I've seen adds that advertise the new Spectrum J being DCC ready. Has anyone had any experience with these yet? I've done searches but cannot find any info. These look like a big step up from the old Bachmans. I'd like to add a few to my roster if DCC installation is easily done and if they are good runners. Any info you guys have will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!
I've intalled an MRC Brilliance sound decoder in one. The actual decoder install is a snap. It does require soldering but there are 7 solder pads that are labeled and ready to go. You remove two snap on jumpers and follow the instructions for the wiring code. Plenty of room in the tender. To install the speaker for sound, at least with the MRC, the speaker was too large to fit in the factory snap in mount but with a little dremel work it fit well. It did require masaging the side of the metal tender floor just slightly. The MRC speaker is 17mm, it looks like the Bachmann factory plan is to use a 14-15mm speaker.
I installed a Digitrax DZ143 decoder in my new J. Since my new J stopped running after 20 minutes on the test loop, I diagnosed the problem as a dead short in the wiring from the loco to the tender. At that point, a decoder install for this model came sooner than I planned. I stripped out all the problematic factory wiring and wired the decoder's pickup, motor and front headlight leads directly to the small circuit board in the cab of the loco with the decoder mounted in the tender. I put a brass weight slab where the circuit board was mounted (after I tore it out) to which the decoder was glued on. I soldered the rear light wires directly to the rear LED using a resistor from the board of an old Bachmann Dash 8. This left me plenty of room to add even more extra weight to the tender for maximum signal pickup. It was one of the easiest hard wired decoder installs I have ever done. the whole thing took me about 90 minutes.
