Is it easy to remove decoders from these models?
I don't use DCC and the units fitted with it don't run too good with the ones that are not,for pretty obvious reasons.
Steve
Unplug the decoder and plug in the DC adapter. Right in the instructions for the loco. i have some steamers with DCC sound on board.
They come with dual mode decoders. All you have to do is turn up the power more than you do with a DC only loco. Many do that.
Below is a link to the Bachmann forums with forums for different scales. Surprised you did not go there first. Company reps there also.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php
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.
Two reasons I did'nt go to Bachmann,I forgot about it and I'm not registered,and I knew I'd get a quicker answer here.
There is no DC adapter for these units as I can see and certainly nothing in the very sparse instructions-all I have is an exploded diagram,I have yet to figure out how to get the shell off!
The units are RF16 B units.
On an 8 pin plug, you just need to connect 1-2-8 and 4-5-6 and you now have a DC loco. After removing the decoder, of course. Bachmann DC models usually have 2 L shaped pieces which plug in the 8 pin connector, so the "DC Plug" may not be a once piece thing, but rather a pair of L shaped metal pieces that connected the required pins.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Randy
Now that rings a bell,I have seen those things on another engine-God knows which one,then again I don't have many with decoders,but they certainly ain't in the box with these RF16's.
Other than a few oddballs that put directional lighting diodes on the 8 pin dummy plug, most every one is otherwise identical, so if you have one from a different loco, it should work.
Ok you must be talking about diesels. you did not say. All the steamers I have seen so far have the eight pin plug and a DC adapter.
Generally you have to rewire for DC.
Open them up and look at the decoder PC board and see if there are any clips that can be modified.
I have a couple 44 ton diesels. They came with two clips to convert them to DC. Remove the decoder and install the two clips for DC.
According to the diagrams at the Bachmann site, the DCC onboard “Diesel's” have to be rewired for DC. If any come with eight pin plug, I have not seen them.
Bachmann diesels have evolved from straight DC to DCC with dual mode decoders and most I have seen so far are only DCC. The eight pin socket takes up room in a diesel but not in a steamer tender.
Space in Bachmann diesels is quite tight. Besides, using DC to operate decoders is a known issue that the NMRA was aware of when they came up with the idea. Second best.
By the way, there is no law that says you cannot join more than one forum at a time. It is easy and painless.
I belong to about twenty forums.
This is the digital age,
I haven't even seen it to be an 'issue' except sound decoders, which indeed it makes perfect sense that you need to crank up the throttle to get enough voltage to run the sound system. Maybe it's the less than high end Bachmann motor decoders, but my locos with TCS and a few others, until I disabled DC operation, really were no different running on a DC power pack than they were prior to installing a decoder. There's no more real voltage drop than the factory installed DC constant lighting (in my P2K Geeps). The TYPE of DC power supply may make a difference - if the pulse waveform is such that it slightly resembled a DCC square wave, it may confuse the decoder. If it's switchable, turn off pulse power. Som packs have a switch, others it just does pulse no matter what. I only have a low end Railpower power pack for DC testing, it doesn;t have much in the terms of features, so this could be why I don't see any erractic operation of a decoder in automatic analog mode. I now have a fancier Tech IV 220 but I have nothing set up to reprogram any of my decodered locos to allow DC mode to test out this theory.