But 95 % of diesel and steam RTR locomotives on the 2023 market are now DCC ready so a simple patch/path is needed to take a DCC ready motherboard, strip it of DCC unique functions and use it a path from the existing witing to the LocoFi board.
Is there a reason to keep the extra board once you've taken the DCC unique components off?
We've tried this in our lab setup once and gave up because it turned out more convoluted than simple.
We always used to wonder why there is a base DCC board when all you needed was an NMRA plug and the decoder should fit right into it. The plug should simply be wired to the power, motor and lights. It turns out that in an attempt to make the locomotive compatible with DC track power, the locomotive manufacturers had to invent this mechanism. This is a DCC specific mechanism only because of the way DCC power and signal is.
Ideally, there should be simply a 8 pin NMRA plug where either DCC or LocoFi or any other system should simply fit and yet be DC compatible. Alas, DCC will not work that way and throwing the DCC ready board out makes way for a simpler install of LocoFi, the way it should be. Some customers have in fact used the 8 pin NMRA socket and soldered all the wires of the locomotive on one end and the NMRA plug with LocoFi wiring on it on the other end. Now, it's plug'n'play!
But 95 % of diesel and steam RTR locomotives on the 2023 market are now DCC ready so a simple patch/path is needed to take a DCC ready motherboard, strip it of DCC unique functions and use it a path from the existing witing to the LocoFi board.