jbinkley60 wrote: mainetrains wrote: After more than 10 years out of the hobby, except for the occassional purchase of Model Railroader, I have decided to get back in. Since I sold off my entire layout I will be starting from scratch. I will be using DCC and have found this forum to be very informative. From what I have read here, and elsewhere, the Digitrax Super Chief seems to be what I am leaning toward. One of the things that concerns me is controling turnouts. Is it possible to regulate train speed and switch turnouts at the same time?ThanksWith the DT400 you can control two trains (direction and speed) and throw switches at the same time. I do it all the time. I have a Super Chief Radio system.
mainetrains wrote: After more than 10 years out of the hobby, except for the occassional purchase of Model Railroader, I have decided to get back in. Since I sold off my entire layout I will be starting from scratch. I will be using DCC and have found this forum to be very informative. From what I have read here, and elsewhere, the Digitrax Super Chief seems to be what I am leaning toward. One of the things that concerns me is controling turnouts. Is it possible to regulate train speed and switch turnouts at the same time?Thanks
After more than 10 years out of the hobby, except for the occassional purchase of Model Railroader, I have decided to get back in. Since I sold off my entire layout I will be starting from scratch. I will be using DCC and have found this forum to be very informative. From what I have read here, and elsewhere, the Digitrax Super Chief seems to be what I am leaning toward. One of the things that concerns me is controling turnouts. Is it possible to regulate train speed and switch turnouts at the same time?
Thanks
With the DT400 you can control two trains (direction and speed) and throw switches at the same time. I do it all the time. I have a Super Chief Radio system.
I have to concur.. I don't know if the feature is present in other systems but when in switch mode my DT400 keypad controls the switches while the throttles and direction buttons continue to control whatever they are hooked to. Its pretty easy to operate although I wish they had designed the keypad to be less of a "forest of buttons" so its easier to pick out which part of the throttle is 0..9 and enter..
That being said.. I did DCC turnouts on this small layout to allow me to experiment with JMRIand gain experience with DCC controls. I am looking at using manual controls, pushrod on facia if my experiment works out. As convenient as it is, DCC turnouts are expensive for the motor and the decoder and I don't like to have to keep looking at my throttle.
Interestingly, the previous issue of Trains gave a Prototype precedence for DCC control. It was a radio controlled remote turnout control in the cab of the locmotive. You dial the address of the switch as you approach using an encrypted transmitter and the turnout flips. It was installed on sidings and branch routes so the train didnt have to stop to throw turnouts..
Chris
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
Yes you can control speed and direction while in switch mode. You cannot control functions such as lights horn, bell, etc., until you exit switch mode.
Jerry
Rio Grande vs. Santa Fe.....the battle is over but the glory remains!
'there's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear' Modeling the Hard Knox Valley Railroad in HO scale http://photos.hardknoxvalley.com/
jfugate wrote: GAPPLEG wrote: Thanks Joe, as to the above discussion about the usb interface v/s the serial interface, which have you used ? Is one better to use than the other ? Of course old Murphy jumped into this because my basement computer has no serial port just 8 USB ports. So if I had to go serial I'd have to get a USB to serial converter. Ordered Vol. 3 today as well.Ordered the PowerPro and 8 decoders Sunday , They shipped today monday , ALREADY !!!! Delivery expected Wednesday. Wow Tony's was quick. GAPP:Never really used DecoderPro except with a serial-to-usb convertor. I got a good one -- Keyspan -- and it works great. No complaints!Good to hear you're jumping into DCC ... you're gonna love it! You may hit a few speedbumps along the way, but hang in there -- DCC is one of the best things to happen to the hobby in the last decade!I love my wireless DCC ...
GAPPLEG wrote: Thanks Joe, as to the above discussion about the usb interface v/s the serial interface, which have you used ? Is one better to use than the other ? Of course old Murphy jumped into this because my basement computer has no serial port just 8 USB ports. So if I had to go serial I'd have to get a USB to serial converter. Ordered Vol. 3 today as well.Ordered the PowerPro and 8 decoders Sunday , They shipped today monday , ALREADY !!!! Delivery expected Wednesday. Wow Tony's was quick.
Thanks Joe, as to the above discussion about the usb interface v/s the serial interface, which have you used ? Is one better to use than the other ? Of course old Murphy jumped into this because my basement computer has no serial port just 8 USB ports. So if I had to go serial I'd have to get a USB to serial converter. Ordered Vol. 3 today as well.
