Has anyone tried a MRC Tech 6 2.0 Power Pack. I was looking at them on Wholesale Trains website and asked them about the operation with all types of sound equipped locos. The salesperson replied that I need to ask the company as they weren't allowed to disuss the operational capabiliries of the product. The person at MRC gave me a ambigious answer when I asked if I can operate Blueline, Paragon, Walthers and Bachmann sound equipped locos with the Tech 6 power pack. Their website indicates one can operate all but the rep said I still need a Blueline DC Master for the sound to work on the Blueline locos, all the others would operate from tne power pack. I would like something that I can operate all types of sound equipped locos that is reasonably priced and doesn't take an electrician to install and an IT person to program.
Thank you for any tips and advice for the Tech 6.
Steve
The Tech 6 is basically a one-channel DCC controller combined with a DC throttle. To control a DCC/sound equipped locomotive, the locomotive must have the address 3. You will need to have a DCC motor decoder installed in BLI Blueline locomotives for them to work on the Tech 6. You CANNOT control DC locomotives and DCC/sound locomotives at the same time, and you should remove all locomotives that you aren't running from the track.
IMHO, you would be better off buying a starter DCC system. They are no more difficult to wire up than a DC throttle, and you can run multiple locomotives.
John
If everybody is thinking alike, then nobody is really thinking.
http://photobucket.com/tandarailroad/
The easiest way I can explain the Tech 6 is this:
The Tech 6 has 2 modes - DC and DCC (called something else). In DC mode, it is a normal DC throttle or power pack. In DCC mode, the Tech 6 is a DCC controller that only addresses address 3. 3 is the normal default address for DCC decoders.
With a "regular" DCC controller, you reprogram the decoder address to something you can remember - like the number on the locomotive. Then you select which locomotive you are going to control at a given moment by calling up the address of that locomotive. All the DCC locomotives can be on the track at the same time. They will do nothing until their address is called up.
With the Tech 6 in DCC mode, you can only control the locomotive(s) that are on address 3. This means only one DCC locomotive should be on the track connected to the Tech 6 at any given time. Just like with regular DCC controllers, the Tech 6 uses the function keys to turn the sounds and lights on DCC locomotives on and off.
As an example (and not necessarily a recommendation), the MRC Prodigy Express can be had for less money than a Tech 6. The PE is a regular DCC controller with full addressing capabilities. You can wire your track to the center terminals of a DPDT toggle switch, the PE to one outside pair of terminals, and your existing DC power pack to the other outside terminals. Then you select whether you will use the DC power pack or the DCC system to run the layout. More capability for less money than the Tech 6. That said, all the owners of the Tech 6 I know of are quite happy with it despite my recommending against it.
The Blueline locomotives have a DCC/DC sound decoder but do not have a DCC motor decoder. Until you install a DCC motor decoder you cannot run a Blueline on DCC. You must run the Blueline on DC until you install the second decoder. The Tech 6 does not duplicate the DC switching needed to control the sound of the Blueline sound decoder that the Blueline DC Master does. There is no one magic bullet that controls all the sounds of DCC locomotives and DC sound locomotives like Blueline without the second decoder.
hope this makes sense
Fred W
Forget the Tech 6, and get a starter DCC system from MRC or NCE.
When I first considered DCC I felt much the same as you in not wanting to go to something complicated. I bought an MRC Command 2000 since it was advertised as the simple way to enjoy DCC. I soon found that it was quite limited and all the "complications" that I was leery of were in my mind. I junked the MRC and bought a Digitrax Zephyr and have enjoyed it ever since. If you are considering sound you should buy a REAL DCC system.
Joe
I couldn't agree more. Sure, it SEEMS easier at first - until you want to do somethign other than run the nifty sound loco exactly as it came out of the box. Then it's either the same as any full fledged DCC system, or a plain old "sorry, can't do that".
You can get a real DCC system and do MORE with the DCC/sound locos AND have the ability to switch back to plain DC simply by using a DPDT center-off toggle switch,. Connect your current DC power pack to one side, the DCC system to the other. Just like the Tech 6, you can run either on DC mode, or DCC mode, except you'll have a REAL DCC system that can be expanded. Which is another issue with the Tech 6, basically what you get is what you get. Shoudl you later decode to get more into DCC, you now have an expensive paperweight.
Not sure who the Tech 6 is even targeted at. It supposedly can do some basic programming of decoders, but it has no display - just a bunch of blinking lights. This is easier than a real DCC system?
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.