Is that cryptic enough?
I have a new-in-the-box, straight from the dealer Atlas HO GP7 that runs very well on DC.
Plugged in a new DP2X decoder and get no response at all. Doesn't accept any programming. Decoder Pro seems to take even longer than usual before hanging up.
The Geep does have a multiple-piece light board of a type I haven't seen before. (has SPKR outputs)
Any ideas? My next step is to try a known working DP2x and see what happens.
Ok, I will ask the stupid questions....
Plug is not reversed right?
And, it's fully plugged in?
And, no other plugs need pulled, right?
I ask, only because I would do something like that....
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
Having, um, heard of other people who may or may not have done things like that in the past, those aspects have been double-checked.
The factory board has me puzzled because there was not a dummy 8-pin plug in place, and the engine runs fine on DC without one.
There's a large upper board, then a smaller board connected to it above the front truck. No idea what that one does.
Graham LineIs that cryptic enough?
No. Is it a Silver or Gold?
I'm not sure why the DC silver would have speaker inputs.
Their description of the Gold is an 8 pin plug and a loksound decoder. I don't know why they would describe it in that manner. One would think the loksound decoder would be plugged into the 8 pin.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Have you looked thru the TCS installation guides to see if they have one with a picture of the type board you find in your loco? Doesn't have to be the same loco model, but the board would be the same.
https://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/HO_Search/search.html
James in Texas
It's an undec Silver. No decoder promised or delivered. The TCS installation guides don't show this light board arrangement.
If there was no dummy plug yet it runs on DC - there's no way it's powering the 8 pin socket. Are you sure there are no dummy plugs? Does it have botht he 8 pin AND a 9 pin connection? Athearn does that, and put the dummy plug on the 9 pin.
Is there any sort of switch to change? or traces marked that need to be cut for DCC? AGain, if it runs on DC with nothing at all plugged in, then there is something connecting the track pickups to the motor wires. That circuit has to be broken for the decoder to be able to sit between them.
Frankly I'd just get a T-series (which one depends on how many functions you need) and just remove the factory board.
Edit: If it's the newest one (from 2015), they used Loksound in the Gold version - so the board int he Silver might be a 21 pin motherboard that also happens to have an 8 pin socket - the dummy plug is probably a board plugged in to the 21 pin socket.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Thanks, Randy. I may have time to look at it today. Wouldn't lose anything by deboarding it. It looks like big board A and small board B are jointed by a straight-across connector, not by an 8-, 9-, or 21-pin. No help from Atlas in the box. Not sure how new this factory board configuration is. Haven't seen it discussed. I might have a T-1; if not there's probably an A4X around here.
Recent Atlas engines come with both an 8-pin and 21-pin connection. A 21-pin connector would just be a straight line row of connectors. The sound versions use a LokSound decoder using the 21-pin connector; I believe the non-sound ones have a small dummy board plugged into the 21-pin receptacle. If you've plugged a decoder into the 8-pin receptacle, try removing the 21-pin dummy board and see what happens.
Ah. That worked. Removed the 21-pin dummy board, plugged in the DP2X and all was good. Almost, anyway. The decoder doesn't accept a long address of 103, just like it says on the TCS instructions, but 0103 works very well. Thank you to everyone for the guidance. Now to detail and paint.
Note: With the 21-pin dummy board removed, the downward-facing pins on the motherboard rest on top of the metal hump over the power truck -- so that got an insulation layer of Kapton tape. Did the same thing for the bottom of the DP2X. This GP7 runs well, but it doesn't have the silky smoothness of the original metal-decked Kat0-built Geeps.
A "short address" is 1-127, anything 128 or over is a long address.
Only on some systems. See the thread on "changes to DCC" in the DCC section.
Lenz: 1-99 is short, 100_ is long
NCE 1-127 is short OR long, 128+ is long
Digitrax 1-127 is short, 128+ is long