help needed with a forum & decoder question

[VTBob]

Hello again,

I had asked earlier what sound decoder would work best with the bachmann 2-6-6-2 & the 4-6-0 with little replies.

I probably should clarify: I'm looking for the easier to self-install. I tried the plug & play MRC mini-dcc decoder which didn't work at all.

I also need to know where I can ask about intermitant decoder response when (a Soundtraxx sound EMD 567 decoder) powering up a Walthers GP9, seeing as how this is a Bachmann only forum.

Thanks again,
Vermont Bob.

[Chris350]

There is a soundtraxx forum over at yahoo groups, you ought to get good response there.  Draw back is you have to create a Yahoo identity.  You might get a response here as well, someone may be able to help you off board.  As for installing to the bachman engines, since you have one soundtraxx decoder, and newer Bachman engines are set up to take a version of the soundtraxx decoders why not stay with them?  They are first rate decoders.  The last soundtraxx heavy steam decoder I did was very plug and play.  It went into the newest release of the Hicken tender for SP.

[VTBob]

Only problem I have is all my bachmann steam locomotives are 1st run units. I'm not having anyluck when I try to hardwire in a decoder with them.

The yahoo forums are full of spam, spyware & other not-needed issues for my computer. That's why I come here.

I have a dcc-ready small vanderbuilt tender, but I'm unsure as to what locomotive I can use it with. That was one of those "buy it on a whim" ideas. It's been in the box since I bought it.

I'll be bringing the Walthers GP9 (also a first run) locomotive over to Tony's Train Exchange tomorrow night & let them tinker with the blasted thing. The EMD 567 Soundtraxx decoder that's in that one, was in one of my LL PK2 BL-2 but it suffers the same as all my P2K BL-2's -- The busted axle gear


Vermont Bob

[Jim Banner]

Bob,
This may be an awkward question, but do you know how to install a decoder?  About measuring motor stall current to make sure the decoder can handle the load?  About electrically isolating the motor to avoid burning out the decoder?  About removing RFI capacitors to keep them from overloading the decoder?  About changing the lights in some locomotives?  Some of these things are taken care of in the plug and play locomotives but some are not.

Similarly, do you know how to program decoders?  With sound decoders, there is more to do than just changing the address.  (This is true of most things in life - the more the technology can do for you, the more fiddling you have to do with the technology.  Think dial phone versus iPhone.

Once you have installed and programmed a decoder, do you know how to operate it?  They are all a little different, and even the same decoder in the same application can be programmed to operate quite differently.

I ask these questions because I have no idea where you are in the learning curve.  We had one fellow visit the forum who burned up a handful of decoders because he did not understand the concept of motor isolation.  And I had a fellow visit me with a locomotive that he swore had to be bad because he could not get the plug and play sound to work, even though had tried two decoders - turned out he had skipped the part about unmuting it.

Jim

[rich1998]

i have been using yahoo groups for some years.

no spam, spyware or malware. the group administrators take care of that. my yahoo email puts all the spam into a spam folder where yahoo dumps the stuff or i can dump the stuff myself.

yahoo soundtraxx group has a lot of good info and a lot of activity.
lex

[lmackattack]

The Tsunami Heavy steam has options for articulated chuff sounds. If your loco is not DCC ready you will need to hard wire in a decoder. if this loco has a teather from engine to tender you will have to find the specific use for each wire and attach the correct decoder wires to them. you can also use there small or medium steam decoder for the 4-6-0. A cheeper decoder would be the MRC steam but i have no experince with them.

[VTBob]

hey guy, jim,

Sorry about the long delay in my response; been putting in overtime, & had to attend a model railway show on saturday. Finally had a minute to sit back down from all that XD

I have a good grasp of electrical circuts, tho I'm still in that group labeled "Somewhat new at this" for decoder installs. The only refernce guide I have for my Soundtraxx decoders, is an eariler locomotive (Atlas RS-1) I did last year, when I had instructions on it. The decoders I have are not the Tsunami kind, they are the first gen (EMD 567 w/turbo whine) I'll try to draw an image in ASCII text below of the style. I haven't been informed about stall current, as I have been told that most of my locomotives (except the Athearn ones) are more then suitible for the decoders I have. I haven't any capacitors in the Walthers GP9 I tried to put it into. The installion into the P2K BL-2 when just fine, but I found out that the trip from mom's house to here, just that brief stint in the cold weather, had cracked the axle & main shaft gearings, so altho it sounded great, it went no where. Not sure about lights, as I take out the bulbs anyway (mostly because I don't know where they go, & I don't want them in the way)

Programming is not difficult, but not very fun. One of my decoders I bought from a guy that only used it briefly, is stuck in a consist address & isn't (by the book for NCE) coming out of it. I sometimes wish that ALL decoders had a reset jumper like Broadway Limited does.

The only thing I "know" how to do is to program an adress to a decoder, usually with the cab number of the loco it's in. That way I can get my short term memory to remember it. There's a note tacked to my layout side reading " When in doubt, try #3"

I hope I haven't burned up the decoders, & the only reason why I am trying to install these is that the model railway club I belong to only has DCC.

Thanks for the help,
Robert (Vermont Bob)

[Len]

Since Walthers took over Life-Like, you should contact their customer service dept for a set of replacement gears/axles for the BL-2. They're actually fairly simple to replace.

The contact info from their web site is:

Contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-4-TRAINS (1-800-487-2467). Because they're real people who have to go home at night, our Customer Service phones are only available Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, Central Time.

Also, since the motors are already insulated from the frame, adding DCC to Walthers GP9's is fairly straight forward. The trick is finding room for a speaker if you're adding sound.

Len