Ok maybe I am just dumb becaues I know installing a decoder in not that hard.I installed a MRC Modern Snap in decoder (w/sound). YES I know MRC is junk. I have sad it and it's out of the way.Now I removed my orginal board and installed this one in its place. as I was told to do. So once I hooked up all the wires like the orginal board. I am left with Sound but no movement, no lights?Any Ideas?
ThanksBaker
jamesbaker wrote: Ok maybe I am just dumb becaues I know installing a decoder in not that hard.I installed a MRC Modern Snap in decoder (w/sound). YES I know MRC is junk. I have sad it and it's out of the way.Now I removed my orginal board and installed this one in its place. as I was told to do. So once I hooked up all the wires like the orginal board. I am left with Sound but no movement, no lights?Any Ideas?ThanksBaker
Either the decoder is bad, or you have two problems.
You know the power is good , and you know the sound works. For the lights it is either the blue , white or yellow wire. It may be the blue wire, which is the common, but it could be either the yellow or white wires if you did not check the loco for lights in both directions.
The problem with locomotion is either the orange or grey wire.
Since you have 2 problems, I would suspect that two wires are crossed.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
The NMRA DCC decoder color code is as follows:
Red wire to the right hand rail electrical pickup (looking at the locomotive as if you were the engineer sitting in the driver's seat).
Orange wire to the motor (+) connection that was originally connected to what is now the red decoder wire.
Black wire to the left-hand rail electrical pickup.
Gray wire to the motor (-) terminal that was connected to what is now the black decoder wire.
Blue wire is the positive common wire to the headlight and backup light (if present), and all other lights or devices controlled by F1, F2, or F3.
White wire to the headlight.
Yellow wire to the backup light.
Green wire to the light or other device controlled by F1 (if present).
Violet wire to the light or other device controlled by F2 (if present).
Brown wire to the light or other device controlled by F3 (if present).
jamesbaker wrote:Now I removed my orginal board and installed this one in its place. as I was told to do. So once I hooked up all the wires like the orginal board. I am left with Sound but no movement, no lights?
ok so I forgot to say this is a Sound Board and it has no wires and it replaces a DC Board
Which is it?
Is this a complete board, so you had to remove wires from the DC board and re-connect them to the Sound board, or is it a plug-in where you pulled out a dummy connector and plugged in the decoder?
If you did any wiring at all, from long experience on doing things like this myself, the most likely problem is that a wire is either loose or 2 wires are flipped. Since you've lost both motion and lights, my guess is 2 wires.
Can you post a picture?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Good Morning Baker,
Not hard, but sometimes tricky!
I agree, you may have two problems. If it's a 1634 decoder, it is a snap-in or drop-in... for some locos. What did you put the decoder in? If a Genesis, it will drop in on the existing mount. Some RTR's have the older board that clips onto the top of the motor. If this is the case, you will need to add a wire (solder) from the top motor clip to the motor connection on the decoder.
Now, the 1634 has three ways to connect lights. One way for 12 volt lights, one for 1.5 volt lights and one for LED's. The main difference is how they are grounded. There are seperate grounds for 1.5 volt and LED's (has to do with resistance). They are not interchangable. Check the instructions and make sure your lights are connected to the proper ground. The ground tabs are side by side so it is easy to make a mistake. (i.e. all 1.5 volt bulbs must have one lead to the 1.5 volt ground tab. This may be as many as six wires.)
Hope this helps, good luck.
Tilden
Yes it is a MRC 1634 decoder and it is going in an Athearn Dash 9 RTR. I got the decoder from a friend for $15.00 UNOPENED. http://www.modelrec.com/search/product-view.asp?ID=6459So my motor problem is: I need to solder a wire from my top motor clip to the motor terminal on the decoder. I don't think my manual tells me what the lights are.ThanksBaker
Do you have the instructions that come with the decoder? There should be a diagram of the decoder, labeling the various tabs for pick-up, motor, lights, etc.
Actually, I think I have a RTR Dash 9 that I haven't put a decoder in. I'm sure the decoder that comes with it clips on to the top of the motor so you will have to solder a wire from the top motor clip to one of the two motor tabs on the decoder. I would also suggest you lengthen the existing motor wire, as this will make installation a bit easier.
As I recall, there are four tabs, indented, on one side of the decoder. The two tabs nearer the "back" of the decoder (where the rear light tab is) are for the motor. The other two tabs are the grounds for 1.5 volt lights and LED's. I'm not at home so I don't have a decoder in front of me, but I believe the tab nearest the "front" of the decoder (where the front light tab is) is used for 1.5 volt lamp connections. The remaining tab will be unused, unless you are adding a LED strobe or LED ditch lights.
Since the 1634 is not shrink wrapped, it is a good idea to put a strip of electricians tape on the side of the decoder that will face and possibily come in contact with the motor or other metal parts. This will help avoid shorting.