I have 3, MRC 1644 drop in sound decoders. Two of them run fine. The other one, runs very slow in both directions. I've played with CV's 2,3,4,5,& 6, and still nothing. Am I missing a CV someplace, that needs changing? I hate to send it back to MRC for something simple. Thanks
Are all three decoders in the same type of loco? And did the locos run at similar speeds before installing decoders? One check would be swap the decoder in the slow running loco with one of the others and see if it is still slow running. Ben
Thanks Ben. I have one in a Kato, SD 70M, And with some home frame milling, and a little body modification, I fit one in a Kato SD40-2, both these run good. The one with problems is in a Kato AC4400CW. This engine runs normel on DC, and with a Digitrax DN163K1A decoder. I sent the same question to MRC, a few days ago, and they told me to send it too them for a check up. (NOTE) I know these decoders were designed for Kato SD 70's, and AC4400CW's, but with a little extra work, they can be fitted in other Kato engines that use this type of decoder. The sounds may not be perfect, but at least it sounds like a diesel running. And if you can do it, replace the speaker with a .500in one, it makes a world of difference. I have milled out the fuel tank area of 5 engines, using a dremal drill press, with a small X-Y vice.
SantaFe - I was just working on a plan to install some after market speakers using my MRC1644s in Kato AC4400CWs. What speakers did you go with as replacements and where do you get them? I found some 14 x 25 8ohms at Litchfield. They would require a heavy mill job. Thanks for the help - MarcO
Hi Marco! I got them from Tonys Trains. There .500in and cost about 7.95 each. I mounted them in a baffle, I made, or modified in the fuel tank area. I've tryed sending pictures before, that didn't work so good, but I'll try it again. ( Hope this works.) One is in a Kato SD 70, and the other is a Kato SD 40, this one took some doing, I had to modify the inside of the body a little, and the frame is moved forward about a 1/32 of an inch, I also filed the corners on the decoder a little. I had to remove the rear led from the board, and I will replace it with one of new bar types, later. I also had to cut some of the front light directer off, and remove the rear one compleatly. The last picture is what I used to do the milling. If anybody reading this thread trys this, go very slow, and take small layers off at a time. Also the Dremal drill press, needs to be reinforced some what, it tends to twist at times. Bruce
Sorry it's mine and you can't have it. HI HI I bought that vise over 30 years ago for $20, It worked nice for milling my engines out. I've done five frames with it now. This summer when I can get back outside, I have to make some type of bracket to stop the dremal from twisting sideways. The first time it did it, it roughed up the frame a little, and scared the you know what out of me. I couldn't find the off switch fast enough. I think if you had a small flat heavy vise, that you could hold the frame in and slide around the drill press table would work. I bought the milling bit at a tool supply store for less then $5.
SantaFe 834, You appear to have advanced knowledge of installations, so this post from KenPortner on the Atlas DCC forum may not apply to your slow running loco, but here 'tis anyhow: "I bought the MRC 1644 Sound Decoder to put in my Kato N Scale SD70 MAC. After installing it, the loco was operating only fitfully. After much gnashing of teeth and scratching of heads, I think I figured out the problem It lies in the horizontal copper contacts that transmit the track power into the loco frame, into the decoder, into the motor, etc. I found that one side of the contact was not hitting the truck contact unless I put pressure on it. I found that by reversing the horizontal contact I got better contact. I think I must have put it back on backwards when it came out while removing the shell. The Kato shell is very difficult to remove and it's easy to mess up the contact with the trucks when removing it and putting it back on to install the decoder. Now I haven't put the shell back on, but that seems to have done the trick for me. I'd suggest anyone having trouble with the decoder and who thinks it's the contact pads on the decoder or just senstivity to dirty track should take off the shell and try to run the loco while looking to see if the horizontal contacts are touching the truck contact." Ben
Ben Yes, I have had a lot of trouble with these contacts, not touching. The decoder I had trouble with, was sent back to MRC, at their request. As far as knowledge, I just keep working on the problem till I find a solution. I had one engine that I milled too much frame away, and lost most of the grooves, that the contacts fit in. I tryed taping them in place, but that didn't work. I wound up drilling and tapping holes, in the corners, just inside the contact strips for 00-90 screws I had left over from Micro Trains couplers. That put constent pressure on them, and made it nice & tight and trouble free. Bruce
Anyone have any issue with this decoder? I just bought 2 for the N scale KATO AC4400 and they run for about 10 secs then it acts like it shorts. Then it runs again and does the samething over and over again. A club member has the same issue. Are the decoders just crappy?
