INSTALLATION
This decoder board completely replaces the PC Board in the Atlas
Trainman GenSet Locomotive. Following the Atlas directions, slowly
remove the body shell from the chassis of the locomotive. Be careful as
the supplied headlight wires are very short and may break off from the
LED’s when you remove the body shell. We recomend using a dab of hot
glue to secure the headlight wires close to the headlight location inside the
long hood of the body shell, to avoid them breaking off. Use a 1” to 2” thin
wire to connect two black wires from the headlights. Tape the joint to avoid
short circuit. This thin wire will be connected to the tab marked “headlight
com”. Remove the original board with two Atlas ditch light boards.
Remove the weight from the rear part of the chassis. Remove two capacitors
hidden under the weight. They will not be used. The speaker supplied with
your decoder fits snugly in place where you removed the two capacitors. We
recomend using a small bead of glue to fully secure the speaker to it’s
location. Before installing the ditch light boards please use tape to completely
wrap both front and rear ditch light board holders/slots to prevent the LEDs
from touching the chassis, and shorting out.
The ditch light boards are already soldered to the decoder for your
conveniance. Be very careful with these wires as they are very fragile.
.
Using the supplied wiring diagram, attach the four pickup, two motor and
three headlight wires to the decoder board and secure using the plastic
clips or by soldering the wires to the tabs on the decoder. Use all the
wire channels in the chassis to route the wires going to the decoder and
use scotch tape in these locations to keep the wires from moving. If you
wish to add a roof top strobe light to your loco, use the tab marked for
strobe light and the headlight common tab on the decoder.
MAKING A TEST TRACK
We strongly recommend building a test track with a 27 ohm resistor to
limit current. Only test your installed decoder on the test track. The test
track will reduce the chance of damaging your decoder due to an
incorrectly installed decoder.
TESTING
The decoder has been programmed to address #3, 28/128 speed steps. To test,
place the loco on the test track. Select address #3 and 28 speed step. Move up
the throttle and the loco should move. Push the light button [F0] and headlight
should come on. Change the direction of the loco and the loco should change
direction. The loco cannot reach full speed, due to the resistor. If all the above
occurs, you passed the test. Congratulations! Do not run the loco for an
extended period of time on the test track or the resistor will overheat.
I
f your
installed decoder does not pass the test, find the problem, correct it and test it
again. As long as you test the decoder on the test track there is little chance of
damaging the decoder. This is why the test track is so important.
OPERATION
The decoder has start up and shut down features. If the loco was previously
shut down you have to start up the engine. Press any function key to start up
the engine before operating the loco. To shut down the engine you must bring
the loco to idle and then press F8 three times. This decoder is default to manual
notch setting (CV122=3). F9 will notch up and F8 will notch down. It has three
independent diesel genset prime mover sounds. The second engine will turn on
at notch 4 and the third will turn on at notch 6. This decoder also mimics the real
GenSet, and if left idling for a long period of time will shut down and re start
automatically at specific intervals to conserve fuel.
Shutting off the sound in CV49 will not disable the horn. The decoder has two
types of diesel prime movers. You can use F12 or CV 123 to select the desired
prime mover sound. You can use F19 to select 34 different horn sounds and
use F18 to select 8 different bell sounds. With MRC Prodigy Advance
2
DCC
which has 28 functions, you can easily setup and access all the decoder’s
functions. If not, you may not be able to access all the features of the decoder.
And you have to use the CV program to setup the decoder.
If you want automatic notching enabled set CV 122 = 0
The decoder can also be operated by a regular DC power pack. This will give
you engine sounds only. The DC operation is not recommened. If you wish to
enjoy the full array of sound functions using your DC power pack, the unique
MRC Blackbox (item #0001050), or the tech 6 2.0, (#0001200), will allow you to
control all of the sounds in your sound equipped locomotives.
Right
pickup
Right
pickup
Motor
red
Headlight
common
Left pickup
Left pickup
Motor
(black)
Front
light
Rear
light
Strobe light Speaker plug
Function
Idle/Moving
F0
Lights on/off
F1
Bell on/off
F2
Horn
F3
Ditch Lights on/off
F4
Coupling 1
F5
Brake release (idle) / brake squeal (moving)
F6
Strobe Light on/off
F7
Air hose firing/uncoupling lever
F8
3 times w ill shut dow n w hen in idle / Manual notch dow n
F9
Engine cooling fan / Manual notch up
F10
Rail wheel clack (only moving)
F11
Traction air compressor
F12
Change prime mover type, (2 types and off)
F13
Short air release
F14
Coupler crash
F15
Air compressor
F16
Flange squeal
F17
Air release
F18
Change bell type (use F1 to turn off bell after adjustment)
F19
Horn type select (total 34 different horns)
F20
Associated loco sound
F21
Change bell volume (use F1 to turn off bell after adjustment)
F22
Change horn volume
F23
Change prime mover volume
F24
Safety valve pop
F25
Air release
F26
Flange noise
F27
Sand drop
F28
Ditch Lights flash when F3 is activated
Use tape to completely wrap
both front and read ditch light
board holders to prevent LEDs
from touching the chassis
DCC base unit
Power supply
Test track
27 ohm resistor
Figure 3. Diagram of test track