Digital decoders for AZL Amtrak Amfleet and Viewliner cars
Jun 21, 2020 13:40:57 GMT -5
Rob Albritton, Kez, and 9 more like this
Post by scanrail on Jun 21, 2020 13:40:57 GMT -5
Greetings to all,
I would like to introduce my next digital development for Z scale – digital interior lighting boards for AZL Amtrak Amfleet II and Viewliner passenger cars. While the main subject of my own collection is German rolling stock, US models take a significant part too. After development of a number of interior lighting boards for European passenger cars, I decided to do the same for American models.
First, I would like to say that I like AZL Amtrak passenger cars very much for their exceptional level of details and good features, such as factory-installed interior details – that is what Märklin already did too, but only for selected sets.
For info, here are the links to my other decoders:
Märklin 87269 "Rheingold" train set:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14185
Interior lighting in the dome of the observation car Adümh 101:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15181
Märklin 81281 and 81551 “Lufthansa Express” train sets:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14237
Märklin 87756 InterCity train set:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14505
Märklin 87009, 8700, 8701, 8739 Württemberg passenger cars:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?p=187923
Märklin 8131, 81400, 87530, 87549 Umbauwagen:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14609
Märklin 87660, 87661, 87662, 81594 SBB APM Panoramawagen:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14511
Märklin 88712, 88713, 88714, 88715 ICE 3 sound decoder:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14524
Märklin 81770, 87507, 87509 Donnerbüchse:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14651
Note for those who are interested in viewing these links: this forum requires a registration. Although it is a German website, all my reports there are in English. Forum interface can also be switched to English.
Features
Here is a list of features of the new decoders:
Decoder functions:
F0 – switches directionally controlled red tail lights at the both ends of the car
F1 – interior lighting
Brightness of both red lights and interior lighting can be adjusted via CVs. Since red LEDs are now pre-installed by default, they should be deactivated now via decoder settings for intermediate coaches (separately for both ends of the car).
Maximum allowed track voltage is 12 V – more than enough for Z scale. Actually, Doehler & Haass FH05B decoders can operate at up to 30 Volts, but maximal voltage is limited here by the buffer capacitors that have a maximum rated voltage of 16 V. Therefore, increasing the track voltage above 12 Volts is not recommended.
Decoders
Here are these decoders. Two types available: universal for Amfleet II (Coach and Cafe) and another one for Viewliner Sleeper. The contours of circuit boards were designed to match all internal structural elements of car’s bodies:
Bottom side populated with warm white SMD 0402 LEDs and red 0602 side-glowing LEDs. Warm white LEDs are populated very densely for better light distribution:
Red tail lights:
Due to the specific construction and location of end lights in Amtrak coaches, I decided to use light guides here. It is a common solution for AZL locomotives, by the way. 0.7 mm fiber optic fits here. A fishing line of the same thickness is also suitable:
To fix the pieces of fiber optic in front of LEDs, I used two kinds of a flexible glue. First, I used a small drop of transparent glue, and then I covered whole LEDs with black glue when the first one solidified completely. This kind of glue is commonly used to fix screens of smartphones or other devices with LCD screens:
Amfleet II Installation
Now here is the most interesting part – installation sample. Let’s start from Amfleet Cafe. First, you need to disassemble the coach completely:
Coach bodies have such inserts at the ends. I guess they intended to serve as light filters in case if interior lighting installed. They should be removed. They are fixed with glue. In some cases, too much glue is applied, so the small pins that go into the holes of end lights can break. Luckily, you will not need them anymore after upgrade:
Next, you have to disassemble the trucks too:
The first thing I did was adjustment the height of the trucks that do not sit on pivot posts properly. The problem and its solution are described in details here:
azlforum.com/thread/882/amfleet-truck-problems-partial-fix
At first glance, it might seem that it is very easy to adopt Amfleet tracks to pick up electricity, as they have brass axle fittings. It is true, but only partially. It is impossible to do this without additional efforts. The problem is to find out how to get the power inside the car. I thought about different variants of doing this, and I chose a solution that allows avoiding any irreversible modifications to the chassis. I made such hollow screws:
They have a HEX 1.3 mm slot and M2 thread. Diameter of the hole is 1 mm. It was quite complex to drill them, since the screws are made from a very hard stainless steel, so I had to use a very strong tungsten carbide vertical bore. 1 mm hole is more than enough to thread two thin wires through the screw.
