Is anybody lucky enough to be in a town where there is an LHS that can intelligently sell/advise/repair/install the new DCC and DCC sound equipment??
Mail order (Tony’s/Loy’s etc) is a little awkward at best. Long distance.
Art Gordon
My LHS seems knowledgeable and I install all my own decoders. I’ve actually installed a few for his customers as he just doesn’t have the time.
Hi Art, I can’t tell where you live because your profile is not filled out, but I have to assume that you do not have a LHS nearby, or, one that has knowledgable people concerning your needs. This is a problem in many areas of the country, and around the world, just not the U.S. So you only have a few choices:
- Use this thread or another equally good.
- Use email to talk to Tony’s and Loy’s , both are excellent.
- READ, get your hands on every book and internet article that deals with your issues.
- Experiment, but only after you have read-up on the subject in question, otherwise, you might find yourself being another Edison, 1000 experiments before finding that Tungsten makes a great filament without burning out right away.
- Save your gas money until you can afford to take a trip to a knowledgable LHS, maybe one withing driving range of where you live that someone on this thread can rate for you, IF we know where you live.
Does this help?
Well, in Maynard, MA there is a DCC specialist company (DCC only, not a general LHS)
Supposedly they do all of the things you speak of, and I will probably ask them to do the decoder install in my LL P2k GP38-2, as I’ve heard Life-Like locos are a paain to convert
The nearest “local” hobby shop to me is a 70 mile one-way trip, and the only knowledge they have is of G scale.
I do all of my own and other people’s decoder and sound installs, because we have no other members in the local HO-scale club who even know how to solder or install simple “plug-n-play” decoders.
The first time I tryed to solder (Building a working replica of the Marconi Tower on Cape Cod) I burned myself. That was one big owwy.
Close to Maynard, Mass, and railroadyoshi, is Chelmsford, Mass. MaineTrians is also run by an expert, Gerry, who not only understands and installs DCC, but can also paint the exterior of locomotives or rolling stock to your specifications. I consider myself fortunate to live nearby. Don’t underestimate the value of expertise and experience. So far, I’ve damaged 3 decoders. One is missing a front headlight function, one won’t run a motor, and the last is, to use the gastronomical analogy, Toast.
Around here I wouldn’t say that the LHS knows how to do DCC but a few of the employees are very good with it. So, I guess that would be a yes.
Well, between Yoshi and you Mr B., we all live near some pretty good assistance here in Massachusetts should it be needed. And, if you frrl like taking a nice Fall ride, we can make it to Tony’s in Essex Junction Vermont in about 3 hours . I have been soldering everything from copper pipes to tiny microcircuits for 43 years, so soldering is no problem for me, however, I am new to decoder installs, so I will have to learn all about the do’s and don’ts like we did when first handling MOS circuits in dry weather.
I’ve done 3 GP38-2’s, all you need to do is disconnect the number board lights and add them to the headlights on the board. I used a DH163LO Digitrax decoder. If you ever put one of these into any P2K then you know how easy it is, the rewireing job didn’t even take an extra 5 minutes. Pop the body off and you will see what I mean.[:D]
I should add that if you do pop the body off there are 4 screws holding it on, 2 for the couplers and 2 under the trucks. Slightly turn the trucks and you will see them, both are towards the middle of the body towards the fuel tank.