Hi all,
I find myself needing half a dozen, maybe 7, top-mounted switch machines for a small project layout, and a buddy of mine mentioned MRCS’s MP5 (MP5). These offered frog polarity switching and bi-color LED switching, which in my case would be mounted on simple signal heads on the layout to indicate turnout position. Great, no problem, seems an easy solution.
As I don’t want push-buttons or anything fascia/edge mounted, I started looking at DCC stationary decoder options to control the turnouts from my throttle. As I’ll eventually be needing this for my primary layout, it seemed like a good opportunity to gain some experience in this corner of the hobby. Since I run on Digitrax systems, the DS64/74 was my first knee-jerk thought, but at $80 MSRP and needing two of them to cover my needs, I started looking elsewhere. And low-and-behold, MRCS offered a solution in their 8-channel MPD8 controller, which was designed with their MP1 and MP5 in mind, was cheap, and fit my needs exactly (MPD8).
Unfortunately, my plans for this layout missed out by a month; MRCS discontinued their MPD8 in December. And their available alternatives, their Intelligent Turnout Controller or the older Remote Stall Motor Controller, don’t seem to offer DCC control. Or if there is a way to control these via DCC, it becomes a whole lot more complicated than what I want by requiring other components.
So, am I back to looking at the DS74 as my best one-stop option?
I’ll fully admit, electronics are NOT my wheelhouse. I can look at a track plan and visualize it and how I’d build its benchwork; I can open up a complex craftsman kit and see how it goes together. But I start reading about or listening to YT videos on detection, signaling, complex DCC interfaces, etc., and I start hearing Char