Experience with an ESU 51900 DCC Decoder Tester?

[cacole]

I recently purchased one, and it has small compression connections for wire insertion -- very difficult to work with.  Fortunately, most LokSound decoders I am programming need only the speaker wires connected there.

[Mark R.]

I just checked the ESU site, and it appears as though they've changed the decoder tester from the one I have. The one I have has the spring clip terminal strip as opposed to the current one with screws. Mine also came with just a 100 ohm speaker, which I removed and added a pair of wires with alligator clips so I could attach a speaker of my choice.

The new one has a 16 / 100 ohm switch for using either the 3.5 or 4.0 / Select decoders. The latest decoders will drive the 16 ohm rating just fine for testing. I actually find it easier to just attach the proper speaker to the decoder itself instead of attaching the two speaker wires to the tester.

With either version of the terminal strip, you need to strip the wires before inserting them. I'm sure the new screw terminal version is much better. The spring clip version was very finicky in trying to get the wires deep enough to make contact.

 

Mark.

[rrinker]

 Don;t have one, but those are just normal screw terminals on there for the wire connections, and I have yet to see terminal strips like that that will automatically pierce the wire. Hmm, the instruction sheet shows a spring clip connector instead of the screws shown on the web site picture - either way, the spring clip ones don;t look at all like the type that will piece the wire for you, at least not reliably. You'll want to strip off a little of the ends - maybe 1/16" to a 1/8", enough to have bare wire to contact the metal inside the connector but no so much as to have bare wire outside the connector shell to where it can contact other wires. For decoder wires I can usually strip them with my thumbnail. It's not super critical - you just don;t want to have adjacent bare wires that cna touch each other, or your decoder tester could turn into a decoder cooker.

 I've considered getting one, but I'm not sure how it will work with Select series decoders - they need 8 ohm speakers, the 100 ohm you may not even hear. And to just swap out the speaker (ESU has the exact same speaker in an 8 ohm version) will mean it's no good for the V4 series. No room for a second speaker and a switch - though the version shown in the photos on the ESU web site DOES have a speaker selector switch to adjust the impedence with series resistors. Plus most of my Loksounds will be Select Direct series, so I'd need to run wires from the tester to the decoder anyway. A set of micro clip leads would work for that - do NOT do what I did to test and reprogram the one sitting on my bench, namely use regular clip leads. They are too big and an inadvertant pull on the wire could have easily shorted things. I'm pretty good about reaching over and around things connected on the test bench, but accidents can still happen. I do NOT recommend anyone do this. For board decoders to connect to the tester, you want something like this type of clip lead:

http://www.jameco.com/1/1/28256-g2p004-r-test-clip-miniature-short-red-black-1-75-inch-long.html

This type is designed to clip around a single leg of an IC, without shorting the one next to it. They'll fit great around the terminals on a board replacement decoder and stay clipped. That's just the first link that came up that showed them, you can find them with wires already attached, or commonly, with a clip on each end of a piece of wire - cut in the middle and you have two clips with wires.

            --Randy

 

[Mike S-J]

Hi,

I wondered if anyone has experience of an ESU 51900 DCC Decoder Tester?

I think I have quite a straightforward question. Do you need to strip the wires on a wires only Decoder before inserting them into the wires-only terminals, or will they automatically pierce the sheath? If the wires do need stripping, how much would you normally strip back?

Thanks

Regards,

Mike