My 1st Japanese EMU! KATO 787....any ideas on how to install a decoder?

[chadbag]

4 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

I know you just mean "really small" by nano. I recently had a fair bit of confusion trying to find out if ESU actually made a decoder smaller than the LokPilot V5 micro. They did market a decoder in a previous generation under the name LokPilot nano. But it's not smaller than the V5 micro, and they seem to have stopped using the term "nano" for the V5 generation. LokPilot "nanos" on the market are older versions, and are not smaller than the micro. For ESU, micro is as nano as it gets.

 

yes, thanks.  I didn't know ESU had ever had something labeled "nano".  As you point out, I was referring to generic size class.  The LokPilot 5 micro is 7x8x2.4 (mm).  Pretty small.  The Zimo MX615 is 8.2x5.7x2 (mm) and the MX616 is 8x8x2.4 (mm).   All pretty darn small. The D&H PD05A is 5.2x8x2.5 (mm).  All these are about the same size for very small space usage.

Edited February 27, 2022 by chadbag

[chadbag]

I just ordered a couple ESU LokPilot 5 Micro and will attempt to bastardize one onto the JNS EM13 board (made for D&H DH05 decoders).  Like I did with a ZIMO MX616.  I also ordered an MX615 (even smaller) and also a ZIMO EM13 type board for testing.  I'll report back in another thread.  The ZIMO MX616 onto the JNS EM13 board was not that difficult.  Because it is a double sided board (unlike the DH05) I had to cut out a hole in the EM13 board but where I had to do it there are not any traces.  I suspect it will be similar with the LokPilot.  Hopefully it works and is easy as they are relatively inexpensive and cheaper than importing the DH05 decoders for the boards.  The ZIMO are a bit more expensive and I'd rather just buy the ZIMO EM13 boards as they are close to the same price as the ZIMO MX616/615 plus the EM13 blank board.  Not quite but not worth the effort.  Another $7 in savings makes it worthwhile 🙂