I'd like to put a DCC decoder to run the suction motor on my Tomix car, but I'm having difficulty removing the shell without doing damage to it. There are two slots at each end of the car, but I can't seem to be able to figure it out. Anyone out there who has done it it (successfully)? Any advice would be appreciated..... Thanks and regards, Otto K.
Yes, it is held on by the truck screws. Just put DCC in mine. There is a German website that actually has a board you can do a swap out with the one that is there. It provides for a plug and you can use a standard 6 pin (like the Fox Valley ES44 locos) decoder. Works great.
Ron, JDG, Duh! Thank you guys! Sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious... Which German website? Or are we not to mention it here? Regards, Otto
Well, you can waste your money and order the part from here: http://www.modellbahnshop-lippe.com...07005-0-0-0-0-2-0-grp-de-p-0/ein_produkt.html but I don't know how much they will charge for shipping to the US? Better look for the part no. 530022 or use a wired decoder or a decoder with damaged light outputs and solder it in, you can use the cheapest decoder you can get by! Regards Mathi
I've been toying with the idea of picking one of these up, but had thought about the issue of converting it to DCC. Thanks to everyone for the information, now I don't have to take a punt on the car and hope for the best! :-D
Thanks Mathi, €10 is not to bad, but shipping is €9.50 to EU, and lord knows what it is to the US....website says it's calculated "automatically". Too bad, the item could be put in an envelope... The quest continues. Servus, Otto
I purchased the board from Germany and I believe after all of the currency conversions it came in less than $23. It arrived in an envelope in about a week and a half. All done online. Takes all of the questions out of wiring a decoder up and it works perfectly. The notch in the one weight is the perfect place for the decoder.
Well I bit the bullet and ordered two decoders for my two cars...one for the rail grinder and one for the vacuum. Only $11.17 each. Shipping the two to the US? $23.36, ouch. To be continued.... Otto K.
OMG, the decoders are here! The two fingernail size decoders came in a 12 by 9 by 6 inch box I swear....no wonder the shipping is so expensive! They better work, or I am sending them back in a 55 gallon drum, postpaid by receiver... To be continued, I think... Otto K.
Well, sh*****, excuse my French (or in this case poor German). This is embarrassing, irritating and frustrating at the same time. Taking Internet advice and part numbers, I thought I was ordering decoders specifically made for these cleaning cars, and I ordered and received two "austauschplatines", which turns out to be "replacement boards". And that's what they are, just boards... So, $45 bucks later, I still need to buy two decoders which might maybe fit the two new " replacement boards". Great....not. Would have been just as easy and cheaper to hardwire two cheapie decoders. Now I need to find decoders that fit these six pin "austaushplatines"...presumably Lenz has a six pin decoder to fit these? The stupid part is all I need is a very basic decoder to turn the thing on and off. Arrrrgh! Any advice on which decoder might fit the built-in six pin connector and the space available? Otto K.
otto i have two tomix track cleaners running on dcc. one has a tcs m1 in it, the other is not modifed. comparing the two side by side i don't see any advantage of a decoderized unit. i will not modify the second unit. especially since they have a built in switch. just turn the unit on or off. really no need for a decoder.
Sandro, thank you. My NCE system puts out a bit more than 12 volts and I have a very long run so it might take 30 minutes for one trip and I'm a bit reluctant to feed tho motor full track voltage for a long time. I could reduce the output, but my other equipment performance would be affected. Also, I want to set the speed in each car for optimum performance. At this point, I just want to find the most economical decoder that will fit the new boards and be done with it. Otto
Read back to my February 25th post - it did tell you the German site only was selling you a replacement "board" and that you would need to still get a decoder (also recommended one).
Thanks, my bad, I should have read your post more carefully. I'm too used to using direct replacement decoder boards it just never occurred to me that someone would want to replace just the board... As to the decoder, I assume the TCS EUN651 should fit? Someone recommended a Digitrax DZ 125, but it appear to have a bunch of wires coming out rather than an integral six pin connector. Otto
Yes, the EUN will fit. You will need to bend the pins at a 90 deg angle to plug into the board and run the decoder upward in the slot weight.