Ordered the PowerPro and 8 decoders Sunday , They shipped today monday , ALREADY !!!! Delivery expected Wednesday. Wow Tony's was quick.
GAPP:
Never really used DecoderPro except with a serial-to-usb convertor. I got a good one -- Keyspan -- and it works great. No complaints!
Good to hear you're jumping into DCC ... you're gonna love it! You may hit a few speedbumps along the way, but hang in there -- DCC is one of the best things to happen to the hobby in the last decade!
I love my wireless DCC ...
Well the power pro is up and running , and as you always said Joe , it's easy to use and a real gas. Because my decoders were all backordered by Tony I only have one DCC unit , a Bachmann GE 70 tonner. But I hooked up the Computer with decoder Pro and read it out and programmed what little you can do with a Bachmann. Decoder Pro is fantastic. Going to follow you Vol 3 instructions on the headlights to the letter got the bulbs in the mail yesterday , soon I'll convert my SD-7 to a reasonable -9 and have the flashing mars lights too !
Jerry SP FOREVER http://photobucket.com/albums/f317/GAPPLEG/
We get the "what's the best DCC system?" question a lot, and for people who don't want to wade through 20 pages of forum posts, I've put together a concise summary of your options here.
If you are in a hurry (I don't recommend getting in a hurry) or if you want the bottom line first, then this summary might be helpful. If you can afford to take a bit more time to read up on the subject, then reading through this thread can be helpful, too.
Joe Fugate Modeling the 1980s SP Siskiyou Line in southern Oregon
GAPPLEG wrote:Thanks Joe, as to the above discussion about the usb interface v/s the serial interface, which have you used ? Is one better to use than the other ? Of course old Murphy jumped into this because my basement computer has no serial port just 8 USB ports. So if I had to go serial I'd have to get a USB to serial converter. Ordered Vol. 3 today as well.Ordered the PowerPro and 8 decoders Sunday , They shipped today monday , ALREADY !!!! Delivery expected Wednesday. Wow Tony's was quick.
No rush for a comment here, just didn't want this thread to get burried on page 29 with the tropical fish for sale ads.
jfugate wrote: HE:We're talking HO, right?How many locos do you anticipate running at the same time?Do you expect to be running sound locos routinely? Generally, you want yards or major switching areas to be their own booster power district. Beyond that, you break up the other areas based on how many trains will be running and the total current needs of the other areas.
HE:
We're talking HO, right?
How many locos do you anticipate running at the same time?
Do you expect to be running sound locos routinely?
Generally, you want yards or major switching areas to be their own booster power district. Beyond that, you break up the other areas based on how many trains will be running and the total current needs of the other areas.
GAPPLEG wrote:Specifically asking Joe , but all can jump in if info is available for me, Which NCE decoder would be the best one for converting older Athearn units (SD7 especially) also is there a source where I can find 2-56 nylon screws for some units that need them for isolation of the motor. I'm ordering an NCE Power Pro any day now and a bunch of decoders, I plan on getting the USB interface so I can use JMRI software as well.
Kadee sells nylon 2-56 screws. I always try to keep some on hand for projects such as yours where a nylon screw works better than a metal screw.
I'm running an Athearn SD7 that's been detailed to be an SD9E as my yard switcher SP 4326. It's using an NCE D13SRJ decoder and it runs very nice, with excellent slow speed performance. In fact, it runs better the the P2K SD9s on my layout, with power pickup performance being better than the P2Ks.
Athearn SD7 detailed out as an SP SD9E and running in yard switching duty on the Siskiyou Line (click image to enlarge)
The install itself is nothing fancy. I just remove the two motor clips, solder a wire to each clip, then put the bottom motor clip (the one with the prong protrusions) on top of the motor and put the top smooth motor clip on the bottom of the motor. I put some electrcial tape on the chassis where the motor seats to insulate it from the frame, and push the motor back in place using the rubber motor mounts.
With the motor isolated from the frame, I hard wire in the decoder and simply taped the decoder in place on top of the motor with some transparent tape. By using the jumper wire harness that comes with the D13SRJ, you can unplug the decoder and replace it later if you want with any decoder that uses the 9-pin edge connector design (about 60% of the HO decoders on the market today use the 9-pin decoder edge connector design).
Let me know if you'd like to see the CV settings I'm using and I'll post them.
