hi everyone i am a little upset right now, i recently purchased a new n scale bachmann spectrum 2-8-0 that is dcc ready or so i thought. being fairly new to the hobby and especially with n scale i told the salesman exactly what i was looking for, i wanted n scale steam with nuckle couplers and dcc ready or dcc equiped. he showed me the consolidation and told me it was dcc ready and would look good on my small radius curves. it however had rapido couplers, he said the conversion was easy so i bought knuckles too. he was right about the conversion however he was dead wrong about it being dcc ready there is no board or 8 pin plug in the tender like my reaserch on it told me. So i am in a bind because i do not feel comfortable in tearing apart everything and rewiring it to put a decoder in, if it was HO maybe but not N. What should i do? Try to exchange it for one that is ready? Have them convert it over? I feel dumb and angry and do not know what to do. How hard is it to wire in a decoder? Please help!
Adam–
If I were you, I’d take it back to the hobby shop and explain to the salesman–VERY calmly–that you don’t find a DCC plug in the tender. It could be that the salesman thought he was selling you the newest Spectrum that is DCC ready, and accidentally sold you an older model. If the LHS and the salesman are reputable (and in these days of declining hobby shops they certainly SHOULD be), he’ll probably either change it out for you, or make sure a DCC plug is installed for you.
But be cool about it. I’ve found that mistakes at a hobby shop can be rectified a lot smoother if you just explain things instead of going in with a chip on your shoulder about it. And that advice applies to any person of any age in any retail establishment.
Hope you can get it done to your satisfaction.
Best,
Tom [:)]
I’m into HO, and I don’t have a Bachmann Spectrum locomotive, so I’m probably not qualified to speak. But looking at Bachmann’s website I see an N scale 4-8-4. See http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/N821X-IS001.PDF
If you scroll down to the tender part explosion, it appears to me that the intent is to remove some dummy plugs and then connect (maybe solder) the decoder wires to the points designated on the included with tender circuit board. I’ll make a great leap and assume that your 2-8-0 has a similar assembly. I’ll leap further and assume that there was some sort of instruction sheet that came with your engine that probably has a similar part explosion and maybe even a similar connection diagram.
If all these assumptions are correct, then it seems to me that the problem is Bachmann’s interpretation of “DCC ready” assumes that you are willing to potentially do some soldering, and your interpretation is that there is an 8-pin socket. I don’t know what the person at the hobby shop assumed when you asked your “is it DCC ready” question. If you specifically asked if it had an 8-pin socket, then maybe he is at fault if he said yes without looking. If he was an N-scaler who had experience with the Bachmann engines, then maybe to him the model is more “DCC ready” than one where all the existing wiring needs to be disconnected and the decoder wired to 8 different places instead of the one location on the board.
To give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I’d say this is a miscommunication brought on by different expectations. If your local hobby shop has any good people working there, maybe they have someone who will do the install for you. The guy at the shop where I go is perfectly happy to do a decoder install at a nominal cost, especially if you have just purchased the decoder f
[quote user=“maxman”]
I’m into HO, and I don’t have a Bachmann Spectrum locomotive, so I’m probably not qualified to speak. But looking at Bachmann’s website I see an N scale 4-8-4. See http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/N821X-IS001.PDF
If you scroll down to the tender part explosion, it appears to me that the intent is to remove some dummy plugs and then connect (maybe solder) the decoder wires to the points designated on the included with tender circuit board. I’ll make a great leap and assume that your 2-8-0 has a similar assembly. I’ll leap further and assume that there was some sort of instruction sheet that came with your engine that probably has a similar part explosion and maybe even a similar connection diagram.
If all these assumptions are correct, then it seems to me that the problem is Bachmann’s interpretation of “DCC ready” assumes that you are willing to potentially do some soldering, and your interpretation is that there is an 8-pin socket. I don’t know what the person at the hobby shop assumed when you asked your “is it DCC ready” question. If you specifically asked if it had an 8-pin socket, then maybe he is at fault if he said yes without looking. If he was an N-scaler who had experience with the Bachmann engines, then maybe to him the model is more “DCC ready” than one where all the existing wiring needs to be disconnected and the decoder wired to 8 different places instead of the one location on the board.
