Rapido Trains F40PH-2D Operating Instructions Manual - Installing A Decoder

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Some train set throttles put out a very high maximum voltage that is not suitable for scale 

model trains. The maximum recommended voltage is 16 volts DC. Similarly, controllers 

designed for large scale trains put out a much higher voltage than your F40PH-2D can 

handle.

If you use a train set throttle or a throttle designed for large scale trains, your locomo-

tive’s circuitry may end up looking like those “your brain on drugs” commercials. In 

such situations, we’ll try our best to fix it for you. But we may have to charge you for the 

replacement parts and/or the labour involved. That’s because you didn’t read this bit 

of the manual.

INSTALLING A DECODER

The F40PH-2D contains an ESU-designed motherboard which is connected to the track, 

motor and lighting outputs. A blind plug is attached to the motherboard using a 21-pin 

connector. To install a decoder, remove the blind plug and install a 21-pin decoder 

(recommended) or a 21-pin adapter to attach an 8-pin or a 9-pin decoder. Your chosen 

decoder should have six function outputs.

At the time of writing, we recommend the following 21-pin decoder:

•  ESU #54615 - LokPilot V4.0 DCC with 21MTC

We feel the 21-pin connectors are superior because there are enough pins to ensure that 

all your lighting functions are connected. The necessary resistors are included on our 

ESU-designed motherboard so you don’t have to futz around with resistors. Just plug in 

the recommended decoder and you have DCC.

ESU has made an F40PH-2D function mapping which can be downloaded into their 

non-sound decoder (54615) so that the function buttons and motor control are exactly 

the same as our factory-released sound versions. This is available for download on 

the F40PH-2D page in the Support section of our web site. You will need an ESU Lok-

Programmer to write the function mapping to the 54615 decoder. If you don’t have a 

LokProgrammer, you can adjust CVs in the usual way. 

If you have brass or kitbashed F40PH-2D locomotives and you would like them to oper-

ate the same way as our models, you can install ESU decoder #91423. This is ESU’s 

F40PH decoder with Rapido’s custom F40PH-2D function mapping already installed.

OPERATION – DC (SOUND)

To operate your sound-equipped F40PH-2D locomotive on a DC layout, just give the 

throttle some juice. The engine will start up once sufficient voltage has been reached 

(around seven volts). See the note above (in Operation – DC (Silent)) about using train