CSX Robert wrote: GAPPLEG wrote:... I'm ordering an NCE Power Pro any day now and a bunch of decoders, I plan on getting the USB interface so I can use JMRI software as well.If you are getting the PowerHouse Pro and not the PowerCab, then I would suggest that you not get the USB interface. The USB interface is really designed for the PowerCab. It can be used with the PowerHouse Pro, but it has several limitations when used with it(you can read what they are here:http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/html/hardware/nce/NCE.shtml). The PowerHouse Pro has a serial port built in. The easiest thing to do is use a PC with a serial port, but if you don't have one, you'll need to get a USB to serial adapter.
GAPPLEG wrote:... I'm ordering an NCE Power Pro any day now and a bunch of decoders, I plan on getting the USB interface so I can use JMRI software as well.
Actually, depending on what you plan to do, you might need both interfaces. That's because the PowerHouse Pro doesn't echo to the serial link any information about what handheld throttles are doing. Obviously then, the computer can't act on throttle commands it never sees.
So, for example, using the NCE serial port you can't trigger a route in JMRI by entering a switch command on the throttle. For this you'd need the USB interface, which plugs into the throttle buss (and I believe uses a throttle address).
But that may introduce another element of complexity. I know that JMRI can currently handle up to four concurrent layout connections, but I believe it's based on the assumption they'll be to different control systems (eg, DCC and C/MRI). I'm not sure how it would handle two connections to the same control system. You may have to define them to JMRI as two different NCE systems, then keep track of which commands/responses/devices belong to each.
That would be a question for the JMRI developers on the Yahoo! list
Steve
Jerry:
Thanks for keeping me honest -- yes the MRC PA2 finally puts MRC in the running as one of the more serious DCC system vendors. Although I hope they come down on the price of their announced computer interface, since a price of $200 is about double that of the other 4 systems!
NCE and EasyDCC's full systems both come with the computer interface included, so to compare apples to apples, bumping the price of the MRC PA2 by $200 is enough to put them out of consideration for use on larger layouts -- especially given the lack of history MRC has of being a DCC vendor with quality products that last.
jfugate wrote: No matter what system you chose (Digitrax, NCE, Lenz, or EasyDCC), you should be pleased with the performance. They're all good systems.
No matter what system you chose (Digitrax, NCE, Lenz, or EasyDCC), you should be pleased with the performance. They're all good systems.
Hey Joe....you forgot MRC!!!
(Now let me step back and duck before you lob your grenade)
Seriously, MRC's Prodigy Advance Squared (PA2) offers a package that has appeal to both beginners and for those desiring a full-blown, feature rich system. For only $30-$40 more than a Zephyr here is what you get:
For $189 you get:
Prospective DCC users may want to give MRC some consideration and at least determine what PA2 can do that others can't, and likewise what others can do that PA2 cannot do. This would then allow an intelligent choice based on what one really needs.
P.S. For most users I would not recommend the MRC Prodigy Express. The PA2 offers so much more for not that much more money. The PA2 could well be the only system one might ever need, without the need for any upgrades.
Joe,
Thanks for the chronology and rationale concerning your experiences with Lenz/CVP/NCE! Interesting reading.
Wonder why you stepped past Digitrax? My own limited operating experience with Digitrax Radio has been disappointing. 3 different layouts built by different people and no common hardware and I lost control of my locomotive on each of them multiple times.
Reviewing the NCE & Digitrax websites, it looks like NCE is focused on wireless and Digitrax is focused on transponding and signals. With my interest and determination to have computer controlled continious operation, Digitrax does apeal to me.
You commitment to this thead is laudable.
Joe Daddy
jfugate wrote:Thanks for the corrections, Robert. So much for my ability to digest the manuals ...Just so it's clear -- the Zephyr out of the box does have a much larger max throttle capacity (10) than the PowerCab (2).
Thanks for the corrections, Robert. So much for my ability to digest the manuals ...
Just so it's clear -- the Zephyr out of the box does have a much larger max throttle capacity (10) than the PowerCab (2).
Actually, it's 10 LocoNet throttles plus the two Jump throttles for a total of 12.
