G.D. said:
Are the problems with the actual installation or the programming of?
The problems were with the installation. The one (and only) model I had working satisfactorily was an HO P2K GP7. It was great, and I could program it like a dream. The rest never worked, so I could only assume at the time that it was an installation issue and not a programming one. It's been a while and my layout is not set up due to a move, but if I remember correctly, I had a Kato RS-2 (or 3) that only ran in one direction, and a P2K S3 that required a Z scale decoder that I may have just simply fried. The whole thing became such a pain and not worth the expense, so I just threw in the towel.
Yes, that would be much more difficult than hooking a black and red wire to the power and the grey and orange wires to the motor. I can't imagine what is going wrong. Do you have a more specific example and perhaps we can help you out?
I appreciate the help, but there's nothing I can really do until I decide to set up the layout again and try it all over again. The interesting thing is that DCC theoretically SHOULD be easier compared to DC, but it really wasn't for me. The layouts I spoke of from my teenage years were wired using Atlas componentry. Yeah, there was seemingly hundreds of feet of wire and quite a few connections, but as long as you kept them straight, and followed their instructions, it wasn't too difficult. The thing that really sold me on DCC was the operational flexibility, but if you can't get it to work, then there's no use.
Anyway, when I was having difficulties with my DCC, I received some on-line advice from the 5,000+ member Digitrax Yahoo group like, "Is your track clean?", "Are the wheels clean?", and "Do you have it turned on?", and the like. I just became further frustrated, put it all away, and just pursued other things.
Sorry, this is getting a little long, and definitely off the main subject, but I feel the only way I can learn is by seeing things hands-on and interacting in person! If you know anyone in the central Ohio area that would be willing to show me their methods on Digitax decoder installation, let me know.