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DCC Equipped Locomotives
DCC locomotives have an electronic detector located inside the body. This detector is able to perform many functions in addition to speed and direction.
Depending on the model, it may turn the lights and bell on and off, blow the whistle or horn, and even change the sound of them. Most are able to reproduce the sounds a locomotive makes, including steam hiss, air brakes, wheel squeal, and many others. While some detectors are generic, and useful for various model locomotives, most are specific to a type of locomotive and even the prototype railroad.
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The detector that is being talked about is your engine computer chip and some of these are wired to work in either standard DC or in DCC mode by just placing them right on the track. The computer chip if capable can detect which system you are using and send it on its way. These are usually factory installed. Some have a jumper pin that has to be plugged in for DC on the engine’s computer card and removed for DCC. Either way your sounds and lighting for the engine are limited in standard DC. For instance on standard DC will turn on the lights and sound when you throttle up where on DCC the sound and lights starts before you even throttle up as your speed increases. along with anything else you have set on start up. A friend of mine has only run in DC and the engine he had could run on either. He thought the operation and sound of the engine he had was great till I put it on my DCC system without doing anything else to it (factory chip) the engine really came to life.
Newman