1. DCC Ready? The Good, The Bad and The UGLY! Presented by Bruce Petrarca Copyright 2010 © Bruce Petrarca, All Rights Reserved

2. How to operate this slide show The show will operate automatically To speed up the pace, use your keyboard’s right arrow To back up in the presentation, use your keyboard’s left arrow

3. Litchfield Station Founded by Bruce in 2001 Sold in the spring of 2010 At that time, it was: –The largest volume SoundTraxx dealer in the world –The second largest SoundTraxx and Blackstone dealer in the world, behind Caboose Hobbies –Second to Walthers in Digitrax volume worldwide –The largest direct-ordering NCE dealer in the world

4. Mr. DCC continues… Bruce still holds the tradename The technical data is on a new web site: www.MrDCCU.comwww.MrDCCU.com Bruce doesn’t make anything off Litchfield Station sales, but is available for: –DCC & layout consulting –Specialized installations –Clinics and talks

5. Introduction What does “DCC Ready” mean on a loco? How to work with what we are given

6. Topics Markings and their meanings Define Good, Bad, and Ugly Examples of each type The Others – some other ideas on installs

7. Overview Your pike will probably need different pieces of the puzzle to bring together the look you want Bad UGL Y Goo d Bad Goo d Bad Goo d UGLY I’m going to discuss a few locos I’ve worked on and how I made them “happy campers” on DCC

8. Markings DCC logo No standards for use NMRA conformance warrant Tested to NMRA standards and RPs, but which ones?

9. What does “DCC Ready” mean? Expectation: plug in a decoder and run Different locos from the same manufacturer can vary widely in their “readiness” Reality: The art department at the manufacturer can spell “DCC”

10. The Good – my criteria Plug in a decoder – multiple suppliers The loco operates with all its features The loco operates safely for a long time Soldering preferably not needed What most of us expect from the DCC logo Here we go, in alphabetical order

11. Atlas C-424 HO Plug in a NMRA medium (8-pin aka NEM652) decoder and go Digitrax DN163PS decoder shown

12. Kato E8/9A N LocoSpecific decoder: Digitrax DN163K0A or NCE N12K0a

13. Life-Like Proto 1000 DL109 HO Light board replacement decoder: NCE DASR shown Connections soldered and light replaced with Golden White LED – optional

14. Life-Like Proto 1000 F3 HO Typical of older Proto 1000 design Three cuts and soldering needed!! Trouble free installation DH163D decoder shown

15. Life-Like Proto 2000 GP & SD HO Many versions in GP 7 & 9 or SD 7 & 9 The versions shown are “DCC Ready” DH163PS in SD7 LE1024MP in SD9

16. Stewart FT-A HO (older) TCS makes a custom harness for this loco to install a JST style decoder – T1 shown

17. Stewart S12 HO NMRA 8-pin plug Lenz Silver-MP shown Light contacts may need wires

18. Stewart VO1000 HO TCS makes a custom harness for this loco to install a JST style decoder – T1 shown Light contacts may need wires

19. The Bad – my criteria Requires extensive talent or experience: Soldering or changing bulbs Difficult disassembly DCC included, but difficult to use Damage to loco or decoder on some units Here we go, in alphabetical order

20. Athearn Genesis or RTR Diesel: HO CF7 Shown Digitrax designed board – quality issues Rail to motor short can damage decoder

21. Athearn Genesis Diesel Sound Older units had MRC Decoder installed 4-digit address cannot be programmed by normal means. Best “work around” is to program another loco to the desired address and read the values in CV 17 and CV 18 and copy them into the Athearn unit Not for the beginner or faint of heart!

22. Athearn Genesis SD75M HO 1.5 volt bulbs a challenge in DCC, if you want realistic ditch lights A6X decoder from TCS has voltage regulator

23. Atlas HO-scale S-2 LocoSpecific decoder from one vendor: NCE ATL-S4 Complete kit for installation, including insulation for motor Soldering of the LEDs needed

24. Atlas N-scale – GP-28 shown LocoSpecific decoder: Digitrax DN163A0 NCE N12A0 TCS AMD1 Motor contact intermittent – add wires to fix

25. Kato C-44-9W HO On board short for rear light blow board and decoder when “plug-in” decoder is installed

26. Life-Like Proto 2000 GPs & SDs HO Low voltage bulbs must be changed DH163L0 – single source Some GP60s had a marker bulb across the rails, making programming difficult

27. The UGLY – my criteria Entire runs of locos that damage themselves or the decoders Design flaws which threaten the loco or decoder Here we go, in alphabetical order

28. Life-Like Proto 2000 S1 HO

29. Heavily billed as a “DCC Ready” loco... But it has a design flaw – orange wire to frame and low voltage bulbs

30. Life-Like Proto 2000 S1 HO First – isolate the motor from the frame and add an orange wire Replace bulbs with Golden White LEDs

31. Life-Like Proto 2000 S1 HO Install your choice of decoder Replace bulbs with Golden White LEDs

32. The UGLY – honorable mention Bachmann 0-4-0T – has socket, but no room for decoder – need to hard wire MDC “Critter” first run LEDs backwards, blew decoder if plugged into socket MDC Heisler – internal shorts Proto 2000 PA circa 1995 –not sold as “DCC Ready” –Stall current above 3.5 amps

33. The Others... Here are some examples of typical installations, in the style of Mr. DCC! Only quality Kapton tape is used Wiring is routed and constrained Shrink tubing is used to secure and insulate

34. Athearn “Blue Box” HO classics

35. Bachmann MOW HO Crane

36. Kato HO GP35

37. Kato HO NW2

38. Kato HO RS2