Guys, Can this 1 amp dcc and sound plug and play decoder be installed in a non-dcc ready engine? Can i simply cut the plug off and hard wire as needed? I have 2 HO IHC steamers (2-6-0 and 4-6-2) and was wondering if this would work.
Yes, it would work but the ‘LC’ (low cost) decoders are not a good choice for smooth motor operation.
Yup, you can always cut the plug off and hard wire a decoder. Red to the right rail, black to the left rail, orange to the side of the motor that used to be connected to the right rail, grey to the other side of the motor. Blue and white to the headlight, if using an LED, blue is positive.
Just be sure the motor brushes are isolated from the frame, otherwise your decoder is going to last all of 5 seconds. Cut the motor wires with enough slack to strip them and attach them to the decoder wires, but before connecting the decoder, use a meter to test each motor lead down to the wheels. It must be open circuit for any combination of motor wire and wheels - ie, right motor lead, right wheels; right motor lead, left wheels; etc.
–Randy
I’ve got a Soundtraxx LC in a Proto RS-3. It runs about the same as it did with the DH123 I had in it originally. I really don’t have any issues with motor control. It’s not fancy back EMF, but the engine doesn’t stall and it accelerates and decelerates smoothly.
And, as Shania Twain would say, “Man, it sounds like an Alco.” And what better authority on twains than Shania, right.
Amen brother. And I’m not looking for “high end” sound. Good motor control and Soundtraxx sound works for me.
Althought I find my LC decoder to be quite acceptable, I also have a Proto GP9 that I just installed a Tsunami diesel decoder in. The Tsunami is clearly far and away a better system. The overall sound environment is so much more complex and rich.
A P2K Geep doesn’t have much room inside. I had to machine down the interior weight just to install the decoder, and the trimming and cutting for the speaker enclosure was significant. This wasn’t a full-time project, but overall I probably spent 12 hours or more installing this system, spread over about 3 weeks. I thought about going for another LC for this engine, but now that it’s done, I’m glad I put in the Tsunami. For the amount of work I had to devote to the project, I’m glad I went with the better decoder.
If you carefully trim about 1/4" of the plastic housing of the decoder away, where the wires come out, you’ll see that the wires are attached to the decoder by a 9-pin plug/harness that you can unplug and then plug in another harness that just has wires for a hardwire installation rather than going to an eight-pin DCC plug. Then you can save the harness you remove to use in some other installation down the road.
In GPs or SDs or similar engines, a lightboard replacement decoder usually is the best choice because it takes up no more room than the lightboard it’s replacing. For sound you just need to find room for a speaker, like a 1/2" by 1" oval one.
BTW for Tsunamis, the lightboard ones are cheaper than “regular” Tsunamis.
From a professional, the downside to the LC series of decoders is the lack of a keep-alive capacitor. The LC decoder will shut off and play the ‘start up’ sequence (and if you have momentum on, it will momentum up to speed) every time it looses power.
My advice would be to go with modern tecnology and go for the Tsunami series of decoders. Your locos will run better and sound much more authentic.
David B
I find if you keep your track clean, the loss of power / restart issue isn’t that big a problem. The biggest problem with the LC series I find is that they apparently were designed before “silent” decoder technology came in, so they do whine when the engine is moving. You can adjust the “tone” of the whine a little so it’s less obvious, but it’s always there when the engine is moving.
Boy aint that the truth! I removed one LC decoder just because of that and put in a non sound NCE decoder. I like it much better, even without the sound. It was just too annoying.
When I started buying QSI sound equipped loco’s it was like night and day difference. You never know how really awful the LC decoder’s are until you upgrade to the cadillac version. But of course you pay more, so if you want to save a few bucks go with Soundtraxx. I still have a few engines with soundtraxx that work well enough I will keep them.