advice please on dcc system

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Ok here’s the deal: I’m going to upgrade this week from my Bachmann Easy DCC to a more robust system. I will be ordereing said system online as there are no hobby stores left in my vicinity and at $4 per gallon I’m not driving 80 miles roound trip. I don’t belong to any clubs or have others over for operating sesions. It’s just me and my young son.

I’m not going to spend a furtune. My limit is set at $200 or less. So I am looking at either NCE or MRC. Any opinions or advice welcome. Here is some info on my layout :

12’ x 8’ x 4’ L shape

Continious running type with minimal turnouts.

Thanks for any help!

2

I would highly recommend the NCE Power Cab. It is within your price range and it is a very, very nice system.

David B

3

prebres,

What brought your decision down to NCE or MRC? Do you and your son want to be able to run trains together at the same time? If so, you’ll need more than $200 to accomplish that. (Basic unit with throttle plus additional throttle.)

If the answer to the latter is yes AND you have a spare DC power pack (like an old MRC) handy, I’d go with a Digitrax Zephyr. The Zephyr ($160, discounted) comes with two “jumper ports”, which would allow you to plug in up to two DC power packs and use them as throttles. That would be the only way I see to have that option and stay under $200.

If it will be either you or your son running trains and “sharing” one throttle, I’d go with a NCE Power Cab ($140, discounted). You could add an additional throttle (like the CAB-04p) to the Power Cab (max) but it will run you around $70, plus S&H.

In all fairness, the MRC Prodigy Advance ¶ is a nice system, too. I have the Power Cab so that’s the one I’d recommend. I also find the Power Cab VERY user-friendly and intuitive when it comes to operating and programming. Either would be fine for your needs. I don’t know if MRC makes additional throttles for the PA other than additional PAs.

Hope that helps…

Tom

4

I have the NCE Power Cab and I am happy with it. For comparison, this guy has it for $148.16 and free shipping over $50.00. I buy most of my DCC stuff from him. You might find better price but add their shipping, plus this guy has very good service.

This NCE Yahoo Group is very good and has a lot of info in their Files & Photos sections. There are other Yahoo DCC Groups that are very good. The Yahoo DCC Groups are more specialized.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NCE-DCC/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1

This guy likes the NCE stuff. He is in the Yahoo NCE Group.

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/nswmn/index.htm

Rich

5

I have an NCE at home and use Digitrax at the club. I would recommend the NCE.

After using my NCE system (learned it in one day and have only had to refer to the manual a couple of times in two years), trying to learn Digitrax is a pain. I belong to a Digitrax e-group and I see a lot of people with a lot of problems. I have also learned that the Digitrax documentation is not what I would call “easy to use” and “clear to understand”, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many complaints about it. (And i am an electronics technician and understand technical manuals.)

6

Thanks for the advice guys. I was leaning towards the NCE system over the PA and hearing some nice things about it makes me really lean towards the Power Cab. As for my son and I, we share the throttle duty for now, he is only four. In a couple years we can add a throttle. Again thanks for the advice. I knew I could count on you guys!

Paul

7

I have an NCE system, they are a great company to deal with for any technical questions, and I am also pleased with their equipment.

8

If ease of use matters, the NCE system is easier and you can pretty much file the manual away after the first couple of days and will seldom need to look at it again.

That said, the jump throttle slots on the Zephyr are darn clever, allowing you to use a regular power pack to run trains on DCC. But you’ll need to keep the manual handy, or make yourself some “cheat sheets” with Digitrax.

The MRC system is almost as easy to use as NCE, but it’s a bit more limited. MRC only allows you to do one command station consist, and limits it to 4 locos max, although MRC will do lots of decoder-based consists. NCE allows more command station consists that this, and of course you can do lots of decoder-based consists as well – even mixing and nesting them if you like.

MRC does not yet have the solid track record of NCE and Digitrax. And there’s the apparent cost of the just announced computer interface for MRC – it’s several times the cost of a computer interface for NCE or Digitrax.

9

I use MRC Prodigy Advance and just bought a wireless conversion. I’ve had few probelms with mine (I have the PA, a booster, and the wireless conversin) and their service is good although a little slow lately. If you look at Mircro-Mark (www.micromark.com) they have some pretty good prices. My primary considertion for buying the MRC was price but I’ve heard good reports about Digitax and NCE.