Then I soldered 55 mm pieces of 36 AWG ultra-thin high-flexible multi-strand wire with thermal resistant PTFE coating (outer diameter 0.28 mm):
The trucks are ready for assembly:
Now trucks are installed in place and secured with my special screws:
The top side of the chassis. As you can see, we have a lot of space here for free and unrestrained wiring:
Now the wires are threaded through the screw. It is important to adjust the screw before this, as it will be difficult to do this later:
The chassis is ready to get a power from the track:
Then I soldered the wires to the decoder:
After this, I carefully installed the circuit board into the place:
Then I installed interior insert and fixed it with screws:
To prevent other light to come through the light guides, they were painted with silver:
Now the only thing left is to carefully re-assemble the car and to cut unnecessary ends of light guides:
Viewliner Installation
The next installation sample is for Viewliner Sleeper car. First, you have to disassemble everything completely once again:
As you can see on these pictures, I used a different approach for providing a power pickup for Viewliner’s trucks. I developed a special sliding contacts and made them from etched 0.05 mm brass. Very small width and thickness of wipers have almost no influence on the rolling resistance. These small brass parts have spring-loaded holes in the center. They are fixed on the pivot post with a brass M2 x 3 mm screw with soldered piece of wire:
The truck is electrified and installed onto Viewliner chassis:
Now this chassis is ready to get a power from the track too:
As you can see, there is enough space for wiring and free rotation of the trucks again:
All other installation stages are totally identical to Amfleet cars, so it is simply not necessary to repeat them. By the way, I have to add that sliding contacts for Viewliner are also suitable for other types of passenger cars with compatible trucks, such as Superliners.
Now let’s look at the complete Amtrak train in action. Please, I ask not to consider the light too bright – pictures were taken in low light conditions, so the exposure was increased intentionally for better visibility:
Amfleet Coach. By the way, here is one more point for which I like Amtrak cars very much –non-translucent plastic and silver paint prevent the light to go through where it should not (unlike some Märklin and Rokuhan models):
Amfleet Cafe:
Viewliner Sleeper:
Rear end of the train with red tail lights turned on:
Working red lights on Amfleet coach:
Two more pictures of Viewliner Sleeper car. Despite that there is very little space inside for red lights, they are very visible even in bright light conditions, and don’t interfere with interior lighting too:
I would like to add some comments about new increased power buffers that I used for the first time in Amtrak decoders. All my previous digital interior lighting boards were equipped with 1000 μF buffer that is enough in most cases and ensures a very stable and flicker-free lighting. But now I decided to go further and increased the buffer for even better results which I can evaluate now as super-excellent.
Another factor that influence on the power pick-up quality is the number of wheels from which the signal is picked up (not axles). Usually, only four wheels do this even on 4-axle cars which have 8 wheels in total – due to the fact that actually the electricity is picked up from the axles, not from wheels themselves (each axle is electrically connected with only one wheel of a wheelset).
For example, Märklin produces some 4-axle coaches with all 8 wheels from which the power is picked up. It is control cars of ICE 3 and some shuttle trains. All passenger cars from Rokuhan have all wheels powered too. Amtrak Amfleet II coaches have the same advantage – all 8 wheels can pick up power too.
My tests show that together with a huge 2000 μF buffer, digital interior lighting in Amfleet coaches is super-stable – you even have to try hard to make the light flicker! Of course, this does not negate the fact that you should keep the tracks and wheels clean.
Another recommendation is about the installation of the fiber optic light guides. For most users, I recommend to cut small pieces of fiber optic and to bend them into “S”-shape in advance, and to add them only after the circuit board is installed in place. Light guides can be also fixed using a different glue – for example, Faller Expert Lasercut (Art. No. 170494) that also becomes completely clear when dries and which is much easier to apply.
Bottom view of my Amtrak train completely equipped with digital interior lighting:
Empty circuit boards right from the factory:
Best regards,
Alex
I would like to introduce my next digital development for Z scale – digital interior lighting boards for AZL Amtrak Amfleet II and Viewliner passenger cars. While the main subject of my own collection is German rolling stock, US models take a significant part too. After development of a number of interior lighting boards for European passenger cars, I decided to do the same for American models.
First, I would like to say that I like AZL Amtrak passenger cars very much for their exceptional level of details and good features, such as factory-installed interior details – that is what Märklin already did too, but only for selected sets.
