Decoder Adaptor Board for Athearn Blue Box


Considering you can get decoders for a few dollars more and hardwire them these boards are completely unnecessary. Either way you look at it you have to isolate the motor and wire the board up to all points on the loco. Why not save $12 per loco and just hardwire the decoder.
 
In looking at them, I thought that they may be using "plug" type decoders, which I prefer. And not having to hide 2'(an exaggeration, of course) of wire under the body seemed like it might be a good practice, too. And I can buy the plug-in decoder, sans harness, for a tad cheaper.

I do have some open frame motors that use high amp decoders, especially some of my very old F-units(circa. 1960's). And with those engines, I have to cut the wires rather short to keep them out of the spinning armature, some with rubber band "belts", another obstacle. I suppose I could repower them but then I'd lose a bit of the drama of owning these old brutes.

Most of my DCC are utilizing the plug type decoders now. Just a passing thought.

Bob
 
I don't know what type of decoders you are usinig, but in my experience, decoders with plugs cost more than decoders that have a harness that ends in wires.

If you're going to wire the board in, why not wire in the decoder? It will save you the trouble of wiring in a mostly-useless board only to plug a decoder in.
 
I have to agree, if you're already going to be soldering you may as well just hardwire.
(as much as I dislike doing that myself)
I know what you mean about the 2' of copper!
 
You can buy the "plug-type" decoders, without the harness, cheaper than buying the same decoder with the plug harness. I haven't bought a decoder in some time, but as I recall, the harness and decoder were around $70, while just the decoder, sans harness was around $40-$50. But, it's been awhile.

The last decoders I purchased were Digitrax. But, I've used Lenz, MRC, and others also. Usually what ever the LHS had on sale I bought.

Bob
 
Bob, it's been a while since you bought a decoder if you were paying those kind of prices. :) I use the NCE D13SR for all my Athearn BB locomotives. They are small, direct wire decoders that have three functions and a 1.3 amp rating. You can get them for $15.75 each or $136.95 for a 10 pack from Tony's Train Exchange. As has been said, there's no advantage to buying a board and decoder since you are going to have to isolate the motor and do some soldering anyway. I measure and cut the wires so I don't have a bunch of extra wires flopping around inside the shell. I bundle the wires coming back tothe decoder using heat shrink tubing and mount the decoder to the top of the motor with double sided tape. Works fine for me.
 
Jim, I went and dug through some old boxes and found a receipt for decoders. I was paying $59 for the Lenz decoders. I can't tell you the model as the receipt just says "Lenz Decoder". The receipt is 6 years old, October of 2003.

Bob
 
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Bob, back in 2003, most decoders were just a decoder and you pretty much adapted it to whatever engine you wanted to use it for. The passage of six years has been amazing in the evolution of DCC. I don't know what the number of DCC users are now as a percent of the total hobby but it has to be at least 10 times higher than in 2003. The increase in unit sales and cheaper electronics has allowed decoder prices to fall to almost nominal levels now. I can see the day coming when DCC decoders will become standard equipment, much as flywheels went from the exotic to the common place.
 
Yeh, Jim, I know. All of the engines I've purchased recently have had Tsunami decoders already installed. But to convert all of my engines, I'd need a bailout from the Feds.

I started DCC in 2000 or so when I bought my first, and only, system. The cost at that time was definitely premium. Most of my units have Digitrax 123's, though a few are using Lenz and MRC's. About 75% of my engines are DCC, with all but my much older Blue Box's needing to be converted, as well as a few other newer units. And most of those "OLD" engines are equipped with the old Pittman-type, open frame motors and rubber band drive. Yes, I still have a bunch of those. Something about them has me keeping them around. The total of my roster is somewhere over 200 engines as I sometimes change eras to model a more modern time.

I think that if a survey were taken, we should find that about 30% of those in the hobby have converted to DCC. I may be a bit high but it is definitely think that DCC is the way to go if one were to be constructing a new layout. My layout is DCC, but was started with power districts. I guess it to be the best of both worlds. But power districts will be obsolete in the next 10 years, I believe.

Bob
 
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digitrax makes a decoder specifically for the blue box engines, that you dont even have to hardwire. # DH123AT is the one im thinking of.
 
Well, the DHAT harness is one you can try but it still requires a bit of soldering and, after the other parts get loose and fall off, you end up soldering the whole thing anyway. I did one and it was enough to convince me that a no solder decoder for Athearn BB engines doesn't work very well in the real world.
 
Well, the DHAT harness is one you can try but it still requires a bit of soldering and, after the other parts get loose and fall off, you end up soldering the whole thing anyway. I did one and it was enough to convince me that a no solder decoder for Athearn BB engines doesn't work very well in the real world.

true, forgot about the main clips becoming lose.
 
I have about 12 (mostly the old SW1500's) or so BB Athearn's, and I have found that the DH123AT is really not worth it as others here have said. Athearn's are very easy to hard wire so I would do just that.
 



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