For Kevin Strong (or anyone). Have you had any experience programming a QSI Titan with an MRC Wireless? Any issues?
Thanks,
Tom
Not the wireless MRC, but I have used the wired version of the Prodigy Advance2 to program QSI decoders. No issues that I encountered. The most difficult thing with regard to programming the QSI decoders is remembering to program CV 49 and CV 50 with the specific indexes that you need. If you foresee yourself getting multiple QSI decoders, I heartily recommend the PC programming interface.
Later,
K
Thanks Kevin.
Kevin... when you say "the PC programming interface", I'm assuming you are talking about the MRC Programming interface, or are you talking about JMRI or something that QSI has?
I'm just now getting my feet wet in DCC, so there is a lot for me to take on. I run N scale in the winter and G scale in the summer. I have 28 G scale engines and want to start a slow program of upgrading to DCC. I'm glad I held off with the Aristo Revolution. I think DCC now has more to offer. I saw a video demo on the Titan and am completely impressed. I bought my first DCC throttle (MRC Wireless) for my N scale. I will try that out and if I like it I may use it on my G scale. I almost bought a NCE throttle and may yet.
Equipping 28 G scale engines with DCC Sound will be a capital adventure. I have some old reliable Aristo Train Engineer throttles with SoundTraxx Sierra's... but DCC is here now and that is the way I want to go. Your DCC articles in Garden Railway Magazine have been inspiring. The migration to Large Scale DCC is here, though still a bit expensive, but with built in sound , this is what some of us have been waiting for.
QSI has a programming interface (basically a little black box that goes between your PC and decoder) that's great for programming the Titan. I've read that the box can be used as an interface for JMRI as well, but I tried it (downloaded new drivers, etc.) with no luck in that regard. A lot of folks like JMRI to program their deciders as it's fairly intuitive to use and--for the most part--universal. The QSI interface is designed solely for QSI's decoders.
If you like the MRC, check out their new Elite 10-amp unit. I believe the wireless interface you already have is compatible with the new Elite command station. The only downside to the MRC is that the voltage is limited to around 15 volts or so. That's probably going to be plenty for most trains, but if you like running mainline trains around the garden at 80 scale miles per hour, you're going to need a bit more voltage. I run battery power with 14.8 volt batteries, almost never going much past 2/3 throttle for the speeds I like my trains to run, so for my needs, the Elite system would work very nicely.
The NCE unit is nice, and will get you 18 volts. There's a "hack" you used to be able to have NCE do to get that to a full 24 volts, but NCE no longer supports doing it. You'd have to find someone who knows what it is, and have them do it for you. It seems to be one of the more popular choices for DCC control in large scale, though. Other manufacturers (Zimo, ESU, Massoth, Piko, etc.) have very good systems as well, and--from memory--have voltage outputs upwards of 22 volts.
Zimo has an adjustable output dependent on the power source on the MX1.
28 volts A/C input max. I use 25.2 A/C and set my output to 24 volts.
Newer Zimo model (prototype shown at 2014 ECLSTS) uses a regulated DC power source and is not yet available.
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