Did you check to see whether: 1. The brass contacts from the decoder to the motor are touching? 2. The brass contacts that come from the trucks are touching the brass contact in the body frame? Are you running the loco with the shell on? Try it with the shell off and when it stops, gently touch these areas and see if it starts again. If so, that's your problem and you should be able to fix it.
I've had this same problem with a lot of decoders, sound decoders are the worst. The problem is in the power picup from the rails. The engine will move a little, stop, and then the decoder will reset. Clean all the contact areas with some fine sandpaper, file etc. Don't forget the top of the little nubs on the trucks. Run a small screw driver or something through the slot that the contact strips, sets in. Put a little more bend in the contact strip so that it will put more pressure on the frame and wheel contacts. It can get frustratting at times, but keep at it. Let me know if that helped. Bruce
Yes, Bruce has it right. I think these decoders have gotten a bad rap, partly because people are not checking these basic issues. I've seen so many posts saying that they are more susceptible to dirty rail than other decoders when I think it's in the design of the loco rather than the decoder. The shell on the Kato SD70 and AC4400 are difficult to get off and when you do pull them off and put them on it tends to mess with the configuration of the frame contacts and the truck contacts. That's why I suggest trying it with the shell off to see if you can troubleshoot it that way.
Thanks Ken One point I forgot, which you mentioned in your thread before, was cleaning the pads on the decoder, and motor. I had a decoder that was driving me nuts. I cleaned the wheels, the rails, all contacts, but never cleaned the ones on the decoder or motor. I also bent the decoder contacts in a little, and bent the motor contacts out a little more, this put a lot more pressure on the contacts. Problem solved.
i have almost 400 decoder equipped kato locos. more than 70 ac-4400. believe me, these mrc1644 are just a piece of junk ! all ac-4400 run perfectly even after one of them crashed to the floor after a derailment. but the one with the mrc1644 decoder stalls and resets on brand new track which was cleaned with contact cleaner. contact wipers, wheels everything was cleaned with contact cleaner
i have almost 400 decoder equipped kato locos. more than 70 ac-4400. believe me, these mrc1644 are just a piece of junk ! all ac-4400 run perfectly even after one of them crashed to the floor after a derailment. but the one with the mrc1644 decoder stalls and resets on brand new track which was cleaned with contact cleaner. contact wipers, wheels everything was cleaned with contact cleaner. also please read my other comments about these decoders in various threads. i recently ran my mrc1644 for 48 hours non-stop. to make sure it is not a contact problem within the loco i remove the decoder and hardwired it to my digitrax booster. now guess what ! the decoder hung after less than 30 minutes and had to be resetted using decoder pro. 3 hangs in 2 hours. i the just let it run for the remaining time. now i can't even program or reset it using decoder pro.
I would like to know the solution to this problem... I have two N scale Kato SD70MAC locos. Each has a MRC 1644 drop-in sound decoder installed but running in DC. One of these runs great with good sound and speed in DC mode. The second one runs with weak sound and a lot slower , almost a crawl, with the same full speed pot setting on my MRC TechII dual throttle DC controller. Both locos were run on the same trck at full DC 10.6 volts. When I remove the decoder from the slower running loco and go back to just operating with the light board this second loco runs like a bat out of hell. I seems like the second loco's decoder doesn't have the power output that the first loco's has. Any ideas as to why this is happening. I'm on my second decoder in this second loco with the same results. I sent the 1st 1644 decoder back. I'm in the procees of setting up my layout with a NCE PowerPro R w/5 amp system. How will I be able to get these two locos to match speed in a consist if they won't run the same speed in DC? Ron Rouleau
yes there about 50/50 i had one same kind doing the same thing sent it back,the replacement is awsome great sound and runs fine
