I just received 3 new Atlas GP38 DCC ready locos. I also ordered the NANO sound decoders from ESU. It was easy to remove the DC plug in chip from the daughter board and replace it with the Nano sound decoder. The motherboard uses grooves in the frame to make contact and also has motor and speaker contact brass tabs. The motherboard fits LOOSELY into the frame. Atlas remedy was to afix a small piece of sponge material to the top of the motherboard that would make contact with the shell once put back on the frame. Personally, I don't like that as it can put too much pressure on the board causing it to bow and then make issues with the brass pads not making contact with the brass stubbs coming up through the frame for motor and speaker connections. Instead, I used kapton tape to hold the motherboard in place. I also used a small piece of sponge material to wedge under the Nano decoder so that the decoder would not move when re-applying the shell. Before getting to the lighting issue - That shell is the most difficult to get off the the frame!!!!! Tight is putting it mildly!!! I put everything back together and started my programming..... Programming was completed and everything looked great, except.... a rear led light would not turn off, lighting up the number boards and headlight. No matter what I did (all 3 locos exhibited the same issue) You have got to be kidding me! So off with the shells, again, and sure enough the rear left ditch light led was on on all 3 locos bypassing the decoder. I found the output device but could not control it in DCC. The GP38 doesn't have ditchlights so against my better judgement I decided to "exterminate" the left ditchlight LED. That solved my problem but somebody wired that LED to the DC only part of the board. This was a first for me. I could have sent the locos back to Atlas but decided to fix them for my needs. P.S. 2 out of the 3 locos had truck nubs that caused all kinds of derailing issues. I had to cut off the nubs and everything was then great. In the future I hope that Atlas does away with the sloppy motherboard issues and does what they did with the GP-9 where the motherboard is held onto the frame by 2 screws. Most Modelers wouldn't want to go through the effort that I did to make things work. Lets hope that these issues can be overcome in the manufacturing processes. Brian