Plus, you don't have to use (or buy) power packs for those Jump throttles. If you have a little electrical skill, it's possible to build very low cost, tethered hand-helds that do the job nicely. Here are links to three examples:
http://www.tandre.net/Trains/Firebaugh/Current/JumpThrottle/index.html
http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic.php?=&p=82066
http://www.tonystrains.com/technews/zephyr-cab.htm
jfugate wrote: Digitrax has a cleaner expansion path with the Zephyr, clearly. You don't end up with stuff you can't use later.
Digitrax has a cleaner expansion path with the Zephyr, clearly. You don't end up with stuff you can't use later.
Absolutely! And if/when you do need to upgrade, and you decide to use the Zephyr as a booster, you still retain the use of it's built-in throttle and the two Jump throttles.
COMMENTS ON THE THREE SYSTEMS I'VED OWNED - LENZ, EASYDCC, AND NCELenz continues to lag a bit in features compared to EasyDCC and NCE -- for example, Lenz offers no true wireless throttles (they offer an option that let's you adapt a wireless phone as a throttle). For someone like me who greatly prefers a simple engineer cab with a prominent throttle knob -- using a wireless telephone for a throttle isn't appealing.
You also have the option of the CVP wireless throttles with a Lenz system -- but that option was not available back in 2000 when I wanted to go wireless -- plus it still has the 8-dedicated frequency limit of the old EasyDCC wireless, so that wasn't an option in 2007 when I started looking at current system offerings again.
I do have to say that Lenz's service has been second to none. Debbie Ames, the head of Lenz US, has bent over backwards for me -- personally contacting me when I had an issue. She had me send in the bad part and within a week I had a free replacement. Now that's service!
The EasyDCC wireless system also was rock solid after the upgrade back in the early days when we had a few problems with the wireless. Only in the last year that I had EasyDCC did the wireless throttles begin acting up. I was a bit dismayed that CVP could not find anything wrong with the throttles, and because they were phasing out that particular throttle model, they were not eager to just replace the boards in my aging throttles. They preferred to protect their stock of replacement parts (so it seemed to me), so my only practical option appeared to be upgrade to newer throttle models -- models which I really didn't like as well.
EasyDCC, being a vendor who you must order from directly, has less price competition so I've noticed their prices have been edging up in recent years. For example, their wireless display throttle sells for a whopping $230, compared to $180 (street) for NCE full-featured dogbone throttle. With EasyDCC, to go beyond 8 dedicated throttle channels, you need to buy a second receiver.
And EasyDCC's constant eroding of the ability to do nested consists in their system made it increasingly difficult for me to do double-ended consists. I could hand program CVs directly and get the effect I was after, so their system complaining that what I wanted to do was not allowed just annoyed the bejeebers out of me.
Long story short, the EasyDCC system, while rock solid, was evolving in the wrong direction in both price and features to suit me. So I switched.
NCE wireless started out in 2000 being fraught with issues and whenever I would run on a layout with NCE wireless, I would be reminded that my decision to go with EasyDCC wireless was a good one.
However, circa 2005 NCE came out with their rev 2 wireless, which I was hearing improved things considerably. Based on this report, I went with NCE wireless instead of spending a small fortune upgrading my aging EasyDCC system.
I quickly found that rev 2 NCE wireless was reliable in the sense that you did not lose a loco easily while operating, but the system could lose keypresses, which 25% of the time would make blowing the horn or acquiring a loco a rather annoying process.
In the spring of this year, NCE announced their rev 3 wireless. The improvement is nothing short of amazing! Wireless NCE now operates just as if you were plugged in in all respects, and it has much better range than rev 2. I was able to walk out into my back yard with the basement door open and blow a flawless grade crossing horn sequence on one of my consists with my back turned to the house!
That's 75 feet through my body and at least two stud walls. NCE rev 3 wireless is easily now as reliable and rock solid as EasyDCC, so I am a very happy camper!
I love the ability to do smart double ended consists in NCE with just a few key presses, and the ability to do programming on the main (POM) from anywhere is a definite plus. For example, NCE throttles have a "momentum" button that uses POM to set the consist momentum decoder values on the fly, to simulate a heavy freight train.
As more ways to use POM are thought of, I expect the rich features mobile POM gives will become a highly sought-after feature of DCC. And NCE is one of the forerunners in exploring enhanced DCC features like this.
MOVING TO NCE WIRELESSBy 2007, a couple of my wireless EasyDCC throttles were malfunctioning, yet when I would send them to CVP, they would send them back telling me there was nothing wrong with them.
