Had a ebay score, decoder equipped GP9s(2) and SD7(1) all Union Pacific and all P2K.
All were operable, but former owner used Lenz decoders and the wiring job is not up to my standards. I believe they had a harness at some point from the wiring that comes off the decoders and the lights were changed to 12v I am guessing. Shame since these were DCC ready engines when new.
Little fixing and soldering will get me fixed up to my standards, but I have kno way of knowing if the decoders are worth using or not.
Main reason I want to discover what they are is at low speeds both GP9s have the motor buzz, but both seem to run excellently otherwise, even at low speed. Was wondering if that is from the decoder and/or settings in it.
They are the early Athearn clone drive with the slived sided motors.
And yes I did clear the original grease/gunk from the first one and symptoms are lessened but the same.
Thanks in advance
The earlier Lenz decoders, like everyone else's pretty much, were not really silent, but they always had a great rep for motor control. They could be that old. I have a Lenz Silver and it was amazing right out of the box and silent, as most decoders have been in the last decade or so. If really old, you may just want to consider your budget in terms of the alternatives, but lots of choices in silent decoders these days.
Do you have DecoderPro? It can usually read something close to what's installed.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
As was said, older decoders were low frequency and not silent types like we have today.
Google the issue for more info.
Try the below link.
http://00200530.pdl.pscdn.net/002/00530/MRH04/DCC%20Shortcuts%20Card.pdf
Check the Lenz website for CV list. All decoder companies have the documents online.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Read CV's 7 and 8. CV 8 should be 99 for Lenz. CV7 will give you an idea of the Lenz decoder model. Multiple models have same CV7 ID's but that's because their firmware is the same. Shape of decoder will vary but that's it. Here's a chart of manufacturer ID's. http://jmri.sourceforge.net/xml/XSLT/pages/DecoderId.html
Martin Myers
Idiotism strikes again
Actually its more working a ton and trying to placate a 3yr and walk a 6 yr old thru it along the way with DCC.
I flipped it over and answered all my prayers!
Lenz 01/00 on top and below it LE103XF-3
Good? Decent? Junk? Best info I can find is the manual from Lenz dated 2000!!!!
Can find nothing to confirm good or bad other than NCE about loud LE103xf.....
Jeremy,
I have a few of the newer Silver- & Gold-series Lenz decoders and they are terrific. Like Mike, mine are silent and motor-control is usually in the <0.5sMPH range
If you are happy with the motor-control of this decoder and can tolerate the motor-buzz, I'd keep it. Otherwise, replace it with a silent Lenz decoder, or with one of the TCS decoders. Both should run extremely well right out of the box.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Tom, slow speed is nothing to write home about and the buzzing, well it's a buzzkill.
Just wish the prior owner hadn't soldered them in, or at least could have done it nicely.
Those weren;t really DCC ready - they had circuit boards that you had to cut traces on to then wire a decoder in to various pads on the board, no sockets. The first one I did, I tried tracing out the corcuit on the board and just ended up tossing it and hard wiring. However the decoders I hard wire all have 9 pin plugs on the decoder. Even newer P2K locos like the GP7's I hard wire rather than plug in to the supplied plug, I repalce the light bulbs with LEDs anyway so why wire that to the plug when I can wire them right to the decoder and save the plug space?
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Got to do some more goofing around tonight for an hr or so.
As mentioned the GP9s have Lenz LE103xf-3 decoders in them
I did figure out the SD7 has a LE1014 installed.
All the engines have about the same issue. Some are louder, some are quieter but they all have the motor buxx and it annoys me.
If I disable the speed table and up the starting voltage to 4v or greater the noise basically goes away on all 3 or at the least a lot lot less noticeable. They do run pretty slow and smooth at anything less than trying to crawl tie to tie.
Does this support the theory of upgrading the decoders to newer models that have a much quieter pulse setup than older decoders?
Just checking out my options and going a bulk pack route if it will be a decoder upgrade, but that will be another post lol
The very first decoders Atlas used in their factory equipped DCC engines were made by Lenz .... and they buzzed annoyingly as well. Replaced them with TCS decoders ....
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