Please indulge a DCC beginners question. I have read quite a bit about DCC and sometimes the more I read the more confused I become, so I have come up with I hope a very simple question. If I purchase a locomotive with built in DCC and sound, is making it operational as simple as putting in the right code numbers in eg a Digitrax Zephyr and off I go or is it more complex (even tho everything is built right in)? ( BTW, I have wired the system with a simple bus wiring system). Would all or most factory installed decoders eg in a Proto 2000 or Broadway Limited engine work with Digitrax without further adjustments?
First off: [#welcome] to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]
The simple answer is yes. If you buy either an already-installed or factory-installed DCC locomotive - with or without sound - you can normally run it right out of the box on address 03. (Address 03 is usually the factory default address.)
The reason for the programming track is to:
Change the factory default address to whatever number you would like it to be. (Most folks like to use the locomotive number because it’s easy to remember.)
Adjust or tweak the CVs (configuration variables) to your taste and preferences
The 2nd one is really an option. Technecially, HR, you don’t have to do anything to your decoder equipped locomotive other than change it’s address. And, actually, you don’t even need to do that. However, if you have more than one locomotive and they all run on address 03, that sort of defeats the