lenz dcc

[Anonymous]

I have been told by a number of suppliers here in australia than lenz decoders are not available, and won't be for a few months. As I am currently waiting to try my second lenz dcc system (the first was faulty) I am anxious to hear of problems that others may have had.
My concern is also that I have spent a fair amount of money on Lenz, after reading a lot of positives, but am now starting to feel very nervous. Would a seven month wait for Lenz decoders be real?

[rrinker]

Well, you're not limited to Lenz decoders, there are many others out there that work well, and can be controlled with the Lenz system.
I happen to have a Digitrax system, but not very many of my decoders are Digitrax. I'm pretty much standardized on TCS except where a direct drop in exists from someone else.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

I don't think a seven month wait is acceptable for anything, personally. Have you checked with suppliers outside of your country for decoders? Like the previous person said, you can use any other manufacturers decoders with your Lenz system, so you could be back up and running as soon as you can get a package delivered.

[cacole]

Lenz was the first company to come up with DCC standards, and their standards formed the basis for the NMRA standards and recommended practices that exist today. Any brand of decoder that is noted as being "NMRA-compliant" will work with any DCC system that is also NMRA-compliant. These include Digitrax, Train Control Systems, North Coast Engineering, Model Rectifier, and possibly some European brands. The only one I'm not sure about is Marklin, which I believe is proprietary. Lenz DCC systems are top rated in the U.S., so I don't think you have anything to worrry about in that regard. Decoder shortages occur from all manufacturers periodically due to a world-wide shortage of microchips that sometimes hits the market.