Is Kato electric set 10-195 DCC friendly?

[kmcsjr]

I have set 10-195 (113-1500 serires electric car. Is it DCC friendly and would Kato 29-351 be the right board? Thank you for reading this.

[CaptOblivious]

I doubt it, as it appears to be an older model. Support for the EM13 decoder ("DCC Friendly" sets) are still relatively new, and so only sets first produced in the last couple of years will take the EM13. Yours doesn't appear to be one of these. You'll need wire-in decoders for this one.

[KenS]

While I don't know for certain, anything with a model number that low is probably not "DCC Friendly" in the Kato sense of being designed to take their EM13 (29-351) motor decoder.

If it is designed for the em13, there should be a hatch or removable bottom section, as seen in the attached photo of an E231. On this car, the decoder slides in atop the brass rails to the right of the flywheel, and under the two round brass stubs on the side of the motor (the circuit board of the decoder has pickups on the underside of the two legs, and motor outputs on the top side).

[kmcsjr]

Thank you!! I rec'd my answer in time to place a complete order with Plaza Japan. WOW! I wanted more 11-702s and it was cheaper to have them sent from Japan than from here in the states. I also ended up buying a JR caboose, the Hannover greets Hiroshima tram and a Tomix track cleaning car. All things on my eventual list, but again, the prices! I was going to swear off ebay after a recent dissapointment, but now...

[The_Ghan]

Hi Folks,

Just a little test I use to check if a Kato product is DCC friendly:

Go to http://www.katomodels.com/distribution/stock_e2.shtml

Under "Item No: Search" enter the product number, eg: 10-555, and click "Search"

When the list appears, select the product and a new window opens.  It is mostly in Japanese but the headings are subtitled in English.  Scroll down to "Features" and click on the white down arrow in a pink circle ... it is quite small.

If the item is DCC Friendly you should see "DCCフレンドリー" towards the bottom of the feature list.  "フレンドリー" is Katakana for "Fu-Le-N-Do-Lii" ... ie: friendly!

Hope this helps a few of you.

Cheers

[KenS]

That's a handy tip.  I hadn't noticed before, but many of the English pages omit the "DCC Friendly" designation, while their Japanese equivalents all seem to have the "DCCフレンドリー" or similar (10-594 has "DCCデコーダ装着対応", meaning "DCC compatible decoder installed" according to Google, but I think it's the same as "DCC Friendly" and doesn't mean you get a decoder with it, as I've never seen any Kato model come with one).