Repowering the SD-6060

Installing the E-tek and Sevcon Controller

A few years back we started installing the E-tek motor and Sevcon controllers in our locomotives. The SD-60 Number 6060 was the last of five units to get the treatment. There are a couple articles on this site that show the conversion of two of the locomotives.

These photos show the set up that we have been using for several years with out a single problem. Mark ran his SD-60 for 9 years before his was converted.

The reasons we made the switch to the E-tek set up are as follows.
The DART controller was only rated at 60 amps. The DART controller was real sensitive to reverse current, say switching to reverse while still traveling forward. That would basically destroy the controller.
There were some safety things that I built into the circuit to help protect the controller. However, it was not 100 percent effective.

One still had to make sure you stopped before trying to reverse the motors.
Reason number two is space. The Sevcon takes up about 1/3 of the space. All the solenoids are built into the Sevcon. The Sevcon is rated at 300 amps and no problem reversing. Although I had an emergency stop built into my electrical system, it was an all or nothing. The Sevcon can be set to apply the brakes by percent thus stopping but not so fast as to throw someone off or damage the equipment.

This photo shows the two motors connected together end to end. Together they would put out 2-1/2 electrical H.P. It was enough to spin the wheels on the 1,000 pound locomotive. Those are 36 volt motors rated at about 30 amps.

These photos show all that time and hard work designing and building the system all gone. Stripped down to the bone.

Here you can see that two of the up right motor brackets had to be removed also. Lots of sawing and grinding for that job.

Below, I have the new motor bracket install and now locating the placement of the new parts. Important nothing hits the body or is impossible to get to. Note that the controller is mounted on an aluminum plate. The plate is about 3/4" off the channel and heat sink caulk is used between the controller and the plate. Same with the 36 to 12 volt converter.

Next, the layout is coming together. It is basically one big circle.

The first battery plus is connected to the contactor. From the the contactor to the controller. Battery negative from the controller continues on to the front two batteries and then all the way to the back battery negative to complete the loop.

Photos 11 and 13 show the motor pulley set up. Since we have more than tripled the H.P. I re-geared it to run a little faster. Well… a lot faster. Steam engine guys look out. I will be tail gating you. Well…not really, I would not tail gate as it is unsafe.

Now we see the cab and all the wires to run the number boards, head lights, class lights, deck lights and ground lights.
Plus the ditch light flasher board. Oh yes, the sound card was up there also. There were seven circuit boards. I didn't even remember what two or three of them were for.. Bummer they were all removed.

Sixteen and seventeen show the control console. I added the gauges and back lit them. I drew them up on AutoCAD and printed them on my printer. They are real little and hard to print. They do look cool at night though.

I had the engine out and gave it a test run. It runs great and sounds great with the new Phoenix sound card.