I have a DCC Bachmann Spectrum steam loco 2-8-0. Has anyone changed the decoder and added a sound decoder ? If so, what decoder did you use and are you happy with it?
My Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 is the first engine I’ve installed sound in. I bought the MRC mini steam sound decoder. It was fairly easy to install in the tender. I had to trim out the area under the coal load enough for the speaker to fit this area. I must say that I would not buy another of these decoders. It took me several attempts to get it to program. I found that it will only program in the operations mode. Everthing worked as advertised after installation, but has deteriorated since. I have lost the function of the headlight, and don’t know why yet. The decoder seems to be very finicky in that some functions work only some of the time, and has recently quit running in reverse, again I don’t yet know why. This maybe true of all sound decoders, but the track and wheels have to be VERY clean or the sound becomes intermittant. The sound quality is acceptable when it works. In the future, I will probably stick with Digitrax decoders for my Digitrax system. I will watch this subject to see what others are experiencing.
It is very disappointing to me, personally, that so many people report failures in their MRC sound decoders, and if not outright failures, so much difficulty in getting them to work that many just give up and buy something else…like the Tsunami series from Soundtraxx or the others…Digitrax, Loksound, and now the highly vaunted QSI Revolution (Universal). I am awaiting with much anticipation a modern diesel that a friend is fitting with a QSI Revolution. But, for all my steam installations, it is hard to beat the Tsunami. It comes in three flavours…light, medium, and heavy…steam engines, that is. You would probably be right to use the light type in a 2-8-0, although there were some very large and heavy Consolidations in use.
-Crandell
i have installed several tsunamis in my spectrums and they work flawlessly. the biggest flaw regarding bachmann is the pick up wipes on the tender and locomotive drivers. i wired the tender wipes directly to the decoder and then added a large 25v 2200uf ‘stay alive’ capacitor to compenstate. also i use an electrical conductivity oil. all works great. i’ve also installed a couple of the revolutions and the averall quality of motor control is phenomenal. they should have the steam files for download available soon.
Thanks for the input.