Has anyone purchased an Athearn MP15AC with the rotary beacon and if so does it have a lamp in it? I plan on adding an NCE decoder to light up the beacon and was hoping there was already a a lamp in it.
It is prewired to use the 3rd function of a decoder. So, an NCE 3 function 9pin decoder will just plug in and work.
David B
Excellent. So I don’t have to add a bulb?
David would you buy a non sound unit? Are they smooth runners?
Nope, bulb already there…
David B
Sorry, edited my previous post and you beat me to my answer. So would you buy one? Are they smooth runners?
Beautiful runners, beautiful detail…
David B
The bulb is already in. On my bandit, the factory hooked it up to the rear headlight. [:(!] I took it apart, and hooked it up properly. The cab snaps off after taking the handrails off. There are outputs on the board that it hooks up to. The light outputs have LM317 regulators on them.
If you use a 9-pin decoder, I recommend removing the 8-pin plug. It is soldered in. With the 8-pin plug out, there is a lot more room to get the decoder in, and have everything lay flat. While I had my bandit apart to hook up the blinky light correctly, I took out the 8-pin plug, and soldered more of the connections to the board.
The MP15ACs run very nicely, great detail. A bit light, but there isn’t any room to add more, and keep the see-through front grill. That’s why I have 2. [;)] I used TCS T4X decoders in mine, for the BEMF.
These engines have two separate headlight switches. Both lights could be on bright, or dimmed. NCE decoders can do this, dim the front on F4, back on F8. I haven’t been able to do this with a TCS decoder.
Can you post some pics of your new engines? I only use NCE decoders. So what your’e saying is forget about buying the decoder with a plug and just buy one I can solder in? I don’t have a problem with that.
I thought these were 9 pin plugs? This loco comes with an 8 pin? If David is “listening” [:)]what NCE decoder would you recommend for this engine?
That’s the bad thing about Athearn locomotives these days…if they have extra lights (ditch lights, rotary beacons, Gyralights), they invariably wire the extra lights to the headlight outputs instead of taking the extra time to connect them to the extra function connections on the board.
Mind you, I think the design of the boards they’re using these days is brilliant…both a 9-pin JST connector AND 8-pin NMRA connector for decoders. Plus, they have it set up with 1.5v voltage regulators for the outputs so you can use 1.5v bulbs without having to mess with resistors…just plug the decoder in and program it.
D13SRJ.
David B
The boards have both 9-pin and 8-pin plugs. I use the 9-pin. Not much room in there, so I took out the 8-pin plug. Fits better.
I have the CP 1433 and Soo 1562. Might have to get better shots, or video soon. This shot shows pretty much my whole basement empire. The furnace and water heater are behind me.
I’m waiting for these to come out.
I also soldered up a few other connections. Had to take this one mostly apart and lube the motor a little bit.
FYI on some or all of the Athearn boards that have 8 and 9 pin plugs the 8 pin plug is redundant, not hooked up to anything. It’s just an Atlas copy board with a 9 pin plug added.
Does your MP15AC “growl” a little bit? Mine sounds like an old athearn open frame motor. I can hear a pulsating growl as it moves about my layout. I contacted Athearn and had them send me some new wheelsets as they were not true, but that didn’t do anything to help aliviate the “growling”. I wonder if thats why you had to lube the engine?
Try a small drop of LaBelle 108 on either end of the motor. That is what I did with this one. I had one driveshaft out, to see if the truck was causing the probllem. It wasn’t; the motor needed a little help.