This is the circuit board on a new old stock P2K FA1 loco.
The box does not say DCC ready. And this 8-pin socket on it has an 8 pin plug in making the connections.
Can I plug a NMRA plug-equipped decoder in there, or do I have to snip this board away and hard wire the decoder (which is the way I have done it in the past) ?
Thanks for any responses.
(I am going to replace the incandescent bulb with a LED+resistor assembly)
Yup. Remove dummy plug, instert 8 pin NMRA decoder. A multitude of decoders will work…pretty much anything that isnt MRC or Bachmann in terms of decoders is desireable.
David B
If your FA-1 is like mine then the 8-pin plug is soldered to the light board. I’ve wondered about this myself.
It’s hard to tell from the photo but if you can, check that the wires going into the P2K 8 pin socket correspond to the NMRA standard pins for decoders by tracing them back to the motor, lights etc.
Most are ok, but a number of Proto models appear to have standard 8 hole sockets, but the wires leading to the pins on the decoder don’t always match.
I know from experience - ah the smell of fried decoder!
Ian
Well, ianalsop you were right. I could see a few functions that the sockets on this loco were connected to, but noticed that all the wiring was not coded properly…black wires to lights etc.
Therefore I put the Soundtraxx LC decoder into the socket and tested it only on a programming track. It didn’t respond with the decoder plug in either orientation.
I just snipped off the plug and hardwired the loco and all is well…except
This Soundtraxx LC has a problem with it’s sound. It is very very low. There must be a bad segment of the decoder. I tested it with more than one speaker in enclosures and switching out capacitors and all the necessary tests to determine if it was my install.
I reset the CVS. I can tell the decoder is responding somewhat because the tiny sound increases a tiny bit when I program the volume to maximum. But I mean this is unusable the way it is for sound.
Since I have had the decoder around for so long and cut off the plug, I guess I will just leave it as it as a motor/lights decoder and move on. I don’t want to sink more money in a repair.
Is iT me, or has anyone had this sound problem with the LCs?
Pretty much all Soundtraxx decoders besides the Tsunami’s are very quite.
Thanks.
No, this is not right.
Since that post, I have installed other Soundtraxx including a Tsunami. This one is not working. The fact that there is sound is only discernable when I place my ear almost against the speaker in its enclosure (I know that enclosures are critical).