i have a pair of Undec Atlas U23B's coming this week from Atlas. I bought them thinking they had DCC decoders installed. Now The more I think about it "Analog PC Board with 8-pin DCC NMRA PLUG" IS NOT a DCC Decoder! I'm disappointed, because now I probably got to scrape up another 50-100 bucks for decoders. Gotta love modern advertising.
Pat, You are not alone! I've been fooled a few times with different phrases that don't mean what you think they do!
The key words here are "ANALOG PC board." Most of today's DC locomotives come with an analog PC board. The better ones, have that 8-pin DCC NMRA plug so you can easily convert from DC to DCC. Its really a simple installation when you have that plug. Especially with Atlas engines! Around here (MIami), two DH163PS decoder would cost between 40 and 60 dollars. Just make sure the decoders you buy have a 8-pin wirring harness AND PLUG. Some come with the plug and some don't.
Yep, been fooled too, so now I go order and buy strictly by the manufacturers stock number. The tricky part is the same engine number is used for both DCC equipped and analog equipped engines, so the stuff on places like ebay is often (I am convinced) deliberately misleading. An example is SP 8013, an 8-40B (or 39B). The stock numbers can be found at the manufacturers, sites. After being fooled once, I now keep a list of models I want WITH the stock number for the DCC equipped units.
