DCC

[jacon12]

"What are your "hand skills" like?
- "Not a problem. I just rewired the entire Space shuttle - right BEFORE they took off."
- "Adequate. I know how to solder and rewire things."
- "Uh, what are 'hand skills'?"

Lol...! that's me... that last one![(-D]
Jarrell

[tstage]

Dan,

Both Chip and Crandell have given you some good advice. Dan, as there are a wide variety of locomotives out there in choo-choo land, there are also a wide variety of decoders available to fit those choo-choos. The make and model of our locomotives would be handy to know, in order to make a good assessment.

Still, there are few important questions that need to be asked:

What scale are you running?
- N?
- HO?
- O?

What type?
- Steam?
- Diesel?
- Both?

What are the quality of your "older" locomotives? Did they come from "train sets" or were they purchased separately?

How long have they been packed away?

What are your "hand skills" like?
- "Not a problem. I just rewired the entire Space shuttle - right BEFORE they took off."
- "Adequate. I know how to solder and rewire things."
- "Uh, what are 'hand skills'?"

Do you have a good Local Hobby Shop (LHS) in your area that has a good selection of trains?

Chip and Crandell are right. Modifying your older locomotives may not only become a huge headache, but downright impossible. You can actually pick up a "DCC-equipped" Bachmann locomotive for about $40. It won't be the best quality locomotive (it's from their STANDARD line) but it will function and give you an inexpensive option to try out your newly purchased Prodigy Advance system .

As far as quality goes. There are good models and not so good models. There are good manufacturers and not so good manufacturers. Sometimes the two can actually become intertwined.

Dan, if your hand and soldering skills are good and you are comfortabe with the thought of trying to install and wire a decoder, I would suggest you log onto Trainworld.com and pick up a Proto 2000 S1 for $29.99. (Reg. $110 MSRP.) For the price, it's an absolute steal! The motor will need to be isolated so that you don't blow the decoder. But, if you install the decoder and replace the headlight with an LED, for around $60 (TOTAL!), you've got yourself one sweet lil' switcher.

Dan, I hope that's a push in the right direction. Give us some feedback so we can help you out further.

Tom

[nfmisso]

Dan;

Any wired decoder that has the current (ampere) capacitiy sufficient for the motor, and is small enough to fit in the space will be fine.

The locomotives should be made to run very well on DC, BEFORE iinstalling DCC.

For more info, see:
http://www.dcctrains.com/tonystips/dccprimer/index.htm

If you let us know some of your locomotives, more specific suggestions will come.

[cacole]

dwest5 -- how many years back? I have some Roundhouse, Mantua/Tyco, Lima, and other locomotives from the 1960's and 1970's that are not worth the cost of a decoder because they never ran good even when they were new. A poor running engine will not be improved by switching to DCC -- it may actually run worse than before.

A prime consideration in your case is, do your older engines run well enough to justify the time and trouble of installing decoders. With the current state of affairs with new sound-and-DCC equipped locomotives to choose from in both steam and diesel, many older engines should just be put on the shelf and forgotten.

[selector]

Chip has a good point. I've heard it said that a poor runner in DC can be a beast in DCC. New motors are excellent, as are the drives over all in the mid-to-high end range. So many of them come "DCC ready", or at least, so advertised (you must check for true motor isolation from the frame, or you fry the decoders), that you might be much further ahead to buy new. You could then go back and convert a few old favourites as you wish, but be up and running in the meantime.

-Crandell

[SpaceMouse]

Hard question without knowing what they are.

At issue is do they run good enough that they are worth converting when there are some good running DCC and DCC ready locos on the market. Once converted and you see others running the newer engines, will you have wasted your money?

[Anonymous]

Hello Eitherland. New guy here. Afew years back I had to tear my ho rr down as we moved and downsized. I have now appropreated a small space [8' X 16' ] and am going to start over. Want to try DCC so I purchaced a Prodigy Advance system. My question is, since I have only older engines with no DCC wireing in them, what type of decoders should I purchace? I know I'll have to completly wire them and want to keep it as simple as possible. Am going to try for a switching RR. Any and all help will be highly appreciated. Thanks, Dan[:I]