Ran into a case where I installed Digitrax DH123 decoders in Bachmann Acela engines. They were working fine on my and my club's NCE systems, but on my second club's Digitrax system, were erratic and unusable. It took me awhile to remember reading somewhere that the RF chokes on some lightboards (or beads on some wiring) can cause problems with DCC; when I jumpered the chokes, the engines ran fine.
Since many people know about this, I bring it up mainly because it is not mentioned in any of the DCC books out there, or in the Bachmann paperwork (WHAT paperwork?). Also because the problem also seems related to the type of system, which can be confusing.
Regards
Hal
I do not know what the PC board looks like, but usually there are two or three yellow capacitors to clip With the capacitors gone, the two inductors are not an issue. I have clipped the capacitors for two Spectrum locos and they run fine. I do not have any links but use Google to search for DCC cut capacitors. You will get some hits.
Rich
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richg1998 wrote: I do not know what the PC board looks like, but usually there are two or three yellow capacitors to clip With the capacitors gone, the two inductors are not an issue. I have clipped the capacitors for two Spectrum locos and they run fine. I do not have any links but use Google to search for DCC cut capacitors. You will get some hits.Rich
Yep. My NCE and MRC decoder instructions both said to clip the ceramic caps off or they would affect motor control and performance.
I found a couple photos. The first one I removed the caps and inductors. I needed every bit of space. I could have left the inductors.
The second is a PC board in a DCC ready loco. I clipped the surface mount capacitors using small flush cutters. The caps where C1, C2, C3. I removed the two inductors on the bottom side of the board as I again, needed all the space.
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