Proto 2000 questions

[JRP]

I purchased this Proto 2000 DC Alco PA over 20+ years ago and am just now working on it. The instructions say that it comes with a "Digital Ready Socket" for a DCC decoder.  I don't see this socket nor can find it, but maybe one of you can point it out.  Photo attached.  If it does not come with this socket, does it look like I have any room to add a decoder and speaker.  The chassis looks crowded. 

Thanks for looking.

JRP 

 

[tstage]

JRP,

It's on the front end of the PCB board, underneath the array of wires.  Remove the small PCB board and you should see the 8-pin NMRA socket.

Tom

[richhotrain]

This may be helpful.

https://drupal.tcsdcc.com/installation/ho-scale/1386

Rich

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

tstage

It's on the front end of the PCB board, underneath the array of wires.  Remove the small PCB board and you should see the 8-pin NMRA socket.

Remove that dummy plug and insert your decoder of choice with the 8-pin NMRA harness.

There should be a reference #1 on the dummy plug- -Orange wire- -or the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) on the locomotive. Make a mark of any kind to make sure you plug the decoder harness in the correct orientation.

If you plug the 8-pin harness the wrong way it won't damage the decoder or locomotive, just flip the 8-pin harness around.

I have recently been upgrading my non-sound decoders to sound using Digitrax sound units.

The Digitrax decoders have an 8-pin NMRA to 9-pin Digitrax harness.

I discovered that you can install a Digitrax sound decoder using the 8- to 9-pin harness.

Check out this thread...

Sound Upgrade H10-44 in HO

Hope this helps.

Post Script: How are things in the "Inland Empire"?
My best friend in college grew up in Upland, and attended Chaffee College before transferring to Cal State Fullerton.
I just spoke to him last night and the "Black Watch Pub" came up.
Loved to skate at the pipeline!
- -H.T.H. J.J.D.I.

[gmpullman]

Life-Like used the same board in their E-series locos. Here's a closer look with pin 1 shown:

L-L_E7-8 board-W by Edmund, on Flickr

Note that one solder pad is square. Pin 1 correlates to the motor + wire.

L-L_E7-8 board1 by Edmund, on Flickr

Your PA has a Mars light so there are more components on the board. I don't believe the Mars Light function will work as the 8 pin plug doesn't have enough outputs for anything more than F0F and F0R. You would have to wire the Mars light to the decoder directly. Life-Like uses a funky, dual-filament lamp for their 'simulated' Mars light. The best route is to replace both headlight and Mars light with LEDs.

Also keep in mind that if you retain the existing incandescent lamps there's a risk of the heat building up more than the plastic shell can dissipate and it can melt. Several of my early decoder installs suffered this misfortune

Good Luck, Ed

[richhotrain]

JRP

I don't see this socket nor can find it, but maybe one of you can point it out.  Photo attached.  If it does not come with this socket, does it look like I have any room to add a decoder and speaker.  The chassis looks crowded.  

Here is a link to a TCS sound decoder installation.

https://drupal.tcsdcc.com/installation/ho-scale/1415

It is fairly crowded under the shell, but the installer used that open space up front on the chassis for the speaker. And, as Ed suggested, it is best to replace the incandescent bulb with an LED, as mentioned in the installation procedure.

Rich

[wjstix]

Many manufacturers make harnesses that are 8-pin on one end and 9-pin receptacle on the other, and of different lengths of wire and direction so you can better fit the decoder into the engine. There are also 9-pin to 21-pin harnesses.

The Life-Like / Proto engines with a Mars light used one bulb for the main (lower) headlight, and two bulbs alternating back and forth, kinda like a grade crossing's flashing crossbucks, for the Mars light. It works OK but as mentioned, I don't think it works on DCC but I'm not sure.

It is a little unrealistic anyway; I would go with removing the lightboard etc. and hardwiring in a 9-pin receptacle harness (or a 21-pin decoder buddy) and having one light as main headlight and one light for the Mars light. Most decoders allow you to set each light output function separately, some allow you to assign each light a different function button so you can turn each light on or off independent of each other.

I like using Evans Designs LEDS that are pre-wired with diodes/resistors so you can just connect them up without needing to do anything else.

[IC_Tom]

You can cross connect two of the pins on an 8-pin non-sound decoder and operate the Mars light.  I did it on a couple of P2000 E6 units.  It's been awhile and I forget some of the details, but I'll try to look it up and report back.

 

The typical Soundtraxx MC1 or other 8-pin $25 decoder incudes the headlight/reverse light and two other lights.  If I remember correctly, you use the headlight function for the Mars and re-program the Rule 17 and if memory serves, the actual headlight is controlled by F6. 

Other than soldering the cross-connection (a snipped resistor lead will work fine), the 8-pin decoder simply plugs into the socket.  It fits and nothing else is needed - no wire, no new PCB motherboard.

[JRP]

Thanks you guys for the information and help.  I will be able to move forward with the assistance you all gave me.  Much appreciated.

JRP

[IC_Tom]

Sounds like you're pursuing a full sound decoder and speaker, so maybe this info isn't needed anymore.  However, I said I'd come back with the specific info, so here it is:

Pic 1 shows the Proto E6 with a Soundtraxx MC1 Mobile Decoder simply plugged into the 8-pin socket on the Proto motherboard:

Pic 2 has the wiring pulled out of the way, so that you can see the pin jumper soldered to pins 2 & 3 on the Soundtraxx MC1 decoder.  This maps the Front/Backup Light function on the decoder to F6.  The Mars Light then operates on F0:

 

Obviously, Decoder Pro helps immensely here.  You program the Front/Backup Light (the Proto E6 has no Backup Light) to be independently controllable (Rule 17).  The Mars Light will then operate as the Front Light.

Here's Norman's reply to my e-mail question about this and whether Soundtraxx had a harness that would make this conversion without soldering (TCS had one at the time).  He refers to only the Backup Light, but it's the same thing on the Proto unit:

Unfortunately, we do not make a harness specifically for this loco, so you will likely want to bridge the connection as you describe, this will take the backup light and connect it to the mars light, so you will then want to configure your backup light to be separately controllable, you can do this by enabling Rule 17 on the backup light (CV 50 to 65) as described in the MC1 User’s Guide (MC1 Users Guide mobile decoder_RevB.indd (soundtraxx.com)) on page 22. This will map the backup light to F6.