mfm37sundayniagara Both NCE and Digitrax say their decoders will work in those locomotives without modification. They work, but my original post still stands. Neither of those decoders have the red/green led's that Atlas is using to simulate the classification lights. They just have forward and reverse headlights. To get the class lights to work, some extra soldering and fitting will need to be done.Atlas' decoder has the red/green class lights on the board just like the DC circuit board so no extra work is required. (whether they are prototypical or not)Martin Myers
sundayniagara Both NCE and Digitrax say their decoders will work in those locomotives without modification.
Both NCE and Digitrax say their decoders will work in those locomotives without modification.
They work, but my original post still stands. Neither of those decoders have the red/green led's that Atlas is using to simulate the classification lights. They just have forward and reverse headlights. To get the class lights to work, some extra soldering and fitting will need to be done.
Atlas' decoder has the red/green class lights on the board just like the DC circuit board so no extra work is required. (whether they are prototypical or not)
Martin Myers
As I said, the Atlas decoder should be back in stock in May.
The CN-GP from TCS is designed for non-pnp Atlas engines that have 2 lightboards not for the new DCC ready Atlas engines that has a single lightboard that runs from front to back.
Installing can be a bit tricky specially if you do it the reliable way depending on the decoder. Since I use exclusively Digitrax I use the DN163A0 on these engines. There are two ways. First is the basic and just letting the motor contacts sit against the motor pads on the decoder. This is easy but can result in an engine that occasionally won't run because the pressure contact isn't the greatest. Second way is a little more involved. I completely disassemble the engine to clean out all the Atlas thick great as well to add the Kapton tap to the frame, which you have to do with the easy install too. You will notice with the Digitrax boards there are 2 slots the run up from the motor pads to the top of the board. I slide the motor tabs in to these slots and fold them over. Then I reinstall the motor and decoder into the frame half that holds the bearing blocks and then install all the gears and bearling blocks. Finally carefully put the other half of the frame back on and screw them back together allowing a little movement to re-insert the trucks back into the frame and then snug down the screws. From there it is simply test the installation on a programming track to make sure there are not shorts and fry the decoder.
TCS says soldering is required. Not my cup of tea!
Ok, does anyone have experience installing these decoders into these particular locomotives?
Both engines take a DN163A0 decoder or whatever the relative NCE, or TCS decoder is. I would not wait for the Atlas decoders unless you like throwing your money away. You'll pay close to the same as a newer board like I mentioned but only have the technology from a decade ago. The outdated Atlas boards don't have anything special for the lighting over the Digitrax, NCE or TCS boards and actually is lacking in what it can do with the lighting as well as other things like BEMF.
Now, how about the Atlas SD-24, also in N Scale?
Atlas says their decoder will be available in May. I can wait!
The class lights in those don't work realistically anyway. If you REALLY want working class lights I'd wire them in seperately (actually I wouldn't do anything, N scale is too darn small ). I guess it would be a neat effect - but I don't even put working class lights in HO. red/green is easy, it's just a bicolor LED, and they make them even down to surface mount (microscopic) size. But I have yet to see a red/white bicolor LED, which would make a heck of a lot more sense for most common operation, especially with a freight locomotive. Two LEDs and fiber optics, so you could have red/green/white to fit any situation? I may be crazy, but not THAT crazy, so if someone wants to attempt it, more power to them. I would certainly be impressed by the skill and patience it woudl take to do that, especially in N.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
The only true plug and play decoder for this is the Atlas supplied decoder. It is sometimes available from Atlas parts and is pricey.
The other plug and play decoders mentioned already will work but will not have the classification lights. They would need to be added to the installation.
My preference would be to use a wired decoder with some modifications to the existing circuit board.Detailed instructions for this installation can be found here: http://www.tcsdcc.com/pdf2/N_Atlas_H15-44_M1-4.pdf
NCE also says their equivalent, the N12A0, also fits that loco. FWIW. The alternative is to do a bit of soldering - chop the board in half along the thin neck area and shrten it, and solder jumper wires across where the traces used to run. Actualy a simple job. Not exactly plug and play, but easier than milling the frame and soldering in all 8 decoder wires.
Thanks, I'm told that one is too long, but will contact Digitrax and find out.
Digitrax says this fits: http://www.digitrax.com/prd_mobdec_dn163a0.php
Does anyone know of a plug n play decoder for this locomotive?
Thanks.