Plug In Decoder For Athearn CF7?
#1
I have two Athearn CF-7's that are "DCC Ready" and since both of them run very well on straight DC, I'd like to convert them to DCC. Can any of you fellows that's been into DCC for a while recommend which plug in decorders I should look into for this? At the moment, I'm not looking at installing sound in these models, as I really haven't looked inside the Athearn shells to see if I'd have to make a lot of modifications.

Your input is appreciated! Cheers
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
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#2
If you ever wanted to add sound, the big CF7 cab will accept a 1" speaker. Take some sheet styrene, cut it in a square which will fit horizontally in the cab, cut a 1" circle in that, and mount the speaker facing down. The upper cab will act as a speaker box.

Now, on the decoder, I can't remember if the Athearn CF7 is DCC ready.... if it has, any decoder with the proper plug will work, if not, any wired decoder should work just fine.
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times
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#3
Gary S Wrote:If you ever wanted to add sound, the big CF7 cab will accept a 1" speaker. Take some sheet styrene, cut it in a square which will fit horizontally in the cab, cut a 1" circle in that, and mount the speaker facing down. The upper cab will act as a speaker box.
Hey Gary! Thanks for that tip! As I mentioned, I really haven't taken the shell off one of these to see what the prospects for adding sound were, but that's a darn good idea! I would prefer to go with sound, so I'll look into that.

Both of the Athearn CF7's that I have are "DCC Ready" designed to accept a plug in decoder - at least that's what the box and the instruction sheet that came with them says...
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
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#4
If it's anything like most of the Athearn "DCC Ready" chassis I've seen lately, it will have a 9-pin plug wired to the circuit board. A good, inexpensive non-sound decoder for this unit would be a Digitrax DH123... and it will plug directly into the 9-pin plug in the loco. Simply pull the harness/plug out of the decoder and plug the decoder into the harness in the loco.

For sound, if you wanted prototypical sound, a Soundtraxx Tsunami will plug into the board as well, and mount a speaker as Gary suggested.

For about half the price, the Digitrax SDH164D isn't bad... has generic diesel sound and decent motor control.
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#5
If it has the typical Athearn RTR lighting board, it would be better to replace the board with an Atlas/Athearn form factor board if doing sound - it will leave more room for the speaker. For non-sound I just get a TCS T1A (9 pin with no harness at all - it's a buck cheaper then the one that comes with wires) and plug it in to the 9 pin connector.

--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad of the 1950's in HO

Visit my web site to see layout progress and other information:
http://www.readingeastpenn.com
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#6
For a straight DCC decoder any 9 pin decoder will plug in and you will be set to go. Or you could use the 8 pin . It is your choice.
If your are going to use a sound decoder I think that your best bet would be to use the Tsunami TSU-GN1000 series decoder. It has 1.5 volt lighting out puts for Athearn loco's. 1.5 lights. For the speaker you should be able to mount the speaker ( a 16 MM X 35 MM ) under the grills at the rear of the unit.
Just mount the speaker face up (cone up) under the fan grills. If there are any other openings in shell block them off, so the shell becomes the enclosure.
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#7
Appreciate the input and advice fellows! Guess I'll make the 60 mile trip to the LHS and see what I can pick up this week.
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
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#8
I think we need some of Doc Wayne's "expertise" on this one... :?


Misngth
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#9
tetters Wrote:I think we need some of Doc Wayne's "expertise" on this one... :?
Misngth
Heading out to the LHS this morning. They have a fellow there that is supposed to be a "DCC expert" - evening doing custom installations so I'll see what he comes up with. I am now interested in seeing if I can put sound in one or both of these CF-7's, along with a Kato SD40-2 (custom painted for L&N), but at close to $100 a pop, it'll have to be done as finances permit. Does appear to be room in the CF-7 for a speaker to be mounted in either the cab as Gary suggested or in the hood as suggested by woodone.
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
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#10
Went to the LHS yesterday and the "DCC Expert" set me up with TCS T-1 9-pin decoder for the CF-7. Installed it this morning and am very pleased. Hardest part of the installation was getting the Athearn dummy plug off without tearing everything up! Once I got that off and plugged in the decoder - gee, I'm impressed. Never had an Athearn RTR loco run that smooth! Was a smooth, relatively quiet runner on straight DC to begin with, so figure that helped. Wish now that I'd gotten a sound decoder, but can do that later on as finances permit.

Also installed the same decoder in my custom painted L&N SD40-2, which required using the included wiring harness. Only hard part of that install was making sure that the decoder and all that excess wiring fit into the body shell without getting tangled up in anything. Don't really plan on using this loco but plan on selling it and figure that DCC ready would be a selling point.
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
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#11
Won an Athearn CF7 on eBay & it had a TCS decoder. In a word SWEET!
Andy Jackson
Santa Fe Springs CA
ATSF/LAJ Ry Fan & Modeler
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#12
lajry Wrote:Won an Athearn CF7 on eBay & it had a TCS decoder. In a word SWEET!
Andy;
I'm already looking for a plug-in sound decoder for my CF-7. Couldn't be more pleased with the performance with this Athearn loco. The other CF-7 that I have runs okay but is a lot noisier than the one I added the decoder to yesterday, so will just leave that one as is for now (read - sell cheap).
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
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#13
When it comes to sound, there's three ways you can go... excellent, good or cheap.

Good will cost you about $100, which will get you 16 bit sound, the correct prime-mover sounds for your model, a selection of horns that will give you one that's close to your prototype, and BEMF motor control.

Good will get you decent, generic sounds, and BEMF motor control.

Cheap will make noise, go forwards and backwards, and generally be dissatisfying. Nope

In the "excellent" category, I'd rank Soundtraxx, QSI and ESU LokSound.

In the "good" category, I'd put the Digitrax 164D and Soundbugs.

I've had no experience with TCS sound decoders, so I can't say where they fall.

I'm not going to disparage anyone by putting them in the "cheap" category, having installed a bunch of them for clients, and been personally disappointed by the sound and performance, I now recommend at that price point the Digitrax 164D decoder... for less than $50 with the speaker, it's a good deal.
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#14
Squidbait
TCS only makes non-sound decoders. But given how good they run w/o it can't complain about it. Besides have enough sound equipped ones to satisfy that need.
Andy Jackson
Santa Fe Springs CA
ATSF/LAJ Ry Fan & Modeler
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