Piko G-Scale BR80: DCC decoder and smoke generator installation

I knew very, very well that my G scale train would be going DCC rather sooner than later. That's why I've made my reservation for the decoder at MSL already some time ago and waited for it to become available. It cost me less than 67€ which is a pretty good price considering the recent price rise at PIKO.

Let's start with some unboxing. The PIKO 36121 decoder comes in a sturdy box which makes a really good impression.

The box is even sealed at its side. Let's open it.

Quite a lot of stuff inside...

We get:

• The decoder itself with cabling
• Mounting screws
• A comprehensive manual (also in English!)
• Quick wiring guide
• Some extra pages I did not care for :)

In addition to the decoder, I'm going to be installing PIKO 36141 smoke generator and I'm going to use it with the PIKO 36210 smoke oil.

Time to disassemble the locomotive. That's when it gets a little tricky. The manual does not describe the disassembly process. It only shows some general assembly steps (it's one picture really!). My guess is to follow the assembly guide in the backward order.

Looking at the bottom of the BR80 locomotive you can see two kinds of screws:

• small ones - holding the front and rear buffers
• large ones - holding the locomotive body

There are four large ones and I'm starting with them. Once they're removed, the side covers come off.

Looking at the assembly steps, the next thing to remove should be the red part forming the steps to the driver's cabin. But that part just wouldn't really move. I wasn't sure which direction I should be pulling or pushing and was afraid to break it. Finally I discovered that this part can be rotated and then it reveals the next six screws that hold the green cabin.

The screws are gone and the cabin comes off. The next part to remove is the boiler. There are two screws holding it next to where the driver is glued.

Here the screws are no more but the driver's leg would not allow me to remove the boiler. What should I do?

Sorry, Mr. Piko, you will have to step down for now.

The driver was removed and I knew I should be pulling the boiler up. But it just wouldn't move. Looking back at the manual, I've realized there's one more screw holding it. To get to it, I needed to remove the front buffer (two small screws under the locomotive). And yes, the final large screw is really there.

With the last screw gone, the boiler can be removed (almost) easily. I had to be careful, since the driver's seats were still a little in the way.

The insides of the locomotive:

The disassembly was not trivial but it was not very difficult, either. It took me around one hour but I was being really careful doing it for the first time and owning a BR80 with a lot of fragile details. Next time it will be much quicker.

Compared to the body disassembly, the installation of the decoder is really very, very easy. It takes literally five minutes. And that is only because the S1/S2 and M1/M2 symbols are not very well marked near the locomotive's connectors and you have to look carefully to find them.

Of course, I'm attaching the smoke generator, too. You can choose which DCC function it will respond to but it makes perfect sense to follow the wiring diagram and attach it to output #1.

For some reason, the generator won't go all the way into the chimney.

First test. Lights on - check, Lights off - check, Function #1 on - yeeeey, it's smoking!
The test is performed with Z21 command station and the Roco 18V DC power supply. I'm surprised by the significant amount of smoke being produced at only 18V.

The generator still wouldn't go all the way in. I had to use a small file tool and enlarge the the hole in the chimney. Now it looks OK.

I started assembling the locomotive back. One interesting thing I noticed - the driver's seats can be rotated! Perhaps I did not have to remove Mr. Piko at all!

The locomotive is back in its full shape. Well, almost... I know I will be installing the sound module soon, so I skipped some screws and skipped glueing the driver back. It has to wait for the next disassembly.

As mentioned above, I'm using Z21 for DCC control. I did have some trouble programming the locomotive with Z21. Luckily the manual covers that case (mentioning Lenz central station) and recommends programming through a 47 Ohm resistor. I did not have 47 Ohm but two 20 Ohm resistors did just fine. The locomotive has its own address now.

Here's a test video showing the locomotive operating in DCC. This is again Z21 but this time it's powered by 22V DC PIKO power supply. So I assume it's operating under the conditions the were meant by the manufacturer.

I'm surprised by two things:

• Some squeaky noises at a very low speed - have to investigate that...
• Not so much smoke. Seeing the nice effect at 18V I expected A LOT of smoke at 22V but this isn't the case. Another thing to investigate...

My next step is of course the DCC sound module. I'll be writing an article about its installation as soon as it arrives.