Thanks to everyone for their posts as they have been very informative thus far....I look forward to hearing about more people's thoughts.
I have a couple of TCS T-1 decoders, and they both have a consisting problem. They will not enter the consist in the "reverse" direction, only forward, so if they are the trailing engine (assuming back-to-back) then I have to run the consist in reverse. If I wanted both of these engines in the consist, they would both have to be forward. My Digitrax decoders don't do that. Other than that quirk, though, these decoders are just fine.
If you are running A-B consists (like F7's) then I would put the sound decoder in the A unit, because it might run by itself, while the B would not do that (other than at your engine terminal, while hosteling home for the night.) If you have a dummy engine, though, you might want to put the sound decoder in there just to have more room for speakers.
While you can put decoders in passenger cars to control the lights, that's kind of an expensive way to go. Take a look at the Rapido light units, which are battery-powered and come with a "magic wand" which activates a latching magnetic relay to operate the lights. The lights don't draw power from the track, and they don't flicker. There are no wipers to add drag to the cars' wheels, either. The drumhead is a special case, so maybe a decoder is appropriate there. I have a couple of passenger cars that I fitted with small slide switches underneath, but I find I seldom turn them off. You might think about wiring your storage tracks with toggle switches to power the track down, if the cars are going to draw power from the track.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
maphillips wrote:1. I have two new Genesis FP45s with sound and aside from reading about the MRC decoder bashing on here they work fine on my layout and I havent had any problems with them...am I missing something about why everyone hates the MRC decoders??? as this leads to my 2nd question.
I have no experience with MRC, but other than what's been said, I understand the sound is rather weak. But I have also heard that their newer decoders are much better lately. I'd be intrested on more feedback about them. They make some interesting drop-in sound decoders for Kato N scale diesels.
maphillips wrote:2. I have several non DCC Genesis, P2K and Atlas models I need to upgrade to DCC and while I would like sound I assume you dont have to equip every single engine with sound but should equip all units with at least basic DCC decoder if not equipping with sound...such as in an ABBA consist or something. So my question is are there any suggestions on which units to equip with sound versus non-sound??? Which brands of decoders to use if not MRC??? depending on responses to #1
In this country Digitrax and TCS seem to be the most respected. However Lenz and some other German manufacturers are also well thought of, though perhpas harder to obtain. I don't know as much about sound decoders as regular ones but Tsunami and QSI are spoken of respectfully.
maphillips wrote:3. When equipping DCC light units for passenger cars that may have tail signs, markers, etc... do these decoders get loco #s to control their DCC units or how are they individually addressed...or what is the common practice when having multiple lighted cars?
My preference is to set the observation car's address to the same as the locomotive's and put the drumhead (or tail sign as you say) on the same function as the headlight. Then when you turn the locomotive's headlight off or on, the observation car drumhead is synchronized with it.
Best!
maphillips,Wow, you've been registered here 6 years (that's longer than me!) and this is only your 3rd post? Where have you been?
1). MRC decoders sound too "static-y" for my tastes. What I mean by that is that the various air releases and things like that sound more like white noise/static than an actual air release sound. Also, many of the sounds I find to be...odd. For example, on the MRC-equipped Athearn Big Boys and Challengers, you can hit a function to have a voice say, "All aboard!" Which is a little weird with a mostly freight engine.
But the real kicker is that they don't program for nothin' on a lot of DCC systems. These program failures is what causes the most complaints. For example, say you have a factory address number of #03, and you want to change it to "1234". On just about any other loco, you can use Page Mode on the programming track. With MRC, sometimes if you try that the MRC decoder not only is not 03, it's also not 1234, either. It's some odd & unknown number. And, because MRC decoders cannot be read, you have no idea what it is. Which means you have to reset the decoder and try, try, try again. It's very frustrating, and they are the only decoder brand that has these problems on a near 100% basis.
2). For diesels, I would recommend the new QSI Revolution Series sound decoders. They make a type expressly for Atlas and Atlas-type locos that snaps into place, and they retail for about $100. www.tonystrains.com has them for less. If you're going to start with sound installations, I would try something that has a lot of room inside the shell. After a few installations, you can try the more restrictive types.
3). Most times, regular passenger cars in my club are direct wired to the rails with no decoder, with maybe a switch under the floor to turn all the lights on or off. On tail cars, some have installed a decoder, but mostly for the flashing light effects. They usually get their own DCC address. On push-pull cars with a cab, they get decoders too, but they usually get programmed to the same address as the loco on the other end (makes life a lot easier).
Paul A. Cutler III************Weather Or No Go New Haven************
I'll give you my opinion on the first 2 question.
1. MRC decoders seem to have a higher than average failure rate (I've had two fail, I must admit MRC customer service replaced them quickly) They also do not have many options for programming user speed tables. This is valuable when consisting locos, especially from different manufacturers.
2. My opinion is that you don't need to equip more that 2 locos in a consist with sound, if money is tight you can do ok with just one. I personally recommend TCS T-1 or NCE D13SR decoders for non-sound locos. I have about 10 of each and have been very satisfied with them.
i have never had anything fro MRC, but like you said there are lots of slatings of their products.
the sound decoders that seem to get the good press are loksound and tsunami with the digitrax soundbugs. each to their own.
as to coach lights and the like, you can get decoders that don't have a motor output on them and are for functions only. these use the same address ranges as the loco's so you can if you wish give every decoder in passenger cars the same address and switch them all on or together. same with the marker lights on the observation car. it depends what function number you use as to what switches on or off at a button push. if you want to switch coach lights on individually they will need different addresses OR, some coachers could have the lights on F1, some on F2 and so on allowing coaches with the same address to be switched independently. if you are wanting to save $$ on decoders for each coach, aslong as you keep certain coaches permanently coupled you can run wires between the coaches and power maybe 3 or 4 from one decoder depending on its ma rating and the current required. there are many options and no right or wrong way. there are advantages and disadvantages to way up and balance and in the end you select a setup that suits your needs.
My opinion on MRC decoders is that there are much better decoders on the market and you get what you pay for. Maybe less.
You will assign an address to each decoder in a train. If you want independent control of each decoder the addresses will have to be different. If you want to be able to turn all the lights on and off at the same time, they can all have the same address and only one on or off command will be needed.
Martin Myers
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Sorry for the newbie questions as I searched first but didnt quite find what I was looking for... I am using the new MRC Prodigy Advance Wireless DCC system and have a couple questions...
1. I have two new Genesis FP45s with sound and aside from reading about the MRC decoder bashing on here they work fine on my layout and I havent had any problems with them...am I missing something about why everyone hates the MRC decoders??? as this leads to my 2nd question.
2. I have several non DCC Genesis, P2K and Atlas models I need to upgrade to DCC and while I would like sound I assume you dont have to equip every single engine with sound but should equip all units with at least basic DCC decoder if not equipping with sound...such as in an ABBA consist or something. So my question is are there any suggestions on which units to equip with sound versus non-sound??? Which brands of decoders to use if not MRC??? depending on responses to #1
3. When equipping DCC light units for passenger cars that may have tail signs, markers, etc... do these decoders get loco #s to control their DCC units or how are they individually addressed...or what is the common practice when having multiple lighted cars?
Thanks for any info anyone can provide.