I am beginning to upgrade some of my Athearn locos that are quik-plug equipped. I run a small DCC with nothing fancy. I wanted to get some reccomendations on a reasonably-priced decoder. I believe that these should be 9-pins.
Thanks.
NCE D13SRJ, cheap & excellent slow speed performance
http://www.tcsdcc.com/decoder/T1.html
The TCS T1 with their new auto BEMF function for incredible low speed control.
Lenz and Digitrax also make 9-pin decoders. I have some Digitrax and TCS. The NCE ones don’t have the plastic covering over them, so I usually don’t use them. Too many things to short out on. I prefer the TCS so far.
I use Digitrax DH123 decoders in mine.
The Digitrax DZ123 or DZ125 will also work and being so small they will fit almost anywhere and you won’t have to lose the superweight in the F units.
Let’s take a moment and read the original post. Don’t be so quick to jump in with a reply, one which has inaccurate information in it. He has an Athearn with a 9 pin receptacle. The Digitrax decoders mentioned above are NOT 9 pin decoders. They are hardwired decoders that would involve removing the factory circuit board.
Either use the NCE decoder (DA13SRJ) referenced in an earlier post or a Digitrax decoder such as a DH123D or DH163D which have a 9 pin built in to the decoder.
Get thee TCS T1 or a Digitax DH123P or DH123PS.
Anyone use the (DHAT) “Digitrax 9 pin harness with no-solder connections for Athearn Standard Locomotives” before? Its suppose to let you install one of their decoders in a Athearn’s locomotive without having to solder any connections. Or any “Digitrax” decoder with a “AT” as the last two digits of the part number in a Athearn’s loco?
I would like to know how it fits and how well it installs?
As both of my Athearn’s loco’s are none DCC ready (no receptacle). They are both about eight years old.
I’ve used the DH123AT in all my blue box locos and even a couple of RTR’s that don’t come DCC equiped without issue. They fit very well and make installation a breeze, no soldering required, just make sure to isolate the motor from the frame. I do this by placing a piece of electrical tape over the place on the frame where the motor normally comes into contact with it. When removing the motor clips, be sure not to loose track of the motor brushes and brush springs, when removing the clips, the springs have a tendancy to jump right out and can be lost easily, this happend to me with the first GP9 I tried to convert. Thankfully I had another non functional unit I was able to get the spare parts from.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.