This is new to me. I don't know where to find the news of the week on this site anymore.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Next-18 decoders have been around for quite some time. ESU has been using them for years.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
For years? I only saw the name in the last couple days and was wondering what it meant and what engines they would pnp in so I googled it:
MOROP created the Next18 standard for extremely tight applications, such as TT and N scale locomotives. The NMRA has not embraced the Next18 interface, though some manufacturers have. In addition to specifying the electrical interface and connectors, the NEM 662 standard also mandates the maximum physical size of decoders. A fully compliant Next18 decoder is no larger than 15mm x 9.5mm - one would fit on a dime; a Next18S decoder is no larger than 25mm x 10.5mm.
There are two variants: Next18 and Next18S. Next18 supports motor control, front and rear headlights, and 6 auxiliary output functions; two of those function pins may instead be used to provide an on-board TrainBus serial interface. A Next18S decoder adds sound by sacrificing two auxiliary function outputs for the speaker connections.
The interface specifies an extremely small 18-pin "encapsulated" connector. The entire connector is only 8mm long and 5mm wide. Because of their small size, connector pins are only rated for 500 milliamps, so some connections are allocated two pins. The result being that although there are 18 pins, some are redundant, and the 18 pins provide only 12 discrete connections. A feature of the interface is "smokeless symmetry". Pins are assigned in a somewhat symmetric fashion, such that if installed backward, no harm is done to either the locomotive or the decoder; it will not function properly, but nothing will be "smoked"."
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I don't know about the Lok 4/Select decoders but I do know that ESU has had Next18 as an option with their Lok 5 decoder for the past year. It's also mentioned in the Lok 5 manual. I don't know much more than that about them, however...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Larry mentioned there would be a Decoder Buddy for the Next 18
It is the method ESU has been using to attach the Micro decoder to the motherboard for HO or to the interface plug for smaller scaled. Been around at least for five or six years that I can recall. Maybe longer?
ESU Micro Next-18 by Edmund, on Flickr
Good Luck, Ed