DCC and older blue boxed p2k geeps ?

[BIG JERR]

thanks Randy & others .feel better know & yes on the gears ,have a small stock of athearn gears

thanks again Jerry

[rrinker]

 That's the easy kind. DH165L0 and done. The wire thing is to open and close the cab doors. Might want to order some gears from Athearn since if they aren't already cracked, they WILL crack. Only 1 of my 4 had a cracked gear but I repalced all of them as PM.

                  --Randy

 

[BIG JERR]

hope they came out on youre end .

and what is that peace a wire that comes in the detail pack of some p2k diesels ?  you can see it in the lower pict in the detail pack...Jerry

[BIG JERR]

close ,heres the picts

[rrinker]

 Does it look liek this:

 

 If so, just plug in. You will need to change the light bulbs if you use other than the Digitrax DH165L0. Every one I've done sicne this one I take out all the boards and hard wire a decoder.

 If it looks like this older one:

Then remove the board and hard wire a decoder. Much better.

 

                      --Randy

 

[BIG JERR]

oops I stand corrected ,they do have the 8 piont(dcc) plug on the board, but only solder pads on the left side of trucks (if short hood foward) and nothing on the right side of trucks and theres a red wire coming up from under board that screws to the weight block .

so this is OK for decoder install ?

and yes,Stevert; I to go for the chassie/sound exchanges ,but I just cant afford to do everything that way..and after installing a couple of the 39.00 digitrax sdh164d's Im going with concist of one unit with qsi"now thats great sound" and one unit with digitrax "way better than I thought sound " being differant they compliment each other and loose that mono echo thing ...Jerry

[Stevert]

Some of the older, OLDER P2K geeps have no provision for DCC whatsoever.  No socket, no board, and not even a notch in the top of weights to put a decoder.

Some of the high short hood versions had a removable weight section where you could fit a decoder, but otherwise, it was mill the weight or stick it in the cab.

Or the third option, that I took, was to replace the chassis with new one from a new sound-equipped loco that I got on clearance.  It's generally an easy swap, and if you look you can find clearance models for about the price of a good sound decoder and speaker...

[riogrande5761]

I have 4 of the Proto 2000 SD7/SD9's and I believe they are "blue box" versions.  In fact the chassis looks very much like an Athearn blue box chassis down to the coupler mounting with those horrible plastic covers.  They have DCC plugs on the circuit board however, so all you need is a socket plug in decoder.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

MisterBeasley

I'm confused.  Are these P2K, or are they blue-box?  Blue-box geeps are Athearns.

The older Proto 2000 locos came in blue boxes, hence blue box. I've bought some of these. The FA1/FB1 set had hot frames with one wire coming from each truck. The motors were the same as Athearn used and hard-wiring them for DCC was similar to hard-wiring an Athearn blue box model for DCC.

[MisterBeasley]

I'm confused.  Are these P2K, or are they blue-box?  Blue-box geeps are Athearns.  I have some of these, really old, and they do have live-frame wiring.  If they're like mine, the motors are NOT isolated from the frame and need it to route power from one rail to the motor.

[rrinker]

 They are fine, the motor has 2 wired, the frame is one side of the pickup. They should have an 8 pin plug, they take the P2K format decoders like the DH165L0 from Digitrax and you don;t need to swap the bulbs, the deocder already has resistors. However, I just pull it all out and hard wire in a TCS T1 and use some Yelo-Glo LEDs.

                   --Randy

 

[woodone]

The pads are one side of the rails. The truck is also making contact with the frame on the other rail.

This makes the frame pick up one of the rails.

You will need to make sure that the motor leads are not connected to the frame any place.

 

[BIG JERR]

well I'm doing (adding decoders) to some more additions to the barn .these are blue boxed P2K gp 7/9s but the frames/weights are a little different .BUT The  real difference is theres only one(1) solder pad coming up from the each truck(but same rail side) and first look it appears theres a wire going to the weight block from the truck area is this what they call a live frame ?

and is it dcc ready ? ....cause unless I miss read there suppose to be dcc convertible, now I no they dont have the 8point plug on the board ,but I dont use the stock board any how.....but I pretty sure i seen(DCC) on the box

is there some additional work that needs to be done here ? all my other p2k stuff had two solder pads on each truck and NO wires conected to the weight/frame

I'm still leaning ,so thats why I ask ...Jerry