n scale dcc decoders, help!

[mmr1229]

currently i am modeling in n scale and  ive deciided to go with mostly kato locomotives i am in the process of converting them to dcc, its been quite an adventure to say the  least. at first i started with the mrc drop in sound decoders for my two sd80mac's and i was very pleased at first and than came the problems not responding to commands sounds doing whatever they wanted stalling and then finally nothing at all. so i cleaned and cleaned, track, loco's everything still nothing. so i decided to try another drop in decoder after all the comments made about mrc so i went with train control systems standard decoder (no sound). Didnt even try to work still nothing, however the loco's still both work fine with their factory light boards so i know the loco is ok. my next option is to solder in a wired decoder to the factory light board and ive found the resources to do so (steps on where to cut the factory board etc.). my question is: has anyone done this before and if so what decoder would you recomend?

[mfm37]

Before hard wiring a decoder try tinning the frame contact ares on the decoder. Some of the replacement boards are just a bit thinner than the stock boards. Adding a little solder to the pads will close the gap to make good contact with the frame. Also be sure you have taped the frame under the motor contact "wings" per the directions and insure that the motor contacts are under the wings when the decoder is slid into position.

If none of the above works and you want to proceed with a hard wire installion, a Digitrax DZ125,  NCE Z14SR or N12SRP, TCS M series will fit. DZ143 decoders were the choice in a couple of mine because I also wanted operating Ditch lights.Just about any N scale or Z scale decoder will work and fit under the stock board in the long hood end.

Martin Myers

[mmr1229]

i took your advice and it worked great,( tinning the decoder pick-up tabs). thanks alot the tcs decoder seems alot more smooth with operation, might be due to no sound, not sure. what would be your suggestions on sound decoders be? i like mrc because of their easy installation, however, ive heard nothing but bad things and i can understand that from experiance. also soundtraxx makes a tiny sound decoder i think its called tsu-750 but it is a hard wired decoder, however, it sounds like it may work as far as fitting in the loco but its expensive. not sure about all this.

[tbdanny]

The problem with sound installs isn't finding space for the decoder so much as finding space for the speaker and its accompanying capacitor.  MRC mounts their speakers on the decoder, so space isn't an issue, but you will need to take this into account with other brands.