Defend Your Choice of DCC Command Station

Model Railroader
22

I use NCE

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Hello All,

When I returned to this great hobby in 2014, I presumed that DCC was more expensive than DC.

What I discovered was that the cost of wire, block controllers, and turnout controllers for DC operation could have bought me an “introductory” DCC system.

When I decided to move to DCC, my first foray was with the dead-end Bachmann Dynamis system.

Even with a 4’x8’ walk-around HO pike, I soon outgrew the Dynamis system because of the number of consists I run.

The wireless capability enabled me to manually throw the turnouts, eliminating the need for a turnout control panel and the associated wiring.

I am a “Lone Wolf” modeler so interoperability with a club or other layout was not a concern.

When researching different DCC systems, I visited many hobby shows near me and asked a lot of questions of both club users and manufacturers.

The two things that sold me on the NCE system were:

  1. The way NCE makes and breaks consists- -which is very important to my solo operations.

  2. The ergonomics of the throttle just “fit” my hand better than the Digitrax.

I have added DecoderPro JMRI running on my Mac, along with a Digitrax PR3 for a standalone programming track, along with splitting up the pike into five (5) power districts with one being an auto reverser for the wye.

I also added WiThrottle (deluxe version) to my iPad, which gave me two (2) additional throttles.

Hope this helps.

2 Likes
24

Thanks for your reply, trainman90. Another purchase made on the basis of a recommendation from a local hobby shop. I wish that there was some way to return to the glory days of the LHS which was so instrumental in furthering the model railroading hobby.

Rich

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Brent, thank you kindly for your reply and your review of available DCC systems before selecting an NCE Power-Pro-R system. That is so cool that your choice of DCC systems came with two puppy’s pictures in your reply, NCE1 and NCE2. Cute little guys.

However, your concluding remark confuses me, implying that my question is subliminally biased. Can you elaborate?

*** NCE** :heart_eyes:

  • Digitrax
  • TCS
  • ESU
  • Lenz
  • DCC-Ex
  • Roco
  • Bachmann
  • MRC
  • Zimo
  • Sprog
  • Atlas
  • Hornby
  • Marklin
  • Yamorc
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26

Thanks for those comments, Mike. I have had a few occasions to contact NCE for “customer support” and “technical assistance”. They answer their phones, respond to emails and do, indeed, solve user problems or issues.

Rich

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I am looking forward to replies from users of other DCC systems apart from those already mentioned here. I know that there are actual users of such DCC systems as TCS, ESU and DCC-Ex, just to name a few.

Rich

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Thanks JJ for an excellent reply regarding your choice of a DCC system. Highly informative and appreciated.

Rich

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Thank you, Charlie.

Charlie Hebdo
Charlie Hebdo1280×720 10.7 KB

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I doubt that you would have heard of it before, as it’s one of my triumphs of personal inventiveness and cheapskatery. Sooner or later I might market it commercially, in a highly improved format.

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31

With visions of DCC dancing in my head I rode Amtrak’s Capitol Corridor into Sacramento. The day was hot and the line of folks waiting to enter the NMRA convention train show was long. Behind me a woman said to her male companion; “Sorry Dear, but judging by all the grey heads standing in this line your hobby is dying.”

Once inside the show I headed directly to the Digitrax booth, but it was already mobbed. Moseying around waiting for the Digitrax throng to thin I came upon the smaller, uncrowded CVP Products booth. Not that CVP was on my radar, but after talking with the friendly and knowledgable rep., think his name was Al, and handling their T5000 wireless throttle I knew Easy DCC was for me. 14 years later and CVP Easy DCC suits me fine, robust and reliable even if ‘old hat’ as far as functions and computer interface. Customer service nothing but exemplary and they service what they sell. Oh, and that woman in line behind me couldn’t have been more wrong.

Regards, Peter

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32

A friend recommended CVP several years ago. I am happy with it.

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Great story, Peter. Good to know that you are perfectly happy with your CVP system. As you say, customer service is key as a follow up to the purchase of any DCC system.

Thanks so much for your reply.

Rich

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Thanks for that reply, Ken. Can you elaborate a bit on the strengths of your system? What do you like most? Any drawbacks?

Rich

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Still waiting to hear from those TCS, ESU and DCC-Ex users.

Rich

36

I’m not exactly sure what my point is here, but pretty much everyone here who has purchased a system (regardless of manufacturer) has been happy with their system and very few who have felt the need to replace it. I guess my vague point is most all of the system manufacturers are “good”.

Regards, Chris

1 Like
37

I last used DC on a model railroad in 1978.
That layout got taken down, and before I could consider another, I hired out onto the big engines on Conrail in 1979.

I didn’t get back to the little trains until 2018 – forty years later. I cleaned out an area in the basement and started “looking around” to get myself refamiliarized with how the model trains had developed in the 40 years I hadn’t been paying attention.

