Hello everyone:
I have a Spectrum 4-8-4 J-Class loco, which is advertised DCC ready. I have done a few decoder installs before, but opening the tender on this loco shows a PC board I am unfamiliar with-no standard 8-pin NEM socket. Instead, it apparently has 2 sets of inline sockets, with what appears to be phosphor bronze clips over the PC board-the included manual doesn't seem to be much help, as it states to connect the wires together. I was wondering if anyone has installed a decoder into this loco, and if they might have any suggestions? Any help / input is greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration,
very sincerely,
Michael
Pahrump, NV
Check page 3 of your instruction sheet included with the loco.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/N821X-IS001.PDF
It gives the pinout and appropriate NMRA color codes for the wires. You remove the jumpers and solder your decoder as indicated by the instruction sheet.
Thank you for the reply. I did check the instructions, and I guess they through me for a loop when step 3 states to "Connect the wires directly to the decoder wires..." From what I can ascertain, I need to solder the decoder harness wires directly to the PC board, following the included diagram. Thanks again for the reply--
Mike
Upon further research in this forum, I came across this photo instruction for the install:
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,2676.0.html
and believe that I can now change to DCC--
Mike