Are there any other DCC sytem than Digitrax that uses the Loconet bus?
I’m interestied in buying an extra throttel to my Digitrax Super Chief and want to see what is available.
I’ver heard people claiming they are out there, but all I have ever seen are the software ones and the home made ones as:
http://fremodcc.sourceforge.net/diy/fred/fred_e.html
To me this is the best part of Digitrax and the worst part. Great technology but seems no one willing to license it and get products out there. How many other great products haven’t done well in consumer land because of this…
Gandy Dancer, while there are no Loconet 3rd party throttles (other than a virtual throttle on the JMRI suite of software) one thing that stands out about Loconet is that several companies HAVE developed loconet compatible devices. The most obvious being the Locobuffer USB device from RR Circuits. A quick Google search on Loconet compatible yields several loconet compatible devices from 3rd parties. This always struck me as one of the strong points of the Digitrax solution that there was 3rd party product.
It is my understanding that the Daisy throttle made by Uhlenbrock will work witk Digitrax. I really like the looks of it, but it costs as much as a DT400 and doesn’t have as much functionality. If the price was closer to that of a UT4 throttle, it would be a great replacement for it. I don’t know of anyone who has actually used a Daisy with a Digitrax command station, but it is Loconet, so it should work. Here are two sources for it:
If you have a personal computer, buy the Loco Net interface (MS-100 serial port) or (USB Loco Buffer) for a USB port; then downolad JMRI Decoder Pro for free. This set-up will cost about the same as a digitrax UT-4 throttle, however you can use Decoder Pro to program your locos and also use it for multiple computer based throttles.
JIM