Page 55 - 38. MRH13-04-Apr2013
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An example of a loco that is marketed as "DCC-Ready" that
should be "DCC-Ignorant," in my mind, is the Life-Like Proto 2000
HO-scale S1. Later runs of this loco had a DCC socket.
You can see (7) this series of loco as delivered. It has a socket, all
right, but precious little little room for a decoder. The light bulbs
are 1.5 volt, so if you plug a decoder in without changing them,
their life will be a fraction of a second. Also, the orange motor lead
is routed through the frame to the bottom brush on the motor.
You may find a decoder that will fit and plug in. However, if the
frame ever touches an energized rail you will probably blow the
decoder.
My solution is to tear everything out, insulate the motor (8) and
hard-wire a decoder and two LEDs. Somehow, this makes their
"DCC-Ready," claim seem humorous. Unless it is you, the one
stuck with the loco, and you don’t want to do that much work.
Sound installation
I find that most locomotives are not "DCC-Ready" for sound
installations. Usually there isn’t enough room for a socketed
decoder and a speaker, and still be able to get the sound
out. See my August 2012 column (
. Sound
installations seem to fall somewhere between "DCC-Aware"
and "DCC-Ignorant."
6
6: TCS CN decoders overcome some of the ignorance.
