My favs....

Hi all,

ok, I'll bite the bullit.............

These are my favs. and I only can talk from my experiance with them, so I will not go into argue on what decoder is best....bare in mind I am in Belgium (Europe) and that the Soundtraxx's, Digitraxx's, MRC's, TSU's and others aren't quick at the shop buy's overhere.

on number one comes ESU loksound v.3.5 and the micro counterpart, first cause of availability overhere and the ease of programing when using a loksound programer.

second comes QSI and last but not least soundtraxx (in my case the TSU heavy steam, retrofitted an athearn genesis challenger a few weeks back, I must say I am realy impressed with this one and I am thinking of getting a TSU-logger for a shay that is waiting to get some soul and with that have a different sound from the one already fitted with a loksound micro from ESU)

The ones I am realy avoiding are the MRC's, not so much for the sound, since my sd45-2 sounds nice but it runs better as of when I fitted an ESU lokpilot as a motorcontrol decoder to it, bypassing the MRC motorcontrol i.o.w. but leaving the sound. Was a five minutes job and my Athearn is crowling over the layout now with speed step 1 on a 128 speedstep setting.

All my decoders are set to 128 speedsteps btw. 

The famous blue-line Broadway limited is pending some where in the middle, probably since I am still learning to program the decoder with JMRI decoderpro.

I still have my first soundtraxx LC PNP's laying around, but I consider them as "historical treasure" and they will probably end up as a stationary light up a building decoder, lol.

As for the settings I can not realy specify a defenit setting in general, it is more a case per case setting but in general I like a higher setting for cv3 and cv4 and when a speed table is available (which in most cases is) aply a smooth preset exponentiel speed curve. A programer in conjunction with decoder pro or the ESU lokprogramer for the ESU loksound decoders comes in realy handy here. A setting between 50 and 75 for CV3 and 75 to 100 for CV4 is usualy what I use. Depending on the model, it's a try and try thing.

For the sound settings, I like them to be just above middle, not to loud and not the faint. I usualy will have one lokomotiv iddling on the layout whilst programming another on the prgramming track next to the pc, so I can compare the loudness and match the two.

Light settings...om, lol, the never ending loksound forum discussion on the famous rule 17, I will not go into that one, lol.

So that's it for me in the fewest words possible, lol.

OH , btw, enjoying my first hours of my almost 3 and 1/2 weeks of vacation, I am happy......can you tell, lol

Decoders

Based on the number of them I own, the TCS AnX series seems to be my favorite - they clip right into most of my Atlas locomotives and simply run.

I've installed one sound decoder, a Loksound, and since it was a 8-pin NMRA job, it was fairly easy. The only problem was replacing the speaker that came with it with one that would fit into my Atlas C425 long hood. Loksounds tend to come with larger speakers more appropriate for cowl-style locomotive bodies.

As for the Blueline decoders, while I don't have any, there was a really nice article on how to do that properly (it involves stuff not in the instructions) in the July edition of Model Railroad News in their Thinking of DCC column. John Sipple, the author, can be contacted at dcc@modelrailroadnews.com - perhaps he can arrange for back issues or something.

Blueline also has a Diesel Technical Manual available at their website:

http://www.precisioncraftmodels.com/support/bluelinedieseltech.doc

As well as a DCC programming quick start:

http://precisioncraftmodels.com/store/index.cfm?event=content&content_name=BlueLineDCCprog

The Steam Technical Manual is here:

http://www.precisioncraftmodels.com/support/bluelinesteamtech.doc

Decoders I like

I have two decoders I really like (we're talking HO):

NCE D13SRJ - available in quantity at around $11 each.

TCS T1 - available at just under $17 each.

The D13SRJ's are a great "fleet" decoder because they're so cheap - and they have very nice motor control, including the ability to do some slow speed pulse control. I can get an Athearn Blue Box loco to crawl nicely with a D13SRJ.

The D13's big weakness is its lighting functions - they're okay but not any great shakes. The other minor limitation with the D13 is it doesn't have back EMF, so if the loco's a bit stiff starting up, the D13 won't do much to help out.

The TCS T1 is my next step up decoder. It's one of the least expensive HO back EMF decoders on the market, and it also has killer lighting features that you can fine tune to an amazing degree!

