have just started to convert to DCC have had some success converting athearn with NCE but have come accross some original athearn digitax boards that clip on to the motor but have no wiring diagram
reading the forum some posts indicate that these are light boards the only ID' on the board is RTR/lamp
Any help would be appreciated
The instructions are on the Digitrax web site.
http://www.digitrax.com/prd_mobdec_dh123at.php
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinkerThe instructions are on the Digitrax web site.
For the older models that do not have the plug, I remove the original board. Then I just wire it direct as shown on the wiring diagram. Most decoders use the same standard colors for each purpose. I usually convert the lighting to LED's with a resistor in series with each of the LEDs. Use a good 25-35 watt soldering pencil and flux and rosin core solder. Slip heat shrink tubing on splices. It is pretty easy after the 1st one.
Thankyou for your reply but i have searched the digitrax web site without success
As far as i can ascertain the boards are the standard athearn RTR (ready to run) boards with both the 9 pin and 8 pin jacks
I bought these boards as i was told they where dcc boards but they are not they are dcc ready plug and play boards but there is NO wiring diagram that i can find.
It would have been easier to just buy digitrax or nce but i am stuck with them now with the plug inns
There is really no point in hard wiring in an Athearn light board so that you can then plug in a decoder, you might just as well skip the Athearn light boards and hard wire in the decoder. For many of us, the first thing we do is to remove the light boards before installing a decoder, which is no doubt what resulted in these being available in the first place.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
OK if there is an existing board the "clips on to the motor" that's the original Athearn lighting board - this is the confusion part, when you said "digitrax board that clips on" to me that means the Digitrax DH123/163AT boards, which have wires soldered to clips that you replace the original Athearn clips with, per the documetn I linked from the Digitrax site. If instead what you have are Athearn RTR locos with the circuit boad for the lights that clips on top of the motor, those have both a 9 pin and an 8 pin plug, so there ARE no specific instructions for installing decoders. You can install pretty much anything. I prefer the TCS T1, it will plug right in to the 9 pin plug on the loco (after you remove the small board with the diodes on it). That's all you have to do - decoder installed, done.