To give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I’d say this is a miscommunication brought on by different expectations. If your local hobby shop has any good people working there, maybe they have someone who will do the install for you. The guy at the shop where I go is perfectly happy to do a decoder install at a nominal cost, especially if you have just p
[quote user=“cheese3”]
[quote user=“maxman”]
I’m into HO, and I don’t have a Bachmann Spectrum locomotive, so I’m probably not qualified to speak. But looking at Bachmann’s website I see an N scale 4-8-4. See http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/N821X-IS001.PDF
If you scroll down to the tender part explosion, it appears to me that the intent is to remove some dummy plugs and then connect (maybe solder) the decoder wires to the points designated on the included with tender circuit board. I’ll make a great leap and assume that your 2-8-0 has a similar assembly. I’ll leap further and assume that there was some sort of instruction sheet that came with your engine that probably has a similar part explosion and maybe even a similar connection diagram.
If all these assumptions are correct, then it seems to me that the problem is Bachmann’s interpretation of “DCC ready” assumes that you are willing to potentially do some soldering, and your interpretation is that there is an 8-pin socket. I don’t know what the person at the hobby shop assumed when you asked your “is it DCC ready” question. If you specifically asked if it had an 8-pin socket, then maybe he is at fault if he said yes without looking. If he was an N-scaler who had experience with the Bachmann engines, then maybe to him the model is more “DCC ready” than one where all the existing wiring needs to be disconnected and the decoder wired to 8 different places instead of the one location on the board.
To give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I’d say this is a miscommunication brought on by different expectations. If your local hobby shop has any good people working there, maybe they have someone who will do the install for you. The guy at the shop where I go is perfectly happy to do a decoder install at a nominal cost, especia
the box does not say dcc ready i was simply trusting the salesman im sure it was an honest mistake so like i said im going to see if i cant get it straightened out
To be fair, Adam, the salesperson, in turn, might be depending in good faith on what the box claims. I have noted, as have many others over the past several years, that the term “DCC Ready” means X, Y, or Z, depending on the manufacturer. It’s a shell game, and it is most frustrating. I think the standard is slowly evolving so that competitive positions are not lost, but you may have an older engine made when “DCC Ready” meant that you were ready to install one, so get on with it.
Sorry, but that is almost how you have to think about it. As for this engine, someone here can help you with a hard wiring, but probably over in the Electronics and DCC forum next door.
Good luck.
I know how frustrating it can be. I have several locos that were sold as ‘DCC Ready’ back when DCC Ready only meant the motor was isolated from the frame. Any decoder had to be hard-wired. That may be what you have there.
No apologys, a lot of people I know have that issue too. it’s true with “DCC equipped” as well. Do you mean there’s a decoder equipped? or Quickplug Equipped?
I would blame Bachmann more than I would the hobby shop…
I have an N-scale Spectrum, SD45, that I picked up because it was “DCC Ready” and I figured that I would need to put in some sort of “plug & play” decoder like with the Atlas DCC Ready engines.
“DCC Ready” my arse.
Not only do you have to solder in the decoder, but there are absolutely no instructions with the engine itself. I found out how to wire in the decoder by surfing the net-- which wasn’t a big deal on it’s own, but to advertise on the box that the engine was “DCC Ready” and make it a solder-in decoder-- for shame Bachmann!
I sold consumer electronics & computers for a decade and it would be like telling everyone that their VCR would record TV shows but not including an instruction manual-- and eliminating all the writing on the remote control buttons.
It’s nonsense like this “DCC Ready” fiasco by Bachmann that frustrates the heck out of hobbyiests.
DCC ready is a very general term, representing any locomotive that has some provisions for the installation of a decoder
that can be anything from 8 or 9 pin plugs, thru soldering pads, board replacement, matching color codes, to just an isolated motor.
Spectrum N 2-8-0, the short version.
recommended decoder Digitrax DZ123 or Lenz mini
remove the locos shell (not the tender) by spreading front steps out to release pins in boiler
disconnect reverser linkage, (black plastic) on the engineers side of the firebox, and remove cab grabs at the top on back of cab( the bottom end can stay connected, and swung down out of the way
slide jewelers screwdriver in under firebox to release catch, each side, swing body up from the cab end and slide foreward to remove
the wires for the motor and light are the same color as on the decoder
orange/grey motor
blue/white light
and you will see those wires are connected to the chassis halves at two tabs on top
remove the insert weight on top (that’s where the decoder goes) and plastic cap on tabs
red wire engineers side tab
black firemans side tab
cap hold wires in place
orange to orange
grey to grey
blue to blue
white to white
yellow can be connected to the white also if you want the light to stay on in reverse
note; on some early versions the light wire colors were backwards, for the led, if light will not
come on, reverse the blue and white wires.