Has anybody installed a decoder in this locomotive? i am trying to do one myself and can’t figure out how to do it?
Is it a DCC Ready model or standard DC? I have one of the old standard DC models. I disconnected the motor wires from the light board and connected them to the orange and gray wires of a DZ125 decoder. The red and black pickup wires were disconnected from the board and connected the decoders red and black wires. The decoders white wire and blue wire were connected to the pickup tabs on the board. This gave full motor and light control. I dealt with my PA1’s high top speed by setting the decoder on the slowest speed table setting. This gave it a more realistic speed.
You probably should find this helpful, especially if you are wanting to do sound.
http://www.litchfieldstation.com/DCC-University/install/HODS/Life-Like-Proto2000-PA-828040.htm
Hi
I have a PA1 "A&B and because it was my first I had Litchfield Station do the job. The A has a D13SR and the B has a Soundtrax 100LC. I’m not complaining but the two different decoders in the A&B, I think, make them hard to speed match. It took me a week to get them to pull together. (my first try) There does not seem to be enough room in the A unit for a speaker. My point being, work this out before deciding what decoders to use.
Best of luck.
Lee
I Got the Rio Grande A&B a couble years ago. I put an MRC #1803 sound decoder built specificly for these units and have never had a problem. They run and sound great. They even added connections for the mars light.