Lifelike HO Locomotives

There is a potential problem using the DCC socket on the Life Like Proto2000 S-1. While the trucks and track pick-ups are isolated from the frame, there is a brass grounding lug attached to the motor's lower brush cap which makes electrical contact between the lower motor brush and the frame.  As a result if the wheels come in contact with the frame a short occurs and the decoder may be damaged! We recommend one of two work-arounds. 1) If you choose to use the 8 pin DCC plug, isolate the bottom motor brush from the frame of the locomotive ...

The DH165L0 decoder F0F and F0R headlight functions are factory configured with an onboard current regulator for the factory-installed low voltage bulbs (or LEDs) when using a maximum DCC track voltage of up to 16Volts. To bypass the current regulator and use 12V to 16V lamps with the DH165L0 on F0F and F0R, bridge each of the two pair of solder pads as shown on the back side of the decoder in the figure below. The circuit board is marked with F and R adjacent to the soldering points. Bridge between the two F points for a higher voltage bulb ...

DH165L0 fits Life-Like GP7, SD60 and many other locos with Life-Like DCC medium plug arrangement. 1. Remove locomotive shell, noting the orientation of the circuit board inside. (See Figure 1) 2. Unplug the the manufacturer’s DCC socket from the pins on the factory board. Remove the two screws that hold the board in place. (See Figure 2) Lift out the factory board and save the two screws for future use. 3. Insert the locomotive’s DCC socket onto the pins on the Digitrax DH165L0 decoder board. In this orientation, Pin 1 (the orange wire) is the lower left pin and Pin ...

Life-Like Proto 2000 locomotives with number board lights have the number board bulbs wired to their 8-pin DCC plug using pins 4 and 5. This causes no problems with DC operation but causes a path from the rail pickup to the gray motor lead when a decoder is installed resulting in erratic operation and decoder failure.This is a known problem in the Proto 2000 GP60, SD60M and LifeLike GP38-2.  The DH165L0 uses a current limiter set to control one incandescent bulb on the front (FOF) and one on the rear (FOR) and putting the removed number board bulb on either ...

"I had two Proto 1000 RDC's that I wanted to convert. After opening up the first one, I did what I usually do, yanked out all the circuit boards and such, threw them over my shoulder and commenced to hardwiring the decoder into the unit. Everything went fine, and I took it with me to a friend's railroad to enjoy what I had done. After I got there and played a bit, my friend commented that wasn't it neat that the Proto 1000 series has wiring connections on the circuit board in the locomotive, making things considerably easier. Wiring points?" ...

This installation procedure is for the DIGITRAX DH166/DH126 decoder. Alternatively, you can use a Digitrax DN166 in this installation. If you use the DN166 the installation will require fewer engine modifications because of the smaller physical size of the decoder.Note any decoder of smaller physical size can be used in this installation.  DN136D, DN166, DZ126, DZ126, DZ146 are all possibilities. After removing the shell from the locomotive chassis, note the color and location of each of the various wires.  All connections must be soldered with rosin core solder and insulated with shrink tubing.We will locate the decoder in the forward ...

The DH165Q1 fits many Atlas, Intermountain, Life-Like & Other factory sound equipped HO locomotives. Installation Instructions - Intermountain F7 example: Removing Locomotive Shell and Disconnecting Lightboard 1. Carefully remove the front coupler and then the locomotive's shell from the frame. Note the orientation for proper reinstallation. 2. Unplug and mark the two track power pickup 2-pin plugs, the motor 2-pin plug and the 6-pin headlight plug(Figure 1) Observe and carefully note the original wire locations! One of the track power plugs and the 2 pin motor plug can be inadvertently swapped when hooking up the new decoder PCB. 3. Unscrew ...

Remove the 8 pin dummy plug from Lifelike Proto 2000 light board.Before installing the decoder in the locomotive, unsolder the yellow wire from pin 2 and re-solder it to pin 3 (empty pin) on the decoder harness plug board.  We strongly recommend that you mark the decoder and/or harness so that you will remember that you have modified it.  If you use the decoder and/or harness modified in this manner in a different locomotive, your lights will not work correctly. Plug the decoder and harness into the light board in the locomotive.Program CVs as follows:  CV33 = 001, CV34 = ...