Has anyone had any experiance with the BLI Address Changer and is it a time saver for programing new or existing locomotives and or consists? Doug
I'm confused about them also. I use a DigiTrax Super Chief system and I recieve BLI's catalog advertising the address changer and I don't know it's real purpose except maybe it would be faster in setting up a new Locomotive. Doug
We just went through all of this in April.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/t/245904.aspx
Rich
Alton Junction
Thanks Rich, Spring and Summer of the year I am real busy on my place and must have missed it. I'll look it up. Doug
We added one to our club's programming station. Most of the newbee's love it. The rest of us old timers kind of just ignore it and use our throttles.
Martin Myers
Hello All,
I researched this product and was disappointed that the only function it performed was write addresses to decoders, no other functions.
Then I looked at the MRC Decoder Dr. The Decoder Dr. unit not only programs and reads addressed it also reads and writes CV's, along with resetting the decoder, testing motor functions and lighting functions, either through the units built-in NMRA 8-pin plug or attaching it to a test track with the supplied leads.
Yes you can do the same things with your throttle on a programming track. In my situation it's advantageous to have a separate unit and programming track.
The only disadvantage to the Decoder Dr. is that it is supplied with power leads that attach to the main track. I purchased a separate 15v transformer and now I have a standalone programming track that is completely portable.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
I had not heard of MRC's, "Decoder Doctor". I'll look into it as I would like to set up a seperate bench installation and programing station. Doug
MRC's decoder doctor wasn't around when my club went with the BLI unit. It looks like a nice self contained CV programmer.
For our needs we wanted simple as possible with as little extra features as possible. Our feeling was if it don't do it, they can't screw it up. Most of our members just need to program an address so the BLI gave us just what we wanted. For the rest of us we have JMRI running on a laptop connected to our programming and test track.
Doug, I picked on up at Caboose Hobbies in Denver, Colorado, for less than the MSRP listed on the MRC website.
They ordered it and I picked it up in store to save shipping. I just checked the Caboose Hobbies website and they list it in stock.