Retrofit keep-alive?

[darkscot]

Am I correct in thinking that theoretically a keep-alive capacitor can be retrofitted to any decoder?

[Rog (RJ)]

I believe so.

[Brian]

If you're good at soldering wires to a tiny Surface Mount PCB, then yes.

[darkscot]

So it doesn’t go across the pickup terminals?

[Rog (RJ)]

No, has to be connected to the output side of the bridge rectifier. The input side of the bridge rectifier goes to the pickups.

[Paul-H]

How they connect also depends on how the decoder is designed, some just need a capacitor as all the other needed components are already built into the decoders design but some need a few extra components for current limiting etc

Not all decoders from the same maker are the same either, I use Zimo and all their small decoders like their MX617 & MX616 need the extra components, I use the prebuilt Lifelink sold by Youchoos but their MX633 etc only need a capacitor added

I have just been fitting Stay Alive via the LifeLink to all the MX616 decoders I have on my N-Gauge 0-6-0 shunting locos and its made quite a difference to the running qualities especially over the insulfrog setrack points on my shunting layout

LifeLink next to the MX616 for size comparis

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