cfuller12
Registered

Hi all and greetings from New England (outside Boston). I'm relatively new to the sport (as they say) and am embarking on a battery conversion for a Piko 2-6-0 mogul with an onboard Piko SmartDecoder (this one - Buy modeltrains | PIKO Webshop, though mine's a slightly older version). My hope is to install a 14.8v 3400mAh battery and BlueRail DCC receiver but I'm having trouble finding much info about this decoder and want to make sure I get things right. The decoder diagram can be found at PIKO 38212 Instruction Manual (Page 19 of 20) | ManualsLib, though I'm seeing a few small discrepancies with what's actually installed (for example, my board doesn't have screw terminals and all the wires came directly soldered). That said, the wiring diagram is generally accurate. Also, the manual claims this is an NMRA standard board, so will presumably/hopefully work with the Bluerail.
Two questions:
1. I believe I should just be able to connect the BlueRail to the M1 (red) and S1 (white) terminals to switch from track power to the battery/receiver, correct?
2. This loco has 5v power for smoke. Apologies if I'm just missing this elsewhere on the forum but how do folks typically power these after converting? I may leave this for a future step but if anyone has any good reading or YT videos on this, I'd appreciate the info.
Thanks,
Chris
Two questions:
1. I believe I should just be able to connect the BlueRail to the M1 (red) and S1 (white) terminals to switch from track power to the battery/receiver, correct?
2. This loco has 5v power for smoke. Apologies if I'm just missing this elsewhere on the forum but how do folks typically power these after converting? I may leave this for a future step but if anyone has any good reading or YT videos on this, I'd appreciate the info.
Thanks,
Chris