For info, here are the links to my other decoders:
Märklin 87269 "Rheingold" train set:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14185
Interior lighting in the dome of the observation car Adümh 101:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15181
Märklin 81281 and 81551 “Lufthansa Express” train sets:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14237
Märklin 87756 InterCity train set:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14505
Märklin 87009, 8700, 8701, 8739 Württemberg passenger cars:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?p=187923
Märklin 8131, 81400, 87530, 87549 Umbauwagen:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14609
Märklin 87660, 87661, 87662, 81594 SBB APM Panoramawagen:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14511
Märklin 88712, 88713, 88714, 88715 ICE 3 sound decoder:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14524
Märklin 81770, 87507, 87509 Donnerbüchse:
f.z-freunde-international.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14651
Note for those who are interested in viewing these links: this forum requires a registration. Although it is a German website, all my reports there are in English. Forum interface can also be switched to English.
Features
Here is a list of features of the new decoders:
- All components are populated on the top of the circuit boards, so nothing hangs down from the ceiling (except the LEDs themselves) and nothing is visible through the windows.
- Warm white 0402 SMD LEDs (1x0.5 mm size).
- Power pads are populated at the both ends of the circuit board for easy and reliable wiring and mounting.
- Decoders are based on Doehler & Haass FH05B function decoder and match the original configuration of these decoders, therefore can be programmed using standard methods of programming multi-protocol D&H decoders.
- Decoders support analog mode that can also be configured via decoder settings.
- NEW: I increased a capacity of the buffer twice in comparison with my older models – now it is as high as 2000 μF for even more reliable and stable operation. I used 20x 100 μF 16V SMD 1206 X7R ceramic capacitors for this.
- NEW: Now directionally controlled red marker lights are pre-installed at the both ends of the circuit board. The construction of the bodies of Amtrak passenger cars is different, so I found optimal to accommodate red LEDs for end lights on the main circuit board instead of adding separate circuit boards with LEDs, like I did for "Rheingold" and other German passenger cars. I used special SMD 0602 side-glowing LEDs for this.
Decoder functions:
F0 – switches directionally controlled red tail lights at the both ends of the car
F1 – interior lighting
Brightness of both red lights and interior lighting can be adjusted via CVs. Since red LEDs are now pre-installed by default, they should be deactivated now via decoder settings for intermediate coaches (separately for both ends of the car).
Maximum allowed track voltage is 12 V – more than enough for Z scale. Actually, Doehler & Haass FH05B decoders can operate at up to 30 Volts, but maximal voltage is limited here by the buffer capacitors that have a maximum rated voltage of 16 V. Therefore, increasing the track voltage above 12 Volts is not recommended.
Decoders
Here are these decoders. Two types available: universal for Amfleet II (Coach and Cafe) and another one for Viewliner Sleeper. The contours of circuit boards were designed to match all internal structural elements of car’s bodies:
Bottom side populated with warm white SMD 0402 LEDs and red 0602 side-glowing LEDs. Warm white LEDs are populated very densely for better light distribution:
Red tail lights:
Due to the specific construction and location of end lights in Amtrak coaches, I decided to use light guides here. It is a common solution for AZL locomotives, by the way. 0.7 mm fiber optic fits here. A fishing line of the same thickness is also suitable:
To fix the pieces of fiber optic in front of LEDs, I used two kinds of a flexible glue. First, I used a small drop of transparent glue, and then I covered whole LEDs with black glue when the first one solidified completely. This kind of glue is commonly used to fix screens of smartphones or other devices with LCD screens:
Amfleet II Installation
Now here is the most interesting part – installation sample. Let’s start from Amfleet Cafe. First, you need to disassemble the coach completely:
Coach bodies have such inserts at the ends. I guess they intended to serve as light filters in case if interior lighting installed. They should be removed. They are fixed with glue. In some cases, too much glue is applied, so the small pins that go into the holes of end lights can break. Luckily, you will not need them anymore after upgrade:
Next, you have to disassemble the trucks too:
The first thing I did was adjustment the height of the trucks that do not sit on pivot posts properly. The problem and its solution are described in details here:
azlforum.com/thread/882/amfleet-truck-problems-partial-fix
At first glance, it might seem that it is very easy to adopt Amfleet tracks to pick up electricity, as they have brass axle fittings. It is true, but only partially. It is impossible to do this without additional efforts. The problem is to find out how to get the power inside the car. I thought about different variants of doing this, and I chose a solution that allows avoiding any irreversible modifications to the chassis. I made such hollow screws:
They have a HEX 1.3 mm slot and M2 thread. Diameter of the hole is 1 mm. It was quite complex to drill them, since the screws are made from a very hard stainless steel, so I had to use a very strong tungsten carbide vertical bore. 1 mm hole is more than enough to thread two thin wires through the screw.
