Just purchased a new Athearn SD45-2 engine off the bay. It was advertised as DCC & Sound. Got the engine today, the box has "with sound" on it. No mention of DCC equipped. The single sheet of paper, (I guess that's the manual), does mention " to convert to DCC, unplug the DCC jumper board, then plug in a decoder........"
I'm new to HO, All my purchases have been Atlas and BLI, all with factory DCC & Sound. I place it on the track and they are good to go. All have "DCC & Sound" clearly marked on the box.
This is my first Athearn engine, I see a small controller packed inside also( a first). What's up with that.
I'm afraid if I put it on the track I may fry it. Not being familiar with Athearn, what do I have?
It's a Athearn Genesis G67178 with Sound CSX SD45-2.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Oh , I'm using Bachmanns Easy DCC.
I have emailed the seller, thought I'd toss it out here for any help.
Thanks,
David
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATHG67178
The link above shows it has a decoder in it, you should be good to go.
The remote is for controlling the sound features if you are running a DC layout.
David,
I'm assuming you mean you are using the Bachmann E-Z Command DCC system? If so, and you aren't sure about your SD45-2 being DCC-equipped, try testing it on address "10", which is the DC address. If you hear an annoying "squeal" coming from your SD45-2 while running it on address "10", then it doesn't have a decoder (or sound) in it.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Thanks guys. I did see on the Athearn site it lists it as being DCC w/ sound. Guess I would have been more comfortable if they would have labeled it on the box and also the instructions are a bit mis-leading.
Thanks again,
Put it on the track. You will not damage it if it's DC. Try to run it on address 3. Most new DCC engines are factory programmed to address 3. If it won't run, try running it with zero stretching. On Bachmann EZCommand, that is address 10. On most others it is address 0. Some systems cannot do it at all.
If you have other DCC engines then you probably already know how to change the address. Try that, too.
Finally, if you still can't tell, open it up and look to see if there is a decoder plugged into that jumper plug.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
If it doesn't run on address 3, it may be set to the locomotive's road number. Whatever it's on, I don't think you can change the address with your Bachmann EZ Command system.
This model was introduced by Athearn in 2009 when they were still using MRC sound decoders.
The EZCommand can change it to any address from 1 through 10. That is the limit of it's capability. It does not have the capability to change anything else. It is a very primitive system, but it is reliable and does work.
AFAIK the only line that offers engines with sound but not DCC decoders would be BLI's "Blue Line". Otherwise factory equipped sound engines are using a combined sound / motion decoder.
As noted earlier that unit would have the MRC decoder. Address 3 should work fine.
Springfield PA