I know Digitrax has a table that makes it fairly easy to figure out what decoder should fit what loco. Is there something similar out there for ESU or others? There are two threads on here about an ESU sound decoder for the Kato SD90MAC and several You Tube videos for example but next to nothing on non sound ESU drop in decoders for them. Kato specifies what Digitrax and TCS decoders fit but unless someone knows of a conversion chart, that isn't much help is it? While the Kato SD90MAC was the particular one I used to search, it's not the only one enquiring minds want to see about. Not even saying I'm going to do a DCC upgrade to this loco but am exploring options for the few DC locos I am keeping for now. As a side note, it seems Scale Trains has adopted the Next18 and 21 pin decoders which appear to be very easy to install after removing the shell but not having to remove the mother board from the frame. That is a big plus right there and fairly easy to determine what decoder to use.
If we are talking N scale, there is no 'drop in' ESU decoder for the SD80/90. That and the Kato RS2/RSC2 use a board style not really used on anything else so they are sort of the odd ducks. That said, an ESU 58923 V5 nano will fit with a bit of work. Baically, I machined a bit off of the frame so both a 15x8 speaker and housing and the decoder would fit, cut traces on the light boards, added dropping resistors for SMLED's for the ditchlights, etc. This is the best pic I could find quickly, but I think you get the idea. Most of your hood unit Kato models that are DCC friendly will take an ESU 58741 board....sometimes with no extra work. Sometimes with a bit more work. It really depends. I hope this helps! Kelley. www.dufordmodelworks.com www.facebook.com/dufordmodelworks
Thanks Kelley. It helps but would still be great if there was some kind of chart for that kind of info on what fits what or doesn't have a match.
This is my aggravation too. There are charts for TCS, NCE, Digitrax and others, but nada for ESU. I have adapted a number of ESU units, but so far each one has been unique in some way. I made an excel sheet to keep track.