Then I soldered 55 mm pieces of 36 AWG ultra-thin high-flexible multi-strand wire with thermal resistant PTFE coating (outer diameter 0.28 mm):
The trucks are ready for assembly:
Now trucks are installed in place and secured with my special screws:
The top side of the chassis. As you can see, we have a lot of space here for free and unrestrained wiring:
Now the wires are threaded through the screw. It is important to adjust the screw before this, as it will be difficult to do this later:
The chassis is ready to get a power from the track:
Then I soldered the wires to the decoder:
After this, I carefully installed the circuit board into the place:
Then I installed interior insert and fixed it with screws:
To prevent other light to come through the light guides, they were painted with silver:
Now the only thing left is to carefully re-assemble the car and to cut unnecessary ends of light guides:
Viewliner Installation
The next installation sample is for Viewliner Sleeper car. First, you have to disassemble everything completely once again:
As you can see on these pictures, I used a different approach for providing a power pickup for Viewliner’s trucks. I developed a special sliding contacts and made them from etched 0.05 mm brass. Very small width and thickness of wipers have almost no influence on the rolling resistance. These small brass parts have spring-loaded holes in the center. They are fixed on the pivot post with a brass M2 x 3 mm screw with soldered piece of wire:
The truck is electrified and installed onto Viewliner chassis:
Now this chassis is ready to get a power from the track too:
As you can see, there is enough space for wiring and free rotation of the trucks again:
All other installation stages are totally identical to Amfleet cars, so it is simply not necessary to repeat them. By the way, I have to add that sliding contacts for Viewliner are also suitable for other types of passenger cars with compatible trucks, such as Superliners.
Now let’s look at the complete Amtrak train in action. Please, I ask not to consider the light too bright – pictures were taken in low light conditions, so the exposure was increased intentionally for better visibility:
Amfleet Coach. By the way, here is one more point for which I like Amtrak cars very much –non-translucent plastic and silver paint prevent the light to go through where it should not (unlike some Märklin and Rokuhan models):
Amfleet Cafe:
Viewliner Sleeper:
Rear end of the train with red tail lights turned on:
Working red lights on Amfleet coach:
Two more pictures of Viewliner Sleeper car. Despite that there is very little space inside for red lights, they are very visible even in bright light conditions, and don’t interfere with interior lighting too:
I would like to add some comments about new increased power buffers that I used for the first time in Amtrak decoders. All my previous digital interior lighting boards were equipped with 1000 μF buffer that is enough in most cases and ensures a very stable and flicker-free lighting. But now I decided to go further and increased the buffer for even better results which I can evaluate now as super-excellent.
Another factor that influence on the power pick-up quality is the number of wheels from which the signal is picked up (not axles). Usually, only four wheels do this even on 4-axle cars which have 8 wheels in total – due to the fact that actually the electricity is picked up from the axles, not from wheels themselves (each axle is electrically connected with only one wheel of a wheelset).
For example, Märklin produces some 4-axle coaches with all 8 wheels from which the power is picked up. It is control cars of ICE 3 and some shuttle trains. All passenger cars from Rokuhan have all wheels powered too. Amtrak Amfleet II coaches have the same advantage – all 8 wheels can pick up power too.
My tests show that together with a huge 2000 μF buffer, digital interior lighting in Amfleet coaches is super-stable – you even have to try hard to make the light flicker! Of course, this does not negate the fact that you should keep the tracks and wheels clean.
Another recommendation is about the installation of the fiber optic light guides. For most users, I recommend to cut small pieces of fiber optic and to bend them into “S”-shape in advance, and to add them only after the circuit board is installed in place. Light guides can be also fixed using a different glue – for example, Faller Expert Lasercut (Art. No. 170494) that also becomes completely clear when dries and which is much easier to apply.
Bottom view of my Amtrak train completely equipped with digital interior lighting:
Empty circuit boards right from the factory:
Best regards,
Alex