DCC Ready vs DCC Equipped vs DCC Sound Value-Equipped

Started by BobZ, July 06, 2018, 01:25:52 PM

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BobZ

Planning on moving from DC to DCC. I understand that DCC Ready means loco has the NMRA 8-pin plug installed and a decoder must be purchased. Looking at the Bachmann catalog, I see that some locos are DCC Equipped and others are DCC Sound Value-Equipped. I assume that all will run on straight DC power. What is the difference between the two.
Thanks

ACY

Quote from: BobZ on July 06, 2018, 01:25:52 PM
Planning on moving from DC to DCC. I understand that DCC Ready means loco has the NMRA 8-pin plug installed and a decoder must be purchased. Looking at the Bachmann catalog, I see that some locos are DCC Equipped and others are DCC Sound Value-Equipped. I assume that all will run on straight DC power. What is the difference between the two.
Thanks
There are a variety of differences between Bachmann models when it comes to this, and also there are differences depending on the scale. I will assume you are asking about HO scale.
For HO scale Bachmann has made the following
DCC-Ready in which there is no 8 pin socket however everything is isolated
DCC-Ready in which there is an 8 pin socket and also may or may not have an area will holes drilled for a speaker
DCC-On Board/Equipped in which the DCC is built into the board and there is no 8 pin socket
DCC-On Board/Equipped in which there is a DCC decoder with an 8 pin plug and 8 pin socket and there may be and area with holes drilled for a speaker
DCC-with Full Sound in which a Tsunami or other sound decoder with full features is installed with a speaker
DCC-with the ability to add a special sound module with a speaker and all other required components already installed (ie the B&O EM-1 2-8-8-4 was an example of this)
DCC-Soundvalue in which there is a sound decoder installed into the board or with no 8 pin socket but includes speaker
DCC-Soundvalue in which there is a sound decoder with an 8 pin plug and socket and speaker included

As far as running on analog DC:
All DCC-ready models have no decoder installed and therefore will run without modification on analog DC.
Most models with full sound decoders are earlier Bachmann models and will not run on analog DC
All Soundvalue models have dual mode decoders and will run on analog DC or digital DCC
Early Bachmann DCC models will only run on digital DCC and will not run on analog DC as the early decoders were not dual mode
All current and recent Bachmann DCC models have a dual mode decoder and run on analog DC and DCC
The special case B&O EM-1 has a dual mode decoder and will run on analog DC.

Keep in mind most DCC models include jumper plugs because often modelers prefer to remove the decoder if they are going to run them on an analog DC layout for better performance. Also keep in mind you cannot control any sound features directly without running them on a DCC system.
Hope this helps a bit.