Have a Proto 2000 GP9 with no decoder socket. The printed circuit board has printed on it to cut the X's for DCC. several X's marked on the board, but no other instructions. I thought that I had read someplace about soldering to the board but a search doesn't find it. Can anyone offer some insight? Appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.
Is there a particular decoder you plan to install? Since the engine has no socket, you will need one that just has wires. If this is a simple motor-and-headlights decoder, like a DH163, for example, I would just remove the circuit board completely, and the headlights with it. Get a couple of "golden white" LEDs, and a 1K resistor. While you're there, get some thin shrink-tubing insulation.
Wire the the track leads, motor leads and headlight wires according to the instructions. The resistor goes on the blue wire, between the decoder and the common lead to the LEDs. This is a fairly easy decoder installation, since the motor is already isolated and there should be enough room in the engine once you remove the old board.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I suspect you one of the early run Phase 3 GP9's that do not have the DCC socket. I have two of them and after looking at that light board with the 'x' marks, I just ripped out all of wiring and 'hard wired' a decoder with a JST connector on the decoder end and loose wires on the other end of the cable. I also removed the lights and replaced them with LED/resistors. It took about 45 minutes to install the decoder, and now I can 'unplug' it if I have a decoder failure. The wiring a lot more solid now.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Here's a diagram of where to cut the traces and solder in the decoder leads.
The advantage of keeping the factory circuit board, of course, is that you don't have to bother changing bulbs, calculating resistors, etc.
Of course, some folks like doing all that. But if you don't want to, then this is the way to go.
HTH, Steve
I can try using the circuit board and if that fails, I can hardwire a decoder. Any idea on how to cut the cb at the x's without damaging the board?
You can actually slice through with hobby knife. Check with a multimeter in ohms or continuity mode to make sure it's actually cut. If one of the traces is not cut through you can damage the decoder. Another way to cut traces is to use a small needle file to carve a groove. Again, test each one to be sure, all it takes is a little speck of the copper still bridging the gap to blow the decoder.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker You can actually slice through with hobby knife. Check with a multimeter in ohms or continuity mode to make sure it's actually cut. If one of the traces is not cut through you can damage the decoder. Another way to cut traces is to use a small needle file to carve a groove. Again, test each one to be sure, all it takes is a little speck of the copper still bridging the gap to blow the decoder. --Randy
What Randy said. Or a Dremel with a small burr.
Steve
I'm concerned with the space taken by the remnants of the circuit board. They put a lot of frame weight into these engines. There isn't a lot of leftover room inside, and the space taken up by the circuit board is about the amount of room you'll need for the decoder.
This is what one of mine looks like inside:
Now, this is an extreme case. The decoder, which is about where the original circuit board was, is a Tsunami, and the weird white thing on the left side is a home-made styrene speaker enclosure. I've cut away a significant amount of metal, both to make room for the speaker and to create more space for this decoder. A generic non-sound decoder will be smaller and thinner, and probably won't need major cutting, if any, but I still think the circuit board will present problems.
Here is how I installed mine. It all fits in quite nicely. Added tape baffles later, to keep the light from shining all over the place.
Orange wire to the bottom of the motor, gray wire to the top. Red wire under the screw. I added LED lighting, not a fan of the stock 1.5 volt bulbs.
This last shot shows I had the motor wired backwards. Ran backwards compared to everything else, so I fixed it.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
Take a look at the DCC section of my web site. I have pictures of a P2K SD7 with a TCS T-1 in it. It was like the OP's loco, there was a single large circuit board with a couple of resistors and marks on it to "cut here for DCC". I removed the board and had plenty of room to hard wire the TCS decoder. Part of the reason for not just cutting the traces was when I followed the circuit on it after the cuts were made, it didn't make a heck of a lot of sense, and I was installing LEDs anyway. Much easier to just hard wire the decoder and know which wire goes where.
Sorry, no pictures, but I recently hardwired a QSI Revolution-U decoder into a P2K GP-7. After removing the circuit board I had just enough room for the decoder without carving anything off the frame. I think the QSI is slightly smaller than the Tsunami, and at least equals the Tsunami in performance.
I now plan to install a t1 as soon as I get one. Does the color coding on the P2K match the decoder coding? I understand that the motor is already isolated.
paxton58 I now plan to install a t1 as soon as I get one. Does the color coding on the P2K match the decoder coding? I understand that the motor is already isolated.
