Wiring Atlas Locos Parallel to Series

wire the motors like this:

take one power lead to a motor terminal, go from the opposite motor terminal to a terminal on the second motor (the bridge lead), then wire the second motor's second terminal to the other power lead.

if the motors spin opposite each other, then swap the bridge lead and power lead on one motor.

I'm sure Dan (Railroad Guy) will chime in with some performance data but when you series-wire the motors, the current draw is reduced by half, which won't hurt the DCC electronics. It will actually allow you to use lower-current decoders. I liked the idea so much I've been looking at getting a couple of 2-rail Trainman diesels to try it out.

Yes, although I don't claim to be an expert I have reworked 5 Atlas RS-1's and now working on a 6th. You can read about how I did mine at The O Scale Resource Magazine Number 1.

Hi Dan,

I have just finished reading your article on rewiring older Atlas locos from parallel to series in the O Scale Resourse magazine and now have a much better understanding of the process.

I guess my next question is if my Atlas locos are from the later Gold series with the QSI system fitted, do I still strip out all the electronics down to the basic DC format and then rewire and install my own decoder etc as per your article or is this process different altogether?

Regards Daryl

Good question. I have no experience with QSI. If it were mine, I would remove the QSI and the other board (if there is one) and then rewire the QSI back in. The decoder color codes for wires should be the same so adding a Tsunami or QSI should be the same.

A quicker solution would be disconnect the QSI from the motors (orange and gray) and then rewire the motors like I did and reattach. Be careful here as sometimes Atlas played loose with the wire colors. Always test on a programming track first and see if it will take commands before placing on a running track.

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll give your suggestions a try when I get up the courage and let you know the results. I need to set up a programing track first with a RRampmeter fitted.

Dan are videos of your RS1s in action on your layout posted on YouTube? I'm sure I've seen them or something very close.

Regards Daryl

Here is a long one from lower staging 

and another running on the Twin City O Scalers  layout.

Before you rewire anything, try your loco with DCC and see if you are satisfied with the slow speed performance.  If not, set your speed steps to 128 and try again to see if you are satisfied with the slow speeds.  if you are still unsatisfied, take up golf.  It is just as frustrating but, at least, you are out in the sun.

Cheers,

Ed

That's hilarious! My back and neck are bad so, golf is out for me! Like the idea of getting out more though.

Hi Ed,

Will do. Reminds me of the measure twice and cut once advice. Golf? Haven't had a game since I last played a perfect drive only to have a large crow fly down out of a tree and steal my ball. I had to throw my club at it to get the ball back. Of course my club got stuck in the tree! Not at all funny until after at least 6 beers on the 19th hole.

Regards Daryl

Dan,

You have those little ALCOs running and sound sweeeeeeet!

Daryl

Can't imagine that too much of that smoke would healthy for you though.

Glad you all appreciated my attempt at humor.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Regards,

Ed

We have a variant on that at AGHR -- Measure twice; cut once; screw it up anyway.

Good advice to check the low-speed running of the stock locomotive. One of these days I'll get a chance to test a Proto-3 engine under DCC to see its low-speed characteristics. Under DCS they creep along a 2 scale miles per hour without "stuttering."

It is good advice to test new or revised decoder installations on a program track. However a number of newer high amp decoders do not respond to the program track because of too low voltage. QSI Titan, LokSound XL to name two. A programming booster is then neeeded, which increases voltage levels but is still safer than programming on the main.

Let me add my two cents to the discussion. I bought an Atlas RS-1 off eBay and since I was a DCC user, I installed an NCE ATLASO decoder...that was NCE's plug-n-play design, but no matter what I tried programming wise, that engine ran poorly. It surged and had miserable slow speed characteristics. I parked it on a siding and it sat unused until I read about Dan's experiments with series wiring and that wonderful Tsunami sound decoder. I still hesitated for another year until one day I decided I had nothing to lose in trying his methods. I gathered up the supplies, decoder, speaker and encloser, some various odds and ends, and then I emailed Dan for some guidance since I didn't trust myself enough to go it on my interpretations alone. Dan patiently assisted me through completion...thanks again Dan!

The end results were amazing! I seriously doubt there is a better running China drive RS-1 than those modified in this manner. Slow speed switching, excellent sound typical of the Tsunami decoder, and that engines pulls my longest(11 car) freight without effort.

Bob

You are correct. I guess I just assumed that anyone programming a sound decoder already knew that

   Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why Atlas doesn't wire in series

  on new engines.

        Geoff

The bulk of the (much larger) three rail market wants the higher speeds.  Also a change at this point would render the new production incompatible with the older products.   That said, I have heard a rumor that Atlas will probably be changing from a 10:1 gear ratio to 14:1 in new locomotives.  This should help a bit.

They could just put a series/parallel switch in each loco at a cost of about a dollar, and satisfy almost everyone.

Based on their current production schedule they have more than ample lead time to make whatever changes they want.

there is another, albeit more difficult way to achieve slower speed performance that I have experimented with:

change the motor's worm gear from a double lead to single lead version. It effectively doubles the gear ration. a couple years back I bought these items from NWSL to see how it would perform. It was such work getting the worm off the axle shaft, that the prospect of converting many motors discouraged me from furhter conversions.

series motor wiring is a far simpler, but different solution.