In the meantime, CVP released a major upgrade to the EasyDCC system that rendered my current throttles obsolete. Also, I was in need of moving beyond the current 8 throttle system limit. So to upgrade my now aging system to the latest stuff and get more than 8 throttles (the new upgrade moved the limit to 16 throttles on dedicated frequencies), I priced all the stuff I would have to replace (new command station EPROM, new receiver EPROM, add a second receiver, and replace my obsolete throttles), the price tag was pretty steep.
So I elected to go looking again at system options, since times had changed again in the world of DCC. Programming on the main was now main stream, so the EasyDCC power pack form factor for the command station was looking rather dated. Also EasyDCC had moved to really expensive display throttles ($230 a pop), or non-display throttles using keys like * and # to send commands. Finally, EasyDCC had continued to add annoying and unnecessary restrictions on consisting that threw a real clinker in my double-ended consisting.
It turned out that replacing all my EasyDCC system with NCE equipment was *cheaper* and a full-blown EasyDCC upgrade, and I could offset the cost of the NCE upgrade by selling off my EasyDCC system. As a bonus, NCE recently added "smart consisting" to their system, which meant my beloved double-ended consists were built in and included the ability to control functions on other locos in the consist (like sound locos) -- so yet another vendor change seemed like it was warranted.
Looking back, I have some definite observations on the three systems. I post those next.
MOVING TO EASYDCC WIRELESSBy 2000, the Lenz system was 7 years old and starting to malfunction more. Plus enough had changed in the DCC landscape, I elected to relook at what was available and consider options. To me my options were between a serious system upgrade of my aging Lenz system or change to an entirely new system to get major new features not available from Lenz.
At the time, wireless was making its debut, and only two systems were in the running: EasyDCC or NCE. NCE was getting bad press about promising delivery dates and their wireless throttle prices seemed higher than EasyDCC's. Lenz had no wireless offering at the time, and Digitrax's wireless was still "coming". EasyDCC's throttles looked simple, had a prominent speed knob, and were shipping.
So I sold my Lenz system and all my throttles, which made a nice dent in the price to install EasyDCC. In short order, I had wireless EasyDCC up and running.
At first, we would lose control of at least one train per session with the EasyDCC wireless. A few months into using our new EasyDCC wireless, CVP released an upgrade. I installed the upgrade and poof! Problem solved. Our EasyDCC wireless reception was rock solid and remained such throughout our use of the system from 2000 - 2007.
I'll discuss my recent move to NCE wireless in my next post.
Joe:
I bought my Lenz system in late 1993 in preparation for displaying my layout in the 1994 National Convention in Portland, OR. Lenz wanted to have a prominent layout on the layout tours using DCC so I got a great deal!
THE LENZ SYSTEMI picked Lenz because at the time, a third party was building some simple engineer throttles with a large throttle knob -- and no other DCC system at the time had my desired super-obvious engineer throttles, so I went with Lenz.
From 1993 - 1997, we used the Lenz system intermittently to run trains during work sessions or to run trains while showing the layout, or to test some new equipment. But no serious operation sessions during this time period. I mostly experimented with new decoders, trying to find a decoder that gave me good loco performance tuning and good lighting effects.
At the time, I standardized on Digitrax decoders -- first DH120s, DH121s, and then DH142s, and finally DH163s. In later years, I started to get a few more buggy decoders from Digitrax, and I found their implementation of BEMF less than satisfying, so I started looking at decoder alternatives. I settled on the D13SRJ from NCE as a great fleet level decoder that gives excellent slow speed performance for $12 each. I have yet to find any better fleet level decoder for the money.
We started regular op sessions once the my layout's mainline was complete in 1997. The Lenz system allowed putting locos in more than one consist, so I created double-ended consists for my loco lashups and my operating crew loved them. I did find the Lenz system's command sequences for consisting and other common programming functions to be a bit hard to remember without consulting the manual, so I made myself a "cheat sheet" to make doing these key sequences easier to remember.
The Lenz system worked very well when we used it, and running locos with DCC was a dream-come-true. I never had to think about wiring the layout for cab control ... I just made sure we had a good #12 track feeder bus running around the layout and things worked great.
I started out using live frogs on my turnouts, and I sooned discovered that it was easy to short big chunks of the layout (a whole booster district) and shut it down. Other people running trains would start hollering "Okay, who shorted the layout?" whenever it happened.
