Deutsche VersionDCC Decoders
My model railroad (which I didn’t talk about enough here) is completely digitally controlled. That means the locomotives aren’t controlled by the height of the track voltage. Instead, they are connected via the rails to a network, which I can use to give specific commands to every single engine. That way, I can control them completely individually.
Of course, there has to be some electronics in the locomotive for this to work. This so-called decoder is usually not included with the rolling stock, instead you have to purchase and install it yourself. That’s where my problem is.
German locomotives in N gauge usually have a interface according to MOROP NEM 651 (available in german and french and NMRA RP 9.1.1 (Small design) (the two standards are identical). That is very useful. American companies, however, apparently find this stupid and don’t include such an interface. Why they do that, we might never find out.
The alternative proposed are “drop-in-decoders”. Those are specific to one or a few locomotive types each. Typically they replace the lighting board in the locomotive, though there are others. That works sometimes well and sometimes not so much.
My problem is the Kato RDC. It’s a beautiful thing, and runs well in normal DC. I’m fighting with a Digitrax D122K2, which is normally meant for this purpose, but either refuses to work at all or causes short circuits. Sometimes it might work correctly for up to ten seconds at a time, when I press the right thing just right (whatever that means changes from minute to minute).
I’ve gotten so far that I’m thinking about purchasing a new decoder, a german one this time (Lenz Gold mini), and soldering that in myself. If anyone reading this has experience with either that or the DN122K2, I’d be happy to hear your suggestions!
Written on June 26th, 2007 at 09:04 pm
