Have some Bachmann DC trains. Can they be converted to DCC?

[badkarma]

Hi, I'm new to the this forum. I'm also new to HO trains. Doing it about a year now. My collections of HO trains are Bachmann's DC lines. I have a couple of GP30's, GP38-2's, SD40-2's, and a several F7's. Can I convert them to DCC? If yes, how do I go by doing that?

[rogertra]

Practically anything can be converted to DCC but unless you have soldering skills, some electrical skills and, I guess, modelling skills, it can be a challenge.

I'm sure others on this board with more expertise than I will be able to direct you to useful sites on the web.

Google is your friend so may may want to start there.

Try "Bachmann GP30 adding DCC" or similar in Google.

Best of luck.

[jbrock27]

Yes, there is ton of YouTube vids and write ups on line that will help.  It runs the gamut from how to do split frames to single chassis types.  The big question is BK, how old are these locos, what kind of motors do they have in them and do they have all wheel pickup?

[badkarma]

The trains were new from a year ago. Ran them each about 10 - 15 minutes about once a every couple of weeks. They run great since last tested. My soldering skills are good to great. Modeling though I don't have the patient for gluing. Hopefully there is no gluing involve in converting the the boards.

[Doneldon]

BK-

Some gluing, perhaps, but certainly not a lot.

By "new," do you mean you purchased them as new, in the box items, or just new to you? If they were new, new merchandise a year ago, they should be fairly easy to convert to DCC. All four series are currently available both with and without DCC installed. My guess is that the installations will be fairly easy, maybe just pulling the existing PCBs and replacing them with the designated DCC boards.

However, if your models are older ones that are just "new to you," the conversions might be a great deal more complicated. They could be as challenging as requiring different the motors, machining the chassis or doing a good deal of rewiring.

I believe you can get an excellent idea of which scenario applies to your items by looking at the parts, service and information section of this web site. You'll find all four of your models' exploded parts list under HO Standard Line.

Good luck with your projects. Do keep us informed about your progress.
                                                                                                              -- D

[badkarma]

Yes, they were new in boxes. Purchased at a hobby shop. Some from Online stores. Thnx for the info.

[Gone loco]

Hi, I'm also new to this great hobby, I have now converted about 30 HO locos to dcc from ringfield motors can motors and also open frame motors , with the help of some great Utube videos, so, if you have good soldering abilities and can read LOL then it's easy, just make sure not to skip anything because with one of my first conversions (and in my eagerness) I forgot to isolate the motor and destroyed a good $100 sound decoder, at least I saved the speaker lol,,,
Anyway if. Can do it anyone can, good luck and enjoy....

[Doneldon]

Gone loco-

I'm afraid you can no longer consider yourself a newbie after you've converted 30 locos to
DCC. I suspect that number is higher than 99% of the people on this board, including me.

                                                                                                                             -- D

[badkarma]

Which dcc boards will work on my locomotives? I heard tsunami are better. If so, what board model should I get?

[richg]

Which dcc boards will work on my locomotives? I heard tsunami are better. If so, what board model should I get?

Some say Tsunami are better. Some say a couple other brands are better.
To my knowledge, no Bachmann diesel is easy to convert to sound if you have no experience at DCC installs. Even if you have experience, there are many challenges.
Forget Plug and Play.

Go to the SoundTraxx site and look in the decoder selector. I will let you do it so you get a good idea of what is required.

http://www.soundtraxx.com/

Below is a good link about DCC and sound.

http://www.mrdccu.com/

Look though all the links before leaping. This will take time and you will enjoy this venture much more.

Rich

[jward]

Which dcc boards will work on my locomotives? I heard tsunami are better. If so, what board model should I get?

tsunamis are sound decoders. they are a whole different subject. you can add a silent decoder to almost any locomotive without major modifications to the locomotive. but adding sound will often require milling of the chassis to accommodate a speaker. that means a complete disassembly before you start work on the conversion, grinding away enough of the frame to accommodate decoder and speaker, reassembly and hope it fits, doesn't vibrate the shell, etc.

I have installed digitrax, nce and tcs decoders and bought locomotives with Bachmann an soundtraxx decoders. for the most part they all work well. I think it's more important that the basic cv's are supported, for top speed, start voltage. acceleration and deceleration. those would be cv's 2 through 6. as long as those are supported I have noticed very little differences between brands.

[badkarma]

Are the sound decoders add ons to the silent decoder? Or are they just 2 different boards based on your preference? I saw a picture online while researching about sound decoders and saw an install that had 2 digitrax boards hooked together and it was stated that one was the sound decoder. Was the other the dcc board?

http://www.digitrax.com/tsd/KB727/sfx064d-sound-decoder-installation-instructions/

[Doneldon]

BK-

You can add sound to a DCC-non-sound loco in two ways: replace the existing decoder with one which includes sound or piggy back a sound decoder programmed to the same number as the loco it is installed in. That way, you won't have to remember the address for the sound board in your locomotives. You will have to add a speaker in either case.

Some modelers like to use their favorite motion decoder and their favorite sound decoder even if that means two decoders in some of their locos. Others prefer the elegance and simplicity of a single decoder. I've done this both ways and I have to say I don't think it makes any real difference.

While it's true that one might not find the exact best sound repertoire on the decoder with the best motion control, in practice the differences tend to wash away. We unconsciously adapt to the subtleties of motion control differences and the sounds recede into the background so they more set the scene than star in the show. I expect there are people on this board who will state they are acutely aware of any faults or shortcomings in their decoders and just have to optimize everything. That's fine with me. We all have our tastes, biases and opinions and one is just as good, or as lousy, as another. It's a good thing that you get to decide this for yourself.
                                                                                                                                                                                       -- D