hello.
i am looking in to DCC for all my locomotives but not sure i can mix & match items,
e.g.
as i have a lot of bachmann loco`s i was gonna use bachmann decoders but
i also like the digitrax controller`s, can these be used together as i have not found out anying helpful at the moment.
any help on this would be great please,
The NMRA standards keep the trains and controllers inter-operable. So, you can use a Digitrax system with Bachmann decoders, or Lenz decoders, or Soundtraxx decoders. All decoders play with all systems, period. There may be some peripheral issues, like how easy it is to program some of them, but those generally are second-order things with work-arounds.
What you can NOT do is mix-and-match things on the controller side. You can’t, for example, plug an NCE throttle into a Digitrax system. In fact, there is almost no interchangeability here. Yeah, it would have been nice, but the way it worked out, we got a lot of good options from a variety of manufacturers.
Still, as long as you know the rules, you can generally buy with confidence. By now, these are all good, reliable systems, and they are well-supported by their manufacturers.
Oh, and they’re a lot of fun, too. It may not be in the NMRA standard, but it’s built into the product anyway.
Bachmann DCC equipment and Digitrax DCC equipment can be used together as well as many other brands. All DCC equipment that is NMRA compatible can be used together. (eg; Bachmann EZ-Command running locos equipped with (fill in bran name) decoders, Digitrax Zephyr programming (fill in brand name) decoder, etc.
The National Model Railroad Association’s (NMRA) DCC Standards and Recommended Practices specified the digital signal pattern that command stations are to place on the track and that compliant decoders are to recognize, so any brand of DCC system works with any brand of locomotive or stationary decoder.
Manufacturers were left to their own devices, however, on the design of their command stations and other peripherals.
So, in short, a Digitrax or MRC or EasyDCC or NCE or Lenz or any other NMRA certified DCC system works with any other manufacturer’s decoders, but as a general rule one manufacturer’s hand-held controller works only with their system and no other because this aspect of DCC was not part of the Standards and RPs
Decoders will work with any DCC system. Throttles are for the most part restricted to their manufacturer’s system. There are a couple of exceptions but that’s mainly because one manufacturer makes a system for another company. An example would be the old Atlas Commander system that was made by Lenz. The couple of exceptions are few and far between.
Boosters for the most part can be used with another manufacturer’s system. Remember that the booster is not a command station. There can be only one command station and the boosters just “boost” its signal. As long as the wiring can be worked out and the booster can be isolated from its command station it can be made to work with another system. An example would be Lenz and/or NCE boosters connected to a Digitrax command station. All three companies give instructions on connecting their boosters to the other’s systems. Other manufacturers are not as forthcoming with that information. MRC is an example of a company that likes to keep it a secret.
Martin Myers
Yes, that is the point of DCC. For the most part one can use any mix of decoders with any controlling unit.
hi,
thank you for all your help
now i know what i can i can get started,
again thank you.
I’ve had noise problems with a couple of bachmann decoders. The engines motors had a lound hum when running and it turned out to be the decoder. Switching to NCE and Digitrax fix the problem.
I have run odd DCC equipement with even DCC equipment with no issues.
Rich
My PCM T-1 was #2111 and it worked fine with a P2K GP-7 #602, so odds and evens do mix [:D]
–Randy