AC4400 under the hood. Decoder help


L

Lame9910

Member
So this is what's in my athearn dcc ready loco. I see an 8 pin plug which I'm assuming I put my decoder into but what is thing all the colored wires run to? And what decoder should be used. I want to try and squeeze sound in it also.
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Lame - the "thing" with all the colored wires is actually a 9 pin plug. Right now there is a pcb plugged into it but it can be removed and a decoder can be plugged into it as well. See the link below:

http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/Athearn/SD70ACe/SD70ACe.htm

I did a sound install on my AC4400 by cutting the 9 pin plug right off and soldering the wires from the decoder directly to the light board wires. Here is a link to my install:

http://thecmmr.wix.com/cmmr#!ac4400-5659/k783p

Hope this helps.
 
Sorry I am new to this, what do you mean pcb is plugged into it? So if I want sound I need to use 9 pin decoder? And if I just want normal dcc control I need a 8 pin decoder?
 
Oh right on. So I would be looking to replace that with a 9 pin then so I have sound also? Or can I get that with the use of the 8 pin?
 
Lame9910 said:
So this is what's in my athearn dcc ready loco. I see an 8 pin plug which I'm assuming I put my decoder into but what is thing all the colored wires run to? And what decoder should be used.
Click to expand...
All those colored wires are going to an alternate 9-pin DCC plug. It plugs onto the side of a decoder. It just gives you more options on which decoder you can add.
 
The decoders designed to fit into the 8 or 9 pin sockets are not usually the sound varieties (silent DCC). As you can see by Gary P's post, he has piggy backed a sound decoder onto the 9 pin sockets wires. You might want to consider this Econami http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/econami/ecopnp.php which is designed to totally replace the lighting board installed in your loco.
 
So I am putting a decoder in and if the dcc wire harness is already on the board do I need to isolate power etc like the instructions say?
aa24d5ebe429e8d74ca67271ddb4abf4.jpg
that is that harness in question.

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Yeah sounds are all working now it started working. But it's in steam mode not diesel lol

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