"DCC Ready" -- What Does it Mean?
Many Loco Manufacturers are Now Selling
"DCC Ready" Locos
The only sure thing it tells you is that the art department
can spell
“DCC”! Many of these locos have shorts on the interface
boards which are masked by the “shorting” plug installed to
allow the loco to run on an analog power pack.
The locos which have the NEM652 (NMRA standard 4 x 2 pin) socket and shorting plug are wired as shown to the right. Note that the NMRA standard does NOT include connecting the green wire to pin 3, although some manufacturers will do so. This view is looking down on the socket after the jumper plug is removed. Common and frequently fatal to the decoder shorts occur between the track and the motor terminals.
Here is a drawing of the interconnection between the track and the JST style decoder through a NMRA 8-pin socket. Note that the violet and green wires are not connected pre NMRA standards.
Using a BUZZER or ohm meter, probe the gray and black sockets and then the red and orange sockets. There should be high resistance - no buzz. Also probe between the track (black) and light circuits (green, yellow white and blue). Again, no continuity. Finally, probe red rail to lighting.
