately. Even just on dcc with no sound the stay alives are beautiful things 👌

[@F40Sean]

Can you advise please if you provide a service to fit a stay alive to a Pannier and how much you would charge ? I know a Dapol pannier will stall on my points which is why I’ve never bought one, unfortunately your work in this video is completely beyond my skills (amazing work by the way !)

[@ThisWayWorksTWW]

The quickest way might be to send me your email via a reply here.. i cant seem to find how to contact each other other then that, i can delete the post as soon as ive seen it then... Fitting chips is something i can do, it does vary in price (time) depending really on what your after chap 👍

[@Uravragerailenthusiast]

I have N gauge 😊😊😊😊😊

[@fredvanessen4094]

It's not power loss but interruption to dcc code

[@ThisWayWorksTWW]

The route cause of interruption to the "DCC code" would be temporary power loss, insulating part of the turnout in this case👍 This loco would have the same characteristics if powered by DC or DCC, the stay alive provides essentially motor power and decoder power to clear troublesome parts of track 👍