I’d heard about dcc, but really knew nothing about it. So I started looking at videos, etc., to see what was “out there”. It sounded complicated, like there would be a big learning curve. For a dumb old engineman like me, probably wouldn’t be easy.

Seems like the overwhelming majority of the dcc’er’s in the USA are using Digitrax or NCE – with the somewhat bulky handheld devices that connect with a telephone-like cord. I probably would have ended up there, too, had I not heard about and investigated the Roco z21 hardware and “app”.

From the moment I saw how to get it set up and working, I KNEW that was “the system for me”. It wasn’t “the hardware”… what made the diffference was “the APP”. It was graphical and intuitive at once. I’m a Mac guy, and picked up on that right away.

But… the z21 isn’t popular or all that available here (USA).
And I didn’t feel like paying the high price for the high-end Z21 (black box).

Then I discovered that in Europe the beginner/intermediate z21start (white box) could be found for sale at some dealers. So… I ordered the white box from Germany (about $125 shipped to USA, back then). I also picked up a separate power supply for it from an American supply house (didn’t really need that, the z21start came with a power brick that would have worked). I also bought the companion TP Link router set up for the z21 and wifi, which added another $45 or so.

Took a few weeks to get all this stuff at-hand, but it proved worth waiting for. I had it set up and running in very short order. I even built a small “cabinet” for it all to sit in:

z21enclosure
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I powered my small layout (a modified version of the MR “Black River Junction” plan) with the z21 setup for about 4 years, and then…

… I heard about something called the Digikeijs DR5000 “universal” hardware controller. And, it worked with the z21 app, as well. But the z21 was working fine for me, and I wasn’t going to spend the money for a new unit.

And then…
… a used DR5000 appeared on ebay (“buy it now” with “make offer”).
I offered $108, and it was accepted.
The DR5000 arrived in its original box, like new, with all relevant “stuff” included.

Setup on the DR5000 was even easier than it had been on the z21 – just check a setting to be sure support for the z21 app was turned on, and then get it connected to the right IP address (the DR5000 has built-in wifi, no standalone router).

Other than enter the different IP address, I didn’t have to change anything on the Samsung tablet I use to control the engines – everything worked exactly as it did previously on the z21 hardware. Amazing !

I currently use the DR5000 on the railroad, and keep the z21 as my “test track” controller for upstairs. But if I ever needed to, it could go back to service on the layout in about 15 mins.

But after the experience of the past several years, I’ve come to the realization that “the key” to the smoothness and ease-of-use to the Roco and Digikeijs hardware is…
… the great z21 app.

And it also works with YaMoRC and I believe ZIMO as well.
There may be others.
I think JMRI now offers some kind of “z21 bridge” that makes me think it will work with other systems (which on their own offer no z21 connectivity) that interface with JMRI. Perhaps this would include the EX-CSB1 Express command station as well (don’t know).

The z21 app used to be totally free (it’s open source), but I think the latest versions will only run one engine “in free mode”. It costs about $18 to register it and get a code to run multiple trains. But you can still download it for free and try it out on your Android or iOS device to see what it does.

As I mentioned earlier, I had the preconception that dcc would be difficult to learn and use. The z21 app proved me wrong – it makes dcc EASY. Probably the best dcc control app/interface out there. But too many won’t even try it in “demo mode” because they’ll tell you they don’t want to run trains from a touch screen.

Oddly enough, just about all the dispatchers are using displays and touch screens to run the big trains these days, and most newer engines will have their share of displays (and perhaps some touchscreens as well) right at the engineer’s seat.

So it’s the z21 app for me.
Whether the hardware “box” is Roco, or not.
I don’t think I could have gotten as far as I have any other way…

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38

I didn’t do a lot of research about which DCC was the best when I got into this hobby 3 years ago. I suppose each person for the most part would say that their system is the best. I bought a Digitrax Zephyr system and have added a few throttles, but the throttle I use all the time is the wireless one with 2-control knobs on it. The most trains I’ve ran at one time is (4). I set two up on each knob, so it’s easier for me to remember which is which. I use short address numbers for simplicity. For example: I’ll put #10 and #12 on the left, and #20 and #22 on the right. The system works very well considering I only have about 8 feeder wires on the whole layout of about 2-1/2 scale miles. I’ve checked the voltage at every corner of the track and there are zero drop points. My biggest complaint was with Digitrax’s customer support. I dropped a handheld controller and something was rattling around inside. It was only a month old, but the mean old (battle axe) in support said that I purposely damaged my throttle. I told her that was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. So it cost me $75 to fix the throttle which I smashed to pieces on purpose! Other than that, I really like the Digitrax DCS52 system.

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39

OldEngineMan, great comments and explanation. I’ve never heard of your system.

Regards, Chris

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40

I agree, Chris. Perhaps no one is completely satisfied with their chosen system, but it is good enough. For those who are entirely happy with their chosen system, that is icing on the cake, so to speak.

Rich

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Yep, a great reply from OldEngineMan and a super analysis of the Roco DCC system.

Rich