Questions reguarding upgrading to DCC

[carknocker1]

I have several Proto 2000 locos that are DCC ready , what does that mean ?

I  looked and they have a circut board on the top of the motor and drive chain , is this the decoder ? I also noticed that in the middle of the circut board is a short wire that says cut for DCC , so if I cut this wire is that all I have to do or do I still need a decoder ?

Another question , I have read about the 8 pin plug , is that the square piece with the 8 short pins ? How does the decoder plug into that if that is the plug ?

As you can see I am clueless when it comes to DCC , I would like to upgrade but I am not sure how ,and if it may be easier to sell my current fleet and buy new ones with the decoders installed .

Any help will be appreciated .

[jrbernier]

  If your P2K engines are 'DCC Ready', then they have a decoder socket on that 'light board'.  The bottom line is that they do not have a decoder, but have a socket for plugging a decoder into.

Jim

[betamax]

Some locomotives are marketed as "DCC ready"

As to Proto/LifeLike...

It means that in theory, upgrading them to DCC operation shouldn't be a big deal.

The circuit board is the light board, the routes power and determines which lamp will light depending on the polarity of the track. It is not a DCC decoder.

Some of them have 8 pads you solder wires to, others have a small shorting plug, and others have a small board with all the wires going to it, which then plugs into the light board. No two Proto locomotives are the same, that even applies to the voltage used for the lamps.

If you have the shorting plug, that would be removed and a plug on a harness attached to the decoder would go there. If any traces are marked with an X and "Cut for DCC", you need to sever the connection there before installing a decoder. That changes the power routing to the decoder instead of directly to a motor or lamp.

You can convert Proto locomotives easily (in many cases), but you should change the lamps too, as they are unknowns. See the DCCWiki at http://dccwiki.com for more info.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

If the box the model came in has a NMRA compatiblilty 'football' on it then the model is DCC ready as per NMRA standards. If it doesn't then the maker of that model doesn't have to conform to the NMRA standards and DCC ready can mean almost anything, from the motor simply being isolated from the frame to being fully ready in all respects and is simply awaiting the connection of a decoder into the plug provided. On your model you simply cut the circuits where indicated, remove the dummy plug from DCC plug on the board and connect your decoder. This should have your loco ready for operation on DCC. On some models you may have to connect an additional wire or two to the decoder.