I bought a Prodigy about three years ago. The original one, not the advanced. It came with the power supply, the base station and the controller. Often additional controllers are advertised so you can have more than one operator.
FWIW, I have never blown any decoders, never had a train suddenly accelerate, or had any of the unfortunate troubles listed above. Perhaps I was lucky, or the others had a bad lot.
I am very happy with the system as I generally run the layout alone. Be advised, though, that the limits of expandability, advanced programming, etc… as stated above is true with the original Prodigy. You can, however, run up to 32 locos withthe handheld unit.
I think I paid like $150.00 for the system and have been very happy with it. Just my opinion, hope I helped answer your question.
froogle.google.com shows the prodigy advance for $176.39 and up . and the zephyr for $147.99 and up , so how does recommending the zephyr discriminate against low-budget people ?
yes it does . in fact i think the walk around controller is the biggest advantage of the PA and makes it worth slightly more than the zephyr . the only reason i’m not buying the PA is that there is no computer interface
EDIT: note that trainworld is selling the prodigy , not the prodigy advance , be careful !
I’m wiht ereimer. It’s not that people are wanting you to rip out your limbs, it is just that to some people, me included, think that for the money, there are better options.
There’s also the point about support. The people at Train World are warehouse workers. If any of them have a layout I’d be surprized. It would be worth $10-20 to have someone like Tony at Tonys Trains to answer your questions if you have an issue.
I have the PA. I chose it over the Zephyr based on the controller features. For the layout size I have and no real need for a computer interface it does the trick. And so far there have been no non-user induced problems with it or any of my decoders.
If and when, I build the layout of my dreams, I will go with a much more robust system anyway instead of a smaller system and adding on. Who knows what will be out there by then…
There are several good discussions of the products on the net. The Atlas DCC Forum and the Tony’s site are both recommended to start.
Gosh, a lot of emotion invested in this thread. Clearly, all of the DCC systems have their fans and detractors. I guess, after all of the diverging opinions, it would be the right time to remind the asker that it is incumbent upon him to seek factual information about each system to assure himself that they meet his aims…if he has ever charted them. Once he can say that his sytem MUST have the following capabilities (a,b,c…), it should be easy to correlate the manufacturers’ claims with the ancedotal information supplied on this forum.
This reply is not meant to throw cold water on the discussion, but to suggest to the originator that he compile a matrix with the desired capabilites/characteristics along the top and the various systems down the left side. To help minimize his central tendency biases in scoring, he could assign a weighting factor to each of the qualities. Price might get a ‘2’, while PC interfacing for CV manipulation might get a ‘4’. This will make the total scores of each system spread out from the mean to get a clearer indication of the “best” choice for him. He could then confirm his top two choices with we good folks here, and we could point out any disparities or caveats.
ok - crunch time…I fired up my PA and measured the potential difference present on the rail with a digital multimeter set on AC volts - result was 14.7 to 15.1 V ac.
so…is this too much or not? The PA is NMRA compliant, no? so next stop - NMRA site.
In a nutshell, the max NMRA recommanded voltage for HO is 15 V. So in this respect, the ole Proddy Ad is spot on for HO, but provides a higher then recommanded output
for N scale which is 12 volts. This is AC, not DC.
HOWEVER
NMRA recommands that N scale decoders should be able to withstand a DC voltage of at least 24 volts and larger scale decoders, 27 volts DC.
If I remember my electronics right, the RMS DC voltage obtained when rectifying an AC voltage of 15V is 15 x 1.414 = 21.2 V.
THEREFORE
taking a worst case scenario by operating an N scale decoder on a Proddy Ad powered system - in my case a DZ143 equipped GE-44 - will cause the N scale decoder to see a maximum DC voltage of 21.2 volts on a PA powered layout…well within the NMRA max DC voltage of 24V.
IN CONCLUSION
The Prodigy Advanced does not fry NMRA compliant decoders.
By way of trying to explain the various fryings and strange decoder behaviour, I suggest that other factors may be to blame.
QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT DECODER INSTALLATIONS
is the decoder overheating? why?
Is the decoder properly isolated from touching other parts of the train chassis, thus causing electrical shorts?
Will normal operating conditions provide mechanical vibration which may cause the decoder installation to operate or fail intermittently?
I dont know if you have a newer PA and MRC has remedied the problem. But both of the ones we had at the club were putting out 23-25 Volts AC. I belive the 24 volt NMRA rating means as a peak voltage. Not what you would get all the time. Both of the PAs we had most certainly did damage/destroy decoders if they were run for a couple hours every weekend after a few months. I dont belive it was faulty decoder installations because it would happen gradually. First you would notice speed tables being messed up and they could not be reprogrammed. Then (on a sound decoder anyway) it would start sounding strange, one ended up with the horn on all the time. And eventually you would be running the engine and it would just take off full speed. The decoders werent melted like they would be from a short. There was no visible damage to them but they no longer worked.
I’m not sure why there are so many people out there with such bad blood for MRC. I have used the Digitrax systems at our club and liked them. When I purchased a DCC system for my home layout, I decided to go with the MRC Prodigy Advance. Why?..Simple, Price, and features.
I have now converted 22 different locomotives over to DCC. The locomotives include makes such as Atlas Classic, Proto 2000 and Athearn Genesis. The decoders that I’ve installed are almost exclusively Digitrax, the only exception would be 2 NCE decoders and the decoders that came in my BLI E7. I also have 3 locomotives that have sound decoders installed, a Backmann Spectrum 2-8-0, a Proto 2000 Herrritage 0-8-0 and the previously mentioned BLI E7.
The only reason that I have listed all of this out in such detail is because I have yet (knock on wood) to fry a single decoder with my MRC PA. I have full control of the sound functions on all 3 of my sound installed locomotives. I have yet to run into any major problems yet that were not my own fault or my own doing. I have had 5 seperate locomotives running at the same time and have yet to run into any power problems with the unit only being 2.5 amps. Mind you that my layout is only 14’ X 8’ so I’m not running a basement sized layout.
I have never owned or used the old MRC DCC system. I have read here, and on the Atlas forum that it was a piece of junk. I really can’t comment on if it is, or if it isn’t. All that I can talk about is what I directly know
The MRC Prodigy Advance is not a bad little system. Is it perfect…NO, it isn’t. It does fit my needs for now and the price was right.
Probably most of the Train World folks who will handle your order are “warehouse workers,” but Trainworld is associated with Mulraney’s Trainland, a venerable instiitution where I could gawk at the operating layout for hours, or until my parents insisted that we continue driving into Brooklyn to visit the relatives. Haven’t been there for decades, but the company does have real model RR credentials in its pedigree.
It’s not that people are knocking MRC. They have IMO some of the best DC power packs
for the price. AND their Prodigy Advanced is a great system. What everyone was refering
to ORIGINALLY on this thread was the Prodigy system… the original one. It’s no secret
that this system was and still is a extremely basic system that is limited to basicly
running trains. And for a few dollars more you can get a much better system(like the
Prodigy Advanced). Good luck, Dave