That assumes it's working and it can be read - a lot of those early MRC decoders don;t even have readback, and some people have systems which don;t have readback. Most any decoder will have some sort of model or part number ont he outside. CV8 only tells you the manufacturer name, SOME have used the version in CV7 to indicate a version, but there are still in many cases whole sets of different decoder models that will have the same values in CV8 and CV7, which is why JMRI is not fooproof in identifying decoders.
This is an area where I think they goofed in the LCC specs too. Addresses are 6 bytes, so there's no chance of running out of addresses - probably even if you build a layout the size of an aircraft hanger. Naturally some ranges are reserved for special purposes. One is set aside for commerical products and includes the requirement to use their NMRA DCC manufacturer ID as one of the address bytes. But they effectively wasted a whole range of addresses by using TWO bytes for the prefix. I don;t have it in front of me, but it's something like 30 01 <manufacturer id> <xx> <yy> <zz>, and there is nothing reserved for others that start with 30 (or whatever it really is, I don't feel like looking up the document at the moment). They could have very easily reserved it as <30><manufacturer id> and left 4 bytes - not that you probably need more than 2 bytes for actual addresses - that's 65,535 devices. But it could have been defined as something like <30><man id><manufacturer defined><xx><yy><zz> where the manufacturers could have used the one as a version or model number indicator. Or if you assume no one will ever need more than 65535 devices connected from one manufacturer, 2 bytes could have been used as a place for the manufacturer to actually ID their devices.
Anyway OT, but there was an option to possibly fill the void that exists in DCC and it wasn't taken.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
http://www.nmra.com/manufacturer-id-numbers
http://00200530.pdl.pscdn.net/002/00530/MRH04/DCC%20Shortcuts%20Card.pdf
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.
Thanks.
Yes, Google.
The closest MRC has is a list of all their manuals, by decoder model number. That's where you'll find an AD370D but no AD377D, but they also have the manuals for their AThearn Genesis OEM decoders, just no model number given. That's why I suspect the AD377 is one of those.
But really, if all you have is some model number and no manufacturer, the only way you will find this is Google. If you know or at least narrow down the manufacturer, you can check on their sites, most keep manuals around to download even for older out of production items. I know of no one list of all decoders ever made by all manufacturers.
Yeah, it's an MRC. I just plugged it into a spare loco with an 8 pin socket and listened to it. Sounds like a second gen EMD. Thanks for the reply.
I'm curious. Is there any kind of decoder lookup page or site?
AD377D is an MRC decoder for sure. They had an AD370D aftermarket decoder, but there are no instructions for an AD377D available. Might have been out of an Athearn Genesis.
I have a sound decoder in my tool box, and I have lost the packageing, and have no idea what it is for. It is for a diesel. It appears to be an MRC, due to the 2 pin mini socket for the speaker plug. It has an 8 pin plug, and the aforementioned 2 pin speaker socket.
The numbers on the bottom are AD377D
BHY20071211
Anybody got any ideas what it is for. Thanks, Rich