My long dormant sw1500 project has recently been roused from its slumber, inspired by the recent acquisition of a 3d printer. Today I'm working on cad for the fuel tank, trying to arrange things so as to fit a stay alive inside it.
I thought it would be easy, there ought to be plenty of room in the tank. But it appears that the larger ESU Powerpack is actually too tall to clear the motor that extends down below the bottom of the frame. So the question is, has anybody found a solution for a keep alive in an Atlas switcher?
ESU offers a smaller Powerpack Mini, but I'm not sure if it has enough capacity for an O scale model. Any opinion on that? It's apparently the same height as the larger version, but is small enough in the XY that I should be able to fit it to one side or the other of the motor.
I would prefer to use the ESU product because it can be left connected while programming. It would also keep my electronics in the same family, for what that's worth. I'm not set on that, but I would prefer it if possible. I've also looked at the TCS keep alives, but they don't seem to offer units sized for O scale, and it appears you have to disconnect them to program the locomotive if not paired with a TCS decoder.
I've also considered putting the keep alive underneath the cab floor, but I'm now not sure it will fit there either. I'm open to suggestions. The only thing I know for certain is that the keep alive cannot go above the motor in the hood, since that volume is already chock full with the decoder and Tang Band 1931S.
Jim
