Athearn Diesels and DCC

[Anonymous]

I am considering moving up to the Atlas Commander, but most of my fleet is comprised of Athearn engines. Does anyone know how difficult it is (or isn't) to wire these engines for DCC. I E-mailed Athearn and Atlas. Athearn responded quickly but only could say that I contact the decoder company and thought I needed to isolate the motor from the frame. Atlas still has not responded after a week of waiting. Any help would be appreciated before I invest in something that requires purchasing all new locos.

[Anonymous]

The first one is difficult if you've never done it. Once you do the first one and see how easy it really is then you''ll be able to do it without fear. Most important is to isolate the frame from the motor. This means a piece of black electric tape in the well at the bottom of the frame where the motor sits. Second, when you solder the leads to the brush contacts on the top and bottom of the motor, be sure and remove the contacts first. BUT...do it slowly because the brushes are spring loaded and will fly out if you just pop the contact off. Its a real bear trying to find the brushes after they've flown!! Believe me I speak from experience on that!
Work slowly and methodically. It'll probabaly take an hour to do the first one. Now I can do one in 10 minutes. Course I try and buy engines with dcc sockets already in..then it takes about 10 seconds.
Hope this helps
John

[Anonymous]

Check out:

http://www.wiringfordcc.com/wirefordcc_toc.htm

- George

PS One could only expect Atlas to give advice on ATLAS locos (and the Commander system, itself, of course!).

[Anonymous]

Thanks John.

[Anonymous]

Will Do. Thanks.

[greendiamond]

Unless its a Athearn Genesis which use board replacement decoders, other Athearn installs are simple using the Digitrax Athearn solderless harness. I'd suggest you check out their website.

Mike Tyl
Green Diamond Hobbies
DCC dealer

[Anonymous]

Will do. Will the harness work for the Atlas product or would I need to buy the digitrax controller?
Thanks for the input.
Matt

[Anonymous]

As stated above check out Digitrax's website. I'm currently going through the exact same thing you are. They have online instruction manuals for all their decoders and how to typically install them, as well as which decoder to install. Your Atlas DCC system will work fine with Digitrax's decoders. Whether or not you can use the same decoder for Athearn models In Atlas models i'm not sure of.

[greendiamond]

Most Atlas locomotives use a Board replacement decoder for easy install such as the Atlas 340, Digitrax DH150A, North Coast Engineering DA-SR. The Digitrax Athearn Harness is made to be used with any decoder which uses a nine pin harness connector. Those can be found in the Digitrax, Lenz and TCS lines of decoders.

Mike Tyl