Model Railroading > Genesis DDA40X issue questions

Out of the box on DC it won't pull 15 40 ft cars very fast. And it blows the horn continuously. Sound unit. Lights work directionally and beacon flashes.
Light engine it goes the same speed.
I compared it to my other one. Night and day. Non sound.
Again DC. I don't do DCC and don't have the vocabulary that goes with it.
Return it or is there something I'm missing? Can I get the horn to stop with DC?

Remove the DCC sound decoder from the light board where it plugs into the 9 pin socket. Put an Athearn dummy plug into the empty socket and you will have motor control and directional lighting. Auction the decoder to get some of your $$$ back.

Whats a dummy plug look like?

It is about 3/8"x1/2" and 1/8" thick. There is a 9pin connector on one side. Commonly, there are 3-4 diodes on one face. Athearn seems to change these a bit over time so I don't know which version you will need. There might be a number on the dummy in the DC unit you have which might be one which will work. Someone at Athearn might be able to help if you call them.

When you take the shell off one of the DD40s you will see the light board on top of the motor. Part of the stuff on top of this board you will see a white plastic plug with multicolored wires coming into one side and an electric circuit board on the other. If it is short like 1/2" it is the dummy plug. If it is closer to 1" and maybe shrink wrapped it is the sound decoder.

If you can find a number or can post a photo here someone might be able to send you a spare from one of their DCC conversions.

The Athearn DDA40X with DCC Sound does NOT use a decoder plugged into a light board.  It uses two (one for each motor) Soundtraxx Tsunami GN1000 decoder boards.  The decoder board on the rear motor is unique to these units and can only be purchased from Athearn.  You need to find someone to program your locomotive for DC operation only, or contact Athearn and purchase DC light boards to replace the DCC decoders.

I do not know if this will help but I have three of these behemoths and I did put in DCC in mine (non-sound).  Remembrering that this equated to 6 motors, I found that half of the loco was dropping out.  The reason was the little press on "thingeys" which held the wires to their contacts were not on correctly.  In fact, some of them were oversized for the tab they were on thereby causing the copper of the wire to lose contact with the board.  I soldered all of the contacts and never have had a problem since.  Since then, every model gets this treatment.

Rick

OK, the non standard mother boards add a new wrinkle. Rather than trying to run down the non standard DC Athearn light boards the quickest solution is to take all the electronics out of both ends of the unit. Then wire the right side track wire (might be red) to the motor + (might be orange). Then the left track wire (might be black) to the motor - (might be grey).

You will have motor control but no headlights. Miniatronics makes a light control circuit which will give you a directional head light and rotary beacon which is wired in parallel to the motor.

This way means there is no programming for anyone to do. The set pair of DCC decoders can then be auctioned. Perhaps you can offer to trade your pair of DD40A Tsunami decoders for the equivalent Athearn DD40A DC light boards here on TO and you can get to factory standard. Perhaps you might trade the power chassis or entire locomotive to save some disassembly work.

> Again DC. I don't do DCC and don't have the
> vocabulary that goes with it.

Return it.
Gutting it out for DC is money down the drain.
Search for a DC only locomotive.

Thanks for the help:)