Graham Farish N Gauge LMS 4F with Zimo Sound and Stay-Alive

Kit: MX648; SugarCube7; SACC16 with 2x 330uF Flat Tantalums

A good model to convert to sound, this Farish 4F has an empty tender, and plenty of height to play with. We have to hard-wire (removing the 6pin socket), but otherwise there are no modifications to make.

Pop the tender top off reveals the 6pin DCC socket.

Unscrew the PCB, de-solder the wires and snip the screw mounts down short.

Prepare the MX648 by removing the heat shrink (need to make it thinner if possible), changing the original Zimo decoder wires for slightly thinner ESU decoder wire, and removing the unwanted function output wiring. Also add BLUE and GROUND (extra grey) wires in preparation for connecting stay-alive.

Re-cover the decoder with Kapton tape.

Connect up the pickups and motor wires and test for direction (swap the motor wires over if it runs in reverse to what you expect).

The spring clips for the speaker need to be pinged out and bent along the sides of the speaker, to save an extra millimetre in height, and the tender top can then fit back on flush quite easily.

Prepare the SACC16 stay-alive kit and measure up how the Tantalums will go - I estimate that 2x 330uF flat Tantalums will go across the tender just behind the speaker.

All sits neatly on top of the decoder - no need for covering with Kapton tape as the contacts are all upwards, and not near anything else.

Quick test shows everything to be good, and stay-alive makes quite a difference to running abilities.

Please note that these guides are provided as useful resources for you, as-is. YouChoos cannot be held responsible for errors in the information, or for any damage caused to your models or equipment if you choose to follow any of the steps detailed here.