I run an old system; the one published in Model Railroader years ago; the article that seemed to get DCC going. My system is a CTC 16 built following the MR articles. The system is getting old and I'm tired of building new pieces; anyway the system is way out of date by todays standards. As I read in this forum; as I read of problems with Tsunami decoders; I seem to have come up with the idea that a Tsunami decoder is both a DCC control and a sound system rolled into one. You guys have a clear shot at an electronics dumby here; I would like to know if my suppostion is correct; or if I'll need both DCC and sound decoders when I move into the 21st century.
Thanks to those of your that will set me straight.
Broken Tie
All you need is the Tsunami. It handles both motor/light functions and sound. Some think LokSound has better motor control. Depends on many how rivets you want to count.
There is a Yahoo SoundTraxx Group and LokSound Yahoo Group that specialize in their respective decoders but not run by those companies.
Do some Google searches for both. Sounds like you need to do quite a lot of reading on DCC sound decoders.
There are at least three other decoder companies that make sound decoders. Most people know that when you say sound decoder, it means the decoder has both motor, light and sound features.
DCC is continually evolving
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 Rich; excellent response. You can't be more right; my knowledge of electronics is limited to the building of the CTC 16 system in the 60's (not quite 1860's). You provided enough to keep me busy looking and reading for more than a few nights.
Love the forum; even guys from the past can learn new things.
And by the way, the Tsunami isn't the decoder that has been trouble with people, except for needing help with setting up. They are quality products that run well.
Now MRC is a different story.
Springfield PA
If you actually UNDERSTAND the CTC16 system, then DCC shouldn;t be hard at all. There's really only one major difference - with CTC16 you have a fixed DC power with a small amplitude AC signal superimposed on it. With DCC< the signal IS the powerwhat goes to the track is a full amplitude square wave with varying pulse widths to indicate 1 and 0 bits. The rest of it works almost exactly the same as CTC16 except that instead of the pulse counters used to determine what channel you are on, there is a microcontroller on the decoder that can be programmed to respond to any of 10,000 addresses.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
For years there were lawsuits keeping sound and function controllers seperate. Or some were paying rights fees, etc. A few years ago that lawsuit was settled somehow, I'm not sure. But it has allowed the combining of sound decoders with function decoders.
We are living in one of the best eras of model railroading IMHO. Again IMHO, Soundtraxx has the best prototypical sound overall--maybe some issues on dynamic brakes for certain prototypes. But they only have 4 lighting functions. I have only experienced inferior drive issues with them when going through the 8 pin plug utilizing the OEM boards filters, caps, etc. If you wire them directly to pickups and motors I have found them to have great motion control.
BTW, QSI is coming out with a new chip architecture that I can't wait to try which should have a lot better sound while maintaining their great functionality(could have up to 10 on new board) and motor control.
When checking out DCC systems be sure and include service support in evaluation as there are almost always issues at some time. I have also really enjoyed the newer radio bidirectional cabs with over 20 function access, like using MTH function controlled couplers. I'm actually researching how to do my own functional couplers, since there are no aftermarket sources. I suspect as this was several years ago a hot topic, it may come back with improved electronics???
Richard