I bought the Hornby Freight set. It came with a class 8 shunt diesel and a Jinty steam loco. At the time of the purchase I added a keep alive capacitor to the diesel shutter and housed it in the radiator. The Jinty had an open cab. There was no room for the capacitor any where so I couldn’t install one. While browsing the internet sight of YouChoos an option presented itself. It was a 6800uf super capacitor. My reasoning suggest that it might be able to be installed in the bunker. One was bought on spec. It turned out to be just the right size to fit the bunker of the Jinty.
To start the body of the loco was removed. The DCC chip does not have the usual heat shrink plastic cover on it. It was removed from the clip in preparation for soldering. A very small hair sized insulated blue copper wire was soldered to the + of the capacitor. A similar piece of white wire was soldered to the – of the capacitor. These wires were about 4 inches long. The capacitor was fastened into the bunker via double sided tape. Be careful to not cover up the little cutout in the body for, if it is covered you won’t be able to get the body back on the chassis.
Next task is to run the wires to the DCC chip. I fastened the wires to the body via the use of a little Loctite 401. Super glue will also suffice. In either case don’t glue yourself to the model. In the photo you can see how I routed the wires in the tanks on either side of the loco. It went under the footplate on either side too. The visible part of the wires were painted black. The glue was applied using a small Jules’s screw driver. This helps. A small pair of tweezers will be of assistance as well.
A third hand is recommended. Something to hold the DCC chip steady. The photo shows how the two wires were soldered to the points on the board. Remember that blue is + and white is –. Care should be taken when soldering. You don’t want to bridge any connections. Use a visual aid and a small soldering iron. This stuff is so tinny that it is like grains of sand. Loose one on the floor and you will never find it. What I am saying is this. If you are not familiar with such fine soldering work, you might want to get someone to do it for you. Or alternatively go on line and learn about how to successfully do this kind of work. Once this is done the DCC chip can be put back in its clip and the body can be fitted back on the loco. Now comes the time to test. If all went well, the loco should have a functioning keep alive feature.
My loco used to stop on points from time to time. Having keep alive functionality helps the loco get over these spots without faltering. How it works. The super capacitor is like a small battery. It supplies power to the chip for a few seconds. This allows the loco to still operate for a short time while it passes the dead section. Enjoy your modeling.