Last Updated: 4 January 2025

Kato 11-107 Chassis DCC Conversion

Mistakes may damage your locomotive, controller or other accessories. Use a multimeter to make absolutely sure you have completely isolated the motor from the track before testing. Always use the Programming Track for testing. Our guides are provided for reference only, and you proceed entirely at your own risk. Unsure about something - try our DCC Conversion Service instead.

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This guide shows how to convert several Kato motorized chassis types to DCC. They run very well at slow speed under DC and DCC, and are perfect for a wide range of scratch built and custom projects. We use them to provide motive power and camera power to our N Gauge HD Train Camera.

This guide covers several similar chassis types including:

  • Kato Chassis (11-106)
  • Kato Chassis (11-107)

Step 1 - Remove body

Remove the white upper plastic section by gently pushing the two black body clips on each side. Note, they can break easily. The motor will pop out slightly.

Convert Kato 11-107 chassis to DCC Convert Kato 11-107 chassis to DCC

Step 2 - Remove Motor Contacts

Move the motor to one side, being careful not to break or bend the drive shaft. Remove the two copper strips from the middle of the chassis that were touching the two motor contacts.

Convert Kato 11-107 chassis to DCC Convert Kato 11-107 chassis to DCC

Step 3 - Connect Motor

Solder an orange and grey wire to the two motor contacts, then replace the motor inside the chassis housing.

Convert Kato 11-107 chassis to DCC

Step 4 - Connect Track Pickups

Solder a red and black wire to the outer copper strips. Route all four wires towards the non-motor end, and clip the white upper housing back on.

Convert Kato 11-107 chassis to DCC Convert Kato 11-107 chassis to DCC

Step 5 - Add Decoder Socket

Solder the four wires onto a 6-pin decoder socket, which can be fixed to the top of the chassis with glue or black tack.

Convert Kato 11-107 chassis to DCC

Step 6 - Test

Insert a decoder into the socket, taking care to make sure Pin 1 on the decoder is plugged into the 'orange' side. Place the loco on your programming track and read the loco ID. If all is well, you will get the default loco ID back after a few movements backwards and forwards - then the conversion is complete.

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