Hi All - Since there's a large user community on this forum using the Massoth sound decoders, I thought I'd share my experience with the XLS On-Board DCC Sound Decoder. This was my first installation of an On-Board unit into a customer's LGB 26121 Mogul Locomotive. I gave the customer a quote for the labor if it was 100% plug & play, but if I had to do any plug modifications and soldering, there would be an additional $25 charge. For the locomotive's cables, it was 100% plug & play. But when I got to the final task, connecting the locomotive's cable to the tender for its speaker, rear taillight, and track power output, tilt! See the photo of this factory-installed cable to the tender and note the connectors on it: 1. Bottom cable plug is for the tender's track power output and there's no socket on the On-Board Decoder for this small plug........so I cut off the plug and soldered on extension wires and then soldered them to the motor block connector; 2. Middle cable plug is for the tender's taillight and the small Massoth plug does have an On-Board decoder connector; 3. Top cable plug is for the tender's speaker and note the size of the grey plug that connected to the Mogul's original factory main/sound board. The standard speaker plug and socket on Massoth decoders is the small 2-pin plug that's shown in the photo's track power and taillight plugs, so there's no plug & play socket available on the On-Board decoder. So, I removed that plug and soldered extension wires on that cable and used the plug I removed from the track power cable. My customer was irrate that the Massoth documentation advertises the XLS On-Board decoder is 100% plug & play but in his locomotive's case, not so for just the tender functions, and would also have to pay a wopping $25 more! I told him I didn't think it was a big deal but if he felt strongly about the decoder not being 100% plug & Play for only the tender's connections, he could email Massoth in Germany and complain about it! Has anyone else found a similar issue with installing the Massoth XLS On-Board Sound Decoder?