10

If I were buying today, I would probably go with the Power Cab, certainly with the requirements you describe. My problem with the Power Cab is that I fall neatly into a subset for whom it was not really designed. I routinely have 5 throttles on the go with my Digitrax Zephyr and to accomplish this with the Power cab becomes a quite costly proposition. IMO it is one of the only real weakness of the PC is that it is not the most convenient to upgrade.

Evidently I am some sort of DCC genius, as are both my sons! As I mentioned, we have a D Zephyr, and never look at the documentation or have a cheat sheet!

11

Well, simon1966, you had better save me a seat in the “genius” section as well. I have a Super Chief, no cheat sheets, and my manual is in a file cabinet somewhere.

Ever notice how it’s the people who don’t own or regularly use Digitrax, that keep telling us how difficult of a system it is?

Steve

12

I own and regularly use a Zephyr. I also own and regularly use a PowerCab. I don’t use the Zephyr for programming, except for the occasional ops mode tweak to CVs 3 and 4. I don’t even have a programming track connected to it. I totally agree with Joe Fugate; the PowerCab is soooo much easier to program with. But add a computer interface and DecoderPro, and the Zephyr becomes a great small-layout system. IMAO it’s the system of choice if you are converting an existing home layout from DC to DCC. You can run 3 cabs right out of the box, with no additional expense.

13

prebres:

I kind of hate to weigh in on questions like this as I don’t want to influence someone in the wrong direction. So I will just make a few comments for your consideration.

With your budget and described situation, either the Power Cab or Zephyr would be excellent choices.

Many of us really feel that a computer interface, using the free Decoder Pro/Panel Pro software, makes programming and fine tuning DCC locos so much easier, and fun. Don’t know it you will have a computer near your layout but if you do you could get the interface for either system and still stay within budget.

Understand that with Power Cab you can only have a total of two cabs, or throttles as we call them, and the computer interface will count as one of the cabs as long as it is plugged in. However, with Panel Pro, you can run trains from on-screen (computer screen) throttles so, in effect, you can have several throttles working at the same time.

Now you can do the same thing with the Zephyr, but with it you can also have other hand-held throttles plugged in along with the computer interface.

If you are not intersted in the computer interface, as others have mentioned, with the Zephyr you can add a cheap DC power pack to run trains. This allows that operator to run speed and direction only, which your young son would have fun doing. With this setup he would not be able to push any buttons that might mess up your system.

Another consideration is power. The Zephyr provides 2.5 amps, which is all the power that many small to medium layouts will ever need. Power Cab at 1.7 amps is a little iffy for the future depending upon your scale, total numbers of locos moving at one time, and whether or not you are running locos with sound.

I hope that this will help a little.

14

I also would like a seat in the genius section. I have a Zephyr don’t need a cheat sheet and the manual is also somewhere in the house, not in the train room. In addition to the Zephyr I also own a Power Cab and don’t find it easier to use than the Zephyr in fact I prefer programming with the Z as I find the menu system of NCE too cumbersome.

The Zephyr is powering my modules and the Power Cab is only use as a Pro Cab on a NCE layout I am an operator.

15

Thank you again gentlemen. I bought a Power Cab for $160 including shipping, and haven’t needed the manual since the first day. My son can make the 2-8-0 toot as it goes by, and we are both quite happy.[:)]

16

Good!.. Enjoy yourselves.

It’s all a matter of how you use it, how often you use it and what you want to use it for.

You had a previous DCC system, your learning curve will be less than the person who really starts from scratch and must read the manual. Try and reset your POWERCAB to defaults because the “little one” punch the wrong buttons, you will probably pull the manual out, just like any other system.

I recall my wifes first attemps at controling the computer’s mouse… Took her a while to master the spacial aspect of it. I was standing their asking myself what planet she came from !.. But it was a simply a learning curve.

17

I also appreciate the info shared in this thread.

Being in the Sonoran desert with an outdoor layout at 110 degrees ambient begs the question of temperature considerations for a DCC conversion. And I presume that would be for both the on-train circuit boards/decoder and the throttles. Stuff would be unplugged and secured at nights and during the rainy season (okay, rainy hours).

Maybe its not a big issue as we have the patio and pool wired for sound and the 3 year old receiver is outside in a protected location. Gets dusty but heat has yet to phase it.