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DiGi-Hat™ The easy way to Convert Graham Farish
[920200001] |
£4.08p
(£3.40p excl. VAT) |
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| by Jim Hurmes |
Date Added: Friday 16 February, 2007 |
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I'd heard and read a lot about this product, some good, some bad. So, I decided to try one for the price.
First impressions were that it's a very well made item, excellent engineering, and no signs of flash or other manufacturing problems. I tried a 'dry' assembly, using a spare brush and spring, and the fitting was excellent, nice smooth operation of the brush and spring, with no excessive side play.
Fitting to the loco (an 0-6-0 tank) was very easy, just remove the base plate, and swap the brass hat with this one. Again it fitted the chassis well.
I used the kit version, as I wanted to see how it was made, and the clip (which DCC have modified) had the wire fitted on the side, (under the sleeve out of the way of the wheels), they also use a very thin coating to insulate it, which is extremely tough, but thin enough to avoid problems of wheel binding (this is also supplied with the plain digi-hats). Whilst it would be OK without, I did file the chassis a little to help the clip fit.
As I'd read about overheating and other dire warnings I decided to run this on DC for a while, and set-up the rolling road, it seemed to run ok, so I left it for some hours running at full speed. When I checked, the motor was hot (as you would expect), but the spring and 'hat' showed no sign of any problem. I then repeated this with a DCC decoder fitted, without problems. I've since dabbled with 'OO' gauge sound, and notice that the wire gauge used on loksound decoders is as thin as the spring - and these carry almost 1 amp!)
Overall:
Minimal skill is needed to fit, though a steady hand is a must (the brush and spring can be tricky!) this is a very nice modification, and doesn’t need any drilling or filing to fit. It’s obviously been well thought out, and it's detractors have obviously little grasp of electronics. I've since fitted my whole stable with it, 24 locos of various vintage, and all run very well.
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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