One of my clients recently acquired an Atlas Kato engine that was manufactured in the late DC dominated era of the 1990’s. This unit is used and in unknown condition.
The up grade will follow the usual process:
1.) Run an evaluation (AS Received) test in DC.
2.) Clean and tune the mechanism.
3.) repeat the DC tests.
4.) Ascertain if adding the Rail pro will be acceptable.
The results of the two tests will be used in that decision. The two most critical results will be the units stall current at 16 volts and starting voltage, velocity & current draw.
5.) Assuming everything is go, then the process of adding the rail pro will be followed.
6.) The first is to identify if the motor needs to be isolated from the frame. Most Kato units are isolated, but the motor leads were flat metal strips and can contact the metal shell. All possibilities need to be isolated.
7.) A nine pin plug will be appropriately connected to the various connection points.
8.) Front and rear LEDs will be added for the directional lighting.
9.) For the sound system, one or two I-phone speakers will be attached to the shell inside roof pointing down. This because the shell was not designed with sound in mind. The sound will come out in the truck openings in the chassis.
10.) The Rail Pro module will be installed directly above the motor. The weight pieces will be modified to ensure this can be done with no interference.
11.) A Rail Pro test series will be performed to identify the impact of the module. This will be done with first one and then possibly 2 speakers, depending on the sound volume levels.
12) The results of the three tests will be compared with the my Atlas Kato engine data base. This will be part of the report that will be given to the client and included in a post on this site.
This will be a fun project.
