dcc systems and decoders


ThoroughBreed

ThoroughBreed

Dcc~detail~diesel freak
First: THIS THREAD IS NOT ABOUT WHOSE SYSTEM IS BETTER THAN THE OTHERS!!!!!
Now that that was said, has anyone else realized that certain decoder brands do not like to work with opposing systems?
I have seen the "MRC sucks....." and "digitrax is cra..." posts on all forums and groups, but has anyone thought about the manufacturers having a lot of freedom with the specs? Maybe using some little string of code so that their products will only work great with their dcc systems?
 
Well, I personally use a MRC advance2 and have 5 of their sound decoders installed without any problems with them, but have a few digitrax decoders that are problematic and have had to replace a couple of them. Now the digitrax sound decoders that are in my Tower55 units work great, never a problem, its just the commercially offered decoders that are problems. I also have tcs and nce decoders, but with no problems with them.
What is interesting is if you ask anyone using something other than mrc about their products, they have had troubles, but if you ask anyone about digitrax products that use another brand they have had problems with them.
What the question is: Do the manufacturers make their decoders more friendly to their own systems?
 
You would have to be a real "techy geek" to be able to answer this question definitively, but I would say the answer to your question is "yes of course". Any manufacturer of anything wants you to buy their product exclusively, that's the nature of the beast.
 
You know what would be good is an online end users database discussing different brand decoders and dcc systems used with (hence this discussion would create).
 
So what yer talkin' about is compatibility of various components. I am NOT a DCC authority, but slowly workin my way in to it. I do know that CVP has listed their componets and what works, doesn't work, and slightly works (my words) with other mfr's components on his web page. It doesn't cover everything. Don't know if others have something similar. But it is a start.
 
In my experience any decoder will work just fine with any dcc mfg. I will say that certain layouts I run on give some decoders trouble. I think it has more to do with how a layout is wired and how much noise is in the signal. Voltage drop can be an issue too... I have digitrax,Mrc,soundtraxx,qsi,nce, and others that all work fine on my home layout yet some would louse commands on the various club layouts. That's not to say that my home layout never reset a decoder but it's very rare that it happened.
 
I use TCS decoders in everything except my Challenger, which is Digitrax w/ sound, with an NCE PowerCab and have never had any compatibility issues.

I think some problems could come from different companies adding features to decoders that aren't NMRA standard. For example I know that NCE decoders have lighting effects that can be configured from the PowerCab using a menu option rather than having to calculate binary values, but a Digitrax decoder might use completely different CVs for the lighting. I believe the PowerCab disables the menu option if a non-complying decoder is installed, but if not or if the system is fooled you could end up changing something completely different.
 
All I can say, is that I have a Digitrax system and I use JMRI to program all my decoders to get the best performance out of all decoders. I have just about every make decoder in my locos, and have never had any trouble out of any of them.

One caveat, I only own one sound equipped loco, out of 30, and whether or not that has any bearing to the situation, I don't know. But if and when a decoder dies on me, I replace it with the same brand, because with JMRI, I can just program the new decoder with the old decoder's file in about 15 seconds.
 
In my experince sound decoders have given me more trouble than motor only decoders. one thing that always erks me is that I can set a chuff rate on my steam engines at home and when I go to a club the rate is often diffrent and does not match the wheel revs like it did at home. just an observation
 
I use an NCE Powercab and have Digitrax, NCE, TCS, Soundtraxx and a few QSI decoders and have never had compatibility issues. I have seen chuff rates wander on some steamers but have been able to restore it by lifting the model off the rails and letting the decoder reboot. Autochuff is always off at some point of the speed curve so I don't waste time with a lot of angst over that. I jsut set up the model to be in sync on the lower 50% of the throttle range.
 
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