I thought I'd done the research to do the conversion on my dc Proto 1000 Budd RDC to dcc. The instructions even tell you how to do it, cut at the "x's" yada yada yada. Ok all's well. I open her up and guess what...
The board is totally different than the one shown on the instruction sheet. No "x's" . So I say to myself, self, go to the Walthers web site and check for a newer instruction manual. Yup, there it is. Download it and it has a different board and different instructions but NOT for the board in mine.
Mine has what looks like an 8 pin socket but the holes are filled with solder. Each solder blob is numbered 1 to 8. Beats me!
I suppose I could just ditch the whole board and hard wire the fool thing but maybe one of you good folks has an answer that is better than that.
Any ideas????
Dennis
CDN Dennis
Modeling the HO scale something or other RR in the shadow of the Canadian Rockies Alberta, Canada
A photo would help a lot.
Are you sure that is not a 8 pin plug that is plugged into the socket on the PC board? I have seen a similar question in the past. The used had to remove the plug and plug in a decoder. The other option was to solder the decoder wires to the pins according to the decoder instructions if the user had a decoder with no plug. Decoders come both ways.
I have to assume right now that this is new to you.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Rich, I've done about 3 different decoder installs till now. One I just tossed the board and hardwired the decoder. Works great. The second had a socket that I had to pull a chip out of and just inserted the 8 pin decoder. It works great too. The third one was dcc equipped but the decoder was a Backman decoder with few function so I just pulled the board on it, hard wired it and used two led's from Evans Design for headlights. All is great with it too.
This RDC has me puzzled though as you can tell. I do have a picture in my camera so best I upload it.
Thanks
Problem solved thanks to Jeffrey There is a plug to pull out. Just needed my magnifying glass to see better. I hate being OLD!!!!!!!!!
chochowillie Problem solved thanks to Jeffrey There is a plug to pull out. Just needed my magnifying glass to see better. I hate being OLD!!!!!!!!! Dennis
That is what I was trying to suggest in my first response.
I would suggest a Photo Bucket account for uploading photos. You would be surprised at how long a discussion can go on without a photo. Yeah, some are more interested in the discussion than solving the issue. Many here use Photo Bucket. Just copy and paste the fourth option which is IMG into a forum.
http://photobucket.com/
I use a Optivisor with super bright LED's on each side of the Optivisor.
Dennis,
Hopefully this link will help you out. The guy behind the website has given plenty of thought (and photos) to doing the conversion.
http://www.bevteccom.co.uk/Rail/DCC.html (sorry, so long since I've posted on here I can't remember how to get links to activate themselves!)
Ian.
Sounds like Dennis may have one of the new run RDCs? If that's the case, the commonly found internet DCC conversion pages won't help much, as they are for the old LL production runs. I'm pretty sure the 8 pin plug is the giveaway, as I don't recall anything like that in mine.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Reason #75204832 why I just rip out the factory electronics and wire the decoders in. Nothing to deal with like cutting traces.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I agree 100% with Randy. In the case of the L-L/Walthers RDC, however, I did hardwire the decoder but left the board in place since it was a good way to secure the LEDs for the headlights. Then I drilled a few #31 holes for 3mm LEDs facing down through the board for interior lighting.
No electronics were used on the board.
Have fun! Ed
Thanks for all the info folks, After taking a really good look with better light I discovered that it does indeed have an 8 pin socket.. The DC do dad just looked different than any I had seen before. Of course my decoder supply didn't have any socket attached decoders left so I ordered a few to replenish so to speak. Since I'm busy landscaping mountains right now my main line is covered with masking tape so I can't run trains anyway.
Ya learn something every day.
Actually I think I did the same thing tot he one I did, it was for someone else. The board made a great place to hold the decoder and hide the wires. I've done the same on others, bypassed but not physcially removed the board since it made a handy shelf. I had a few other Proto RDCs I never got around to, on those I was going to install extra LEDs as lights in the passenger compartment. Never got the chance to convert them for the owner.
gmpullman I agree 100% with Randy. In the case of the L-L/Walthers RDC, however, I did hardwire the decoder but left the board in place since it was a good way to secure the LEDs for the headlights. Then I drilled a few #31 holes for 3mm LEDs facing down through the board for interior lighting. No electronics were used on the board. Have fun! Ed