[Brian]

Hi all

Can anyone point me to a supplier who can supply 8 pin NMRA plugs to fit onto decoder wires?
Many thanks

 

[Bilbo]

There is an EBay seller called Scaledstructures who has item 6035951576 on at the moment. He sells plugs at 50p each even though he is in USA but I am not sure if he sells them seperately to the decoders.

I have bought off him and I can recommend his service.

 

[Brian]

Hi Bilbo
Yes, I also have purchased from Bill at Scalestructures in the US. Excellent postal service too.
What I was really after though is a UK supplier, I'm sure there are some out there, but where?

 

[Bilbo]

I didn't find one , but I do recall seeing on a forum maybe this one that someone had been quoted £4 - £5 for one from a British Shop.

I did try buying a circuit board sold as a Hornby spare by one of the big spares suppliers and that appeared on the drawing with a plug and was around £2.50. Unfortunately when I got it the plug was just a blanking plug aand wasn't the 8pin version.

 

[Doug]

I was looking for plugs a while back. Female plugs to install in older non-dcc ready locos to make them DCC ready - yes there are those that do that...

I looked at some of the parts list for the Hornby locos and saw the wire harness with the plug. Hornby told me to get them from East Kent Models tel no. 01 227 770777 or Burnley Model Spares tel. no. 01 282 771109.

One had them one didn't. It was very expensive. Over £5 for a female plug. Perhaps the male ones are cheaper.

 

[hoonsou]

Over £5 for a female plug. Perhaps the male ones are cheaper.

Yeah well, we al know that females are expensive.

 

[BromsMods]

Have a look at http://www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/pi196080...m?categoryId=53.

Note that there is a minimum order value of £10.

Regards

John R

 

[Dennis David]

QUOTE Yeah well, we al know that females are expensive.

Not only are they more expensive but you never stop paying. If you are chipping an older locomotive why would you need a plug? Remove the plug from the chip and attch the wires as you normally would or am I missing something?

 

[Ozzie21]

Lenz used to sell the 8 pin plug as a seperate part. Try your local Lenz agent and see if they still sel them. Another was TCS who also sell seperate wire harness in different lengths. Again contact your local supplier.

Ozzie21

QUOTE (Brian @ 16 Feb 2006, 23:11)Hi all

Can anyone point me to a supplier who can supply 8 pin NMRA plugs to fit onto decoder wires?
Many thanks
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

[Makemineadouble]

Try Richard johnson @ DCC concepts Perth.

DCC Concepts., Unit 6, 78-84, Catalano Circuit, Canning Vale, WA 6155. Tel: +61
8 9455 6421 Fax: +61 8 9455 6419 Email: [email protected]

 

[dwb]

Oh you mean /that/ Perth. It took me 3 takes to realise this was the antipodean incarnation; and a most wonderful place it looks too from Billy Connelly's world tour before all our members from Oz get their flame throwers out. ;-)

Back on topic: MacKays have a leaded 652(?) plug assembly in their Lenz price list

David

 

[Brian]

QUOTE If you are chipping an older locomotive why would you need a plug? Remove the plug from the chip and attch the wires as you normally would or am I missing something?
DD I have a small number of newer locos that have manufactures fitted DCC 8 pin sockets with blanking plugs fitted (For DC running) and I also have some decoders without 8 pin plugs, just fly leads. Hence the need for the 8 pin plugs.
I thought I could reuse the manufacturers blanking plugs, but craftily they don't provide all the pins!

ALL Thanks all for the info I'll be e-mailing suppliers ASAP

 

[Ozzie21]

Something that slipped my aging mind. When I first started in DCC Lenz decoders didn't come with plugs so we made our own. We made them from machine wire pins that come in 40 pin lengths. Now these come in two differnet styles standard height and low relief. As I was fitting them in US diesels at the time the low relief pins were the go. Now In Australia I got them from Jaycar electronics shops so I would guess a good UK shop would stock something similar.

Ozzie21
Millmerran Qld, Australia

QUOTE (Brian @ 20 Feb 2006, 22:31)DD I have a small number of newer locos that have manufactures fitted DCC 8 pin sockets with blanking plugs fitted (For DC running) and I also have some decoders without 8 pin plugs, just fly leads. Hence the need for the 8 pin plugs.
I thought I could reuse the manufacturers blanking plugs, but craftily they don't provide all the pins!

ALL Thanks all for the info I'll be e-mailing suppliers ASAP

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

[Brian]

Just to complete this article
Thanks to all those who replied. I contact Alan Murray at Mackay' Models and he has supplied me with two 8 pin Lenz plugs, prewired with leads. Brilliant service from Scotland.
Many thanks to Alan at Mackay's

 

[60134]

What constitutes "DCC Ready"?

I ask this because I have always assumed this meant the loco was fitted with and NEM socket and all you had to do was source and fit an appropriate decoder.

It seems my assumption was wrong! According to Bachmann aka Graham Farish, "DCC Ready" means "prize the loco body off and get out your soldering iron"! The latest Farish catalogue states that their Class 66 "is the first UK N Gauge DCC-ready model in the UK"...... but this only means that it has eight tabs on the PCB to which you can solder your (very small) decoder.

What do members of this forum think? What is DCC Ready?

Inquiring minds need to know.....

60134

 

[Doug]

I think the term is very loosely used right now.

If something or other is 'ready' for some new technology, then it should - without having to be sent in - be able to accomodate the upgrade to the new technology. So a plug or a place on a circuit board is about the same thing. Both involve potential damage when opening the loco. Is the use of a soldering iron considered to be too much - for some yes, but to others, perhaps not.

I would like DCC ready to mean: Decoder fitted.

One day we'll be looking back at all this and saying 'those were the good-old-days, it was so simple back then'...

 

[60134]

Doug wrote "I would like DCC ready to mean: Decoder fitted".

I'd say Amen to that but I am sure ther would be outcry from folks who prefer this or that brand of decoder and want a choice - given that sockets vary anyway I think we are still a way off uniformity here.

60134

 

[spongebob]

If DCC ready means Decoder fitted in future it would be nice if it was a plug in and not a full PCB like the bachmann set loco's.
There are rumblings of discontent in this months railway modeller letters page about the subject and one particularly bizarre letter from a chap who claims that just having the socket is a bad thing and is affecting the running quality of his loco's from the box. Totally confused me what he was rattling on about and left me probably as bewildered as he was to start with!

 

[Doug]

As long as the socket is wired in correctly, there is no detriment at all to the working of the loco when running without a decoder. There were some instances a year or two ago where some locos were incorrectly wired.

 

[60134]

Assuming the fellow's got the blanking board correctly fitted there should be no issues with a loco being DCC ready. I think we can expect a load of misguided advice appearing after that letter!

60134