For instance, I have found the new Athearn Tunnel Motor loco mechanisms to be a bit on the stiff side, so by dropping one of the TCS T1's into the tunnel motor, I can get super low speed performance using the BEMF feature.

I also use a little trick when I install the T1 - I remove the rear headlight leads from the main circuit board and I move the cab headlight leads (the "Gyralight") to where the rear headlight leads were. This allows me to independently control the nose headlights and the headlights above the cab. The headlights above the cab were gyralights on these locos, and the TCS gyralight features are excellent.

Here's some key CV settings I use in the TCS T1 to get very nice slow speed performance from my Athearn Tunnel Motors:

  7  CV2 start
 64  CV6 mid
128  CV5 top

 12  CV3 accel
  6  CV4 decel

  4  CV56 dither freq
 40  CV57 dither volt

 46  CV10 BEMF cutout
  1  cv61 BEMF config

 32  CV49 white
 45  CV50 yellow

 34  CV29 basic config

Sound Decoders?

What do you use for sound decoders? 

Right now ...

Right now, I'm using SoundTraxx DSD-100LCs.

I have a Digitrax Soundbug that I want to try, and the new Tsunami sounds very nice in person, so I may want to give one of those a try ... but the $100+ price of the Tsunami's may slow down any notion of equipping a fleet of 60 locos with them.

30 or so locos

 I have a fleet of about 30 or so, all needing sound and DCC, so gonna have to do some home work on what I'm gonna equip them with.

Atlas format Tsunami...

I just purchased (and will pick up this weekend) 3 more of the Atlas GP38's decorated in BPRR - they have the significant advantage of being nearly dead-on for the WPRR paint scheme.

One of them (at least) will get a Tsunami... eventually.

Transponding

I had been using Lenz decoders.. but support for the SurroundTraxx comes from Digitrax Transponding so now I am looking at digitrax as being my best bet long term in order to hopefully support layout sound for my N power. Its a bit pricey though.. and I still wish someone would make one that reads the trains using a computer interface to the DCC and a computer's built in 5.1 surround sound. Anyway.. off topic.. main point is one particular feature is driving me toward digitrax. I wish the NMRA would develop a transponding spec.

Chris

Favorite Decoder

I have been slowly converting my steam (5 so far) with the Tsunami's (TSU 1000) and with the last conversion I used a deep bass speaker with a really nice result.

Mike, do tell

Mike:

Tell us more ... what speaker, and where did you get it?

Bass speakers

Joe,

I found this you tube video a while back showing the comparison between regular 8 ohm speakers and deep or high bass speakers so I thought I would try it out on a SP F-5 2-10-2 Brass loco I just purchased.

Now I can only speak to steam version sound, but the use of these speakers gives the Tsunami at least a much more "gerthy" sound. I like it to installing headers on a V-8. Just made the hair on the back of my neck stand up when I powered it up for the first time and made me want to yank the old speakers off my other steam locos.

Here is the URL for the you tube video I spoke of and it will give you a good idea of the difference;

Also Tony's Trains did a really nice review of the QSI version of these speakers;

http://www.tonystrains.com/technews/qsi_hb_speakers.htm

Tony's Trains carries these speakers and the price is just about the same as a normal speaker.

Again, I have only tried this using a Tsunami Steam TSU 1000 but I can not imagine anyone would be disapointed with a diesel sound decoder...

Regards

Mike

Reversing Loop Setup

I have attached a sketch of the lower level ( staging ) on my layout.

I can tell that the staging is just a large reversing loop. I am setting up my wiring so that the helix is a separate power block with the lead into staging ( along with the first two turnouts ) being on one circuit. My plan is to install insulated rail joiners at three tracks as per sketch and operate the staging on a separate circuit. When I say a separate circuit I mean a power block of their own.

Now my question. I have never built a layout before and more to the point I have never installed a reversing unit on a layout. How should I set up this portion of my layout? How would you do it if this was your layout? Where to put what. I am going to be using a NCE wireless DCC system. Should I stick with a reversing unit from them? Or there others that work better.....or easier to install/maintain?

I would like to have to do this just one time and not have to learn by trial and error. Any and all help is welcome.

Thanks....John