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As I now have a quantity of very cheap MRC AD322 decoders I am experimenting with various locomotives to put them into.
http://www.modelrec.com/search/product-view.asp?ID=1271
My newest "victims" will be some of my older Aristo-Craft FA-1's and FB-1's.
While the locos are a few years old they have extremely little running time so part of my objective is to give them more use by turning them into multi-user locomotives by enabling easier operations for visitors who will be running them under LGB's MTS.
There are a couple of things I should mention:
1. I am not doing full decoder installations. Since I still run primarily analog track power I will continue to handle the train operations with traditional track power operations (electrically blocking sidings, track magnets for sound activation etc.). As a result my primary purpose of installing the decoders is to enable selective locomotive operation by different individuals.
2. My primary objective is to achieve MTS/DCC operations at the lowest possible cost. My choice of the MRC decoders is based strictly on their very low cost. I do not suggest that they are in any way the best choice - just the cheapest I have found that seem able to do the job.
3. The diesel sound from the MRC decoders is not impressive but I could live with it. I have a quantity of LGB 4235s (analog powered) sound units from LGB sound cars and since I already have them I will be installing them instead of using the sound system of the decoders. Others might want to use the MRC sound if they do not have or want to buy sound systems.
4. The MRC decoders are discontinued older models and are somewhat temperamental when switching between MTS/DCC and analog track power. Sometimes they try to go forward when they should reverse and sometimes when switching from analog to MTS they will take off at high speed (I'm still figuring this out).
5. I am not making any recommendations or suggestions that anyone should do anything. I'm just showing what I am doing in case it may be of interest or assistance to anyone. If nothing else the circuit diagrams might be helpful.
6. This is a work-in-progress. It is accurate and up to date as far as I know. On the other hand there could be errors that I have not yet discovered.
This is the wiring diagram I have developed so far:
Jerry
http://www.modelrec.com/search/product-view.asp?ID=1271
My newest "victims" will be some of my older Aristo-Craft FA-1's and FB-1's.
While the locos are a few years old they have extremely little running time so part of my objective is to give them more use by turning them into multi-user locomotives by enabling easier operations for visitors who will be running them under LGB's MTS.
There are a couple of things I should mention:
1. I am not doing full decoder installations. Since I still run primarily analog track power I will continue to handle the train operations with traditional track power operations (electrically blocking sidings, track magnets for sound activation etc.). As a result my primary purpose of installing the decoders is to enable selective locomotive operation by different individuals.
2. My primary objective is to achieve MTS/DCC operations at the lowest possible cost. My choice of the MRC decoders is based strictly on their very low cost. I do not suggest that they are in any way the best choice - just the cheapest I have found that seem able to do the job.
3. The diesel sound from the MRC decoders is not impressive but I could live with it. I have a quantity of LGB 4235s (analog powered) sound units from LGB sound cars and since I already have them I will be installing them instead of using the sound system of the decoders. Others might want to use the MRC sound if they do not have or want to buy sound systems.
4. The MRC decoders are discontinued older models and are somewhat temperamental when switching between MTS/DCC and analog track power. Sometimes they try to go forward when they should reverse and sometimes when switching from analog to MTS they will take off at high speed (I'm still figuring this out).
5. I am not making any recommendations or suggestions that anyone should do anything. I'm just showing what I am doing in case it may be of interest or assistance to anyone. If nothing else the circuit diagrams might be helpful.
6. This is a work-in-progress. It is accurate and up to date as far as I know. On the other hand there could be errors that I have not yet discovered.
This is the wiring diagram I have developed so far:

Jerry