I have Bachmann, and Model Power and Life-like N gauge trains - do you know if it is hard to convert them to DCC??
Darren
It varies from loco to loco. Also, if they don’t run well on DC, it is probably not worth the time.
I have a little experience with a couple different Life Likes. The Ea nd F units are not too hard to do, though you have to do some surgery on the weights. If I remember right, the E unit is heavey enough that you can take a weight out, and save the surgery step. I also did an SW-900, that 's a lot more difficult, but not impossible, although the way I did it lost the headlight.
This site:
http://www.trainweb.org/nrmrc/dcc/conversions.html
Has a lot of “how to’s” for N scale installations, to give you an idea of what they take. Most newer Atlas and Kato locos, (and I think the new Walthers/Lifelike ones too) are easy, as they are light board replacement installations.
You will probably get more answers in the Electronics and DCC forum.
Some locos have drop in replacements available that are quite easy.
Some require you to “make space” by creating a pocket for the decoder in the weight and soldering directly to the contacts and motor. These can be a pain, especially if you try to make the lights work off the decoder as well. Sometimes you can order new frames milled for a decoder pocket already. I think Aztek is one company and there are others.
More recent locomotives are more likely to have provision for DCC but I found reviews of DCC locos in MRR as far back as 1995. Digitrax makes a lot of these, you could check their website to see if any of your locos have a replacement available.
The above link is an excellent one. There are also some howtos on the Tonys Train Exchange website, and a general howto can be found at http://www.wiringfordcc.com/locos.htm.
Good luck!
Chris
If you have a loco that doesn’t have much space in it for a N Scale decoder, Digitrax has Z Scale decoders that will work. I’ve used some of these in HO locos so they should work in N Scale too.
I’ve done a bunch of installations, close to 50 for my own stuff, plus a bunch of others for other people. Some are harder than others. Finding space for the decoder is the biggest challenge. Wiring them in is pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it. The good news is that just about everything available now has some provision for DCC.
If you can be more specific about which engines you have, we can better judge the level of difficulty you’re looking at.
If the Bachmann, Lifelike and Model Power engines you have are older “train set” engines, they probably aren’t worth the cost of the decoder, much less the frustration you’ll find making them work.
My suggestion would be to sell off what you have on Ebay, and use the money to get a newer Atlas or Kato locomotive. You can purchase Atlas “off the rack” with a decoder pre-installed.
Hope this is helpful.
Lee