On the two I did, all the wiring in the engine was black. The colored wires are on the decoder harness itself. Newer P2K engines have color-coded wiring.
The motor is isolated from the frame.
While you have it apart, you might as well clean out the peanut butter P2K used to lubricate the trucks, and put your choice of lube in.
If you really feel energetic (I didn't), you could add wires to the trucks. Similar to an Athearn, one side of the power pickup runs through the bolsters and the frame. I haven't had any problems with mine yet.
Finally got the T1 installed. Replaced the lights with LEDs and everything fit. I filed down the few protrusions from where the circuit board was located to play it safe on space. Had to wait until I got some axle gears before I could complete the project. Thanks for all of the good advice. Really appreciate the help. This was my second hardwire of a decoder.
FYI: Many of the newer decoders for older units are replacement boards. You note the wires and unscrew the original board, screw on the new one and follow the directions for wiring. That simple! John
I wired a pre-DCC PK2 GP20 this weekend with a Digitrax DH123 decoder. When I hardwired the locomotive I replaced the 1.5v lamps with 14v lamps and wired them directly to the decoder. Easy to do and works great.
Jim, Modeling the Kansas City Southern Lines in HO scale.
johncolley FYI: Many of the newer decoders for older units are replacement boards. You note the wires and unscrew the original board, screw on the new one and follow the directions for wiring. That simple! John
Yes, I prefer to use the lightboard replacement "drop-in" decoders whenever possible. Since the decoder is the same size as the lightboard it's replacing, you don't need to worry about whether it will fit or not. It's especially nice when adding a sound decoder - all you need to do is find space for the speaker.
Hello everyone!
I have a Proto 2000 GP9, but the insides look different than those others pictured, thus far. I hope someone can enlighten me as to how to wire in either my Bachmann DCC wire-harness decoder, or tell me which after-market decoder works for drop-in application. I found one on the web and wondered if this one would work for drop-in application?
NCE P2KSR HO DCC Decoder LifeLike Proto 2000 GP
***I am very frustrated…I could not add my picture to save my life….
So, here is a “diagram”; the best I could do I guess:
D8-D7-D6-D5-D4-D3-D2-D1 are the diodes on the left-to-center…
Then on the right side there is a section with eight black “caps” over areas labeled as follows:
P6 P1
P7 P2
P6 P3
P5 P4
The sections on the right side seem to have solder points in the middle??
Any ideas??
Thank you.
Cade
cadesterHello everyone! I have a Proto 2000 GP9, but the insides look different than those others pictured, thus far. I hope someone can enlighten me as to how to wire in either my Bachmann DCC wire-harness decoder, or tell me which after-market decoder works for drop-in application. I found one on the web and wondered if this one would work for drop-in application? NCE P2KSR HO DCC Decoder LifeLike Proto 2000 GP ***I am very frustrated…I could not add my picture to save my life…. So, here is a “diagram”; the best I could do I guess: D8-D7-D6-D5-D4-D3-D2-D1 are the diodes on the left-to-center… Then on the right side there is a section with eight black “caps” over areas labeled as follows: P6 P1 P7 P2 P6 P3 P5 P4 The sections on the right side seem to have solder points in the middle?? Any ideas?? Thank you. Cade
According to the NCE website the decoder is designed for the P2K GP9 among others. You can download the decoder manual from the website. It will show you what is involved in the installation as well as the available options.
Joe
cadester Hello everyone! I have a Proto 2000 GP9, but the insides look different than those others pictured, thus far. I hope someone can enlighten me as to how to wire in either my Bachmann DCC wire-harness decoder, or tell me which after-market decoder works for drop-in application. I found one on the web and wondered if this one would work for drop-in application? NCE P2KSR HO DCC Decoder LifeLike Proto 2000 GP ***I am very frustrated…I could not add my picture to save my life…. So, here is a “diagram”; the best I could do I guess: D8-D7-D6-D5-D4-D3-D2-D1 are the diodes on the left-to-center… Then on the right side there is a section with eight black “caps” over areas labeled as follows: P6 P1 P7 P2 P6 P3 P5 P4 The sections on the right side seem to have solder points in the middle?? Any ideas?? Thank you. Cade
Does it look like this:
If so, the EASIEST decoder is the Digitrax DH163L0/DH165L0. These decoders have voltage limited outputs to work with the stock light bulbs, which are 3v. The NCE version drops in in the same way but requires you to change out the bulbs for either 14v buulbs or LEDs with resistors.