I started looking for ways to solve this issue and that's when I began experimenting with the 1156 auto tail light lamps for short management. You can find more about what I discovered here in this online video.
I'll talk more about my move to EasyDCC in my next post.
Hi Joe,
A fellow at our club was getting rid of some older MRR mags and I picked up the entire 1997 edition. I'm sure you remember those issues as they outlined your Mushroom Siskiyou railroad.
In the article it mentioned you were using Lenz. I know you recently went from CVP to NCE so I was wondering, if you could contrast the three different systems and why you migrated. I've read alot about your move from CVP to NCE but have not seen anything on the Lenz. I'm a Lenz with CVP wireless and really happy with it. If I were to start over today, I'd probably go NCE, but I'm not entirely confident as to why.
Best,
PS got vol 5 in the mail yesterday, waitin til some qual time to take it in!
The limitation on throttles, and the less than optimum upgrade path are why the PowerCab will probably not be on my short list. I think that at some point I will want the capability to have more than four throttles. At least the plan will easily support that! So, I will either start Zephyr, or just skip a step and fo Pro Cab/Powerhouse system.
I have to say, that the engineer in me really doesn't think much of the PowerCab's method of having the booster integrated into the cab, either. I guess one could say the Zephyr is the same, but without the portability, but I still don't like it. So many things to consider!
Jeff But it's a dry heat!
CSX Robert wrote:There is a very important difference between the extra cab capabilities of the Zephyr and the PowerCab. You can add several UTP panels to either system for about $15 dollors each, but with the PowerCab, you can only use one additional throttle at a time, and if you have the SmartBooster, you can use up to four throttles at a time. With the PowerCab, if you want more than 4 throttles, you have to upgrade to the PowerHouse Pro. With the Zephyr, you can use up to 10 throttles at one time(and one of those 10 does not have to be the built in throttle, so if you want to use 10 walk-around throttles with the Zephyr, you can).
I don't consider the Smart Booster to be a wise investment unless 4 cabs is all you ever will need. If you ever expect to need a full PH Pro system, you're better off to bite the bullet and go to the full PH Pro without stopping at the Smart Booster. Once you move to the PH Pro system, the Smart Booster becomes nothing but a boat anchor -- and a waste of money. You can't use it with the PH Pro system.
jalajoie wrote: jfugate wrote: But the throttle slot issue is a case in point. Sure, the NCE PowerCab has one less DCC throttle socket out of the box than the Zephyr. But the NCE PowerCab typically sells at a street price of $140, while the Zephyr's street price is around $160. For $15 you can get a UTP panel to go with your PowerCab, and now it has three throttle slots to the Zephyr's two -- and you've still saved yourself $5 on the Zephyr's $160 street price.Tony list the Zephyr at $160.00 and the Power Cab at $150.00. If you add the cost of a UTP panel to the Power Cab you end up with a street price of $165 for the Power Cab and I am sure someone else will come up with different quotations.What puzzle me is the third slot added to the Power Cab, with an UTP panel does it means you can have three throttles plugged to the Power Cab at once? I do own a Power Cab and I am sure two throttles are the maximum available.
jfugate wrote: But the throttle slot issue is a case in point. Sure, the NCE PowerCab has one less DCC throttle socket out of the box than the Zephyr. But the NCE PowerCab typically sells at a street price of $140, while the Zephyr's street price is around $160. For $15 you can get a UTP panel to go with your PowerCab, and now it has three throttle slots to the Zephyr's two -- and you've still saved yourself $5 on the Zephyr's $160 street price.
But the throttle slot issue is a case in point. Sure, the NCE PowerCab has one less DCC throttle socket out of the box than the Zephyr. But the NCE PowerCab typically sells at a street price of $140, while the Zephyr's street price is around $160. For $15 you can get a UTP panel to go with your PowerCab, and now it has three throttle slots to the Zephyr's two -- and you've still saved yourself $5 on the Zephyr's $160 street price.
Tony list the Zephyr at $160.00 and the Power Cab at $150.00. If you add the cost of a UTP panel to the Power Cab you end up with a street price of $165 for the Power Cab and I am sure someone else will come up with different quotations.
What puzzle me is the third slot added to the Power Cab, with an UTP panel does it means you can have three throttles plugged to the Power Cab at once? I do own a Power Cab and I am sure two throttles are the maximum available.
Yes, I stand corrected. Just adding the extra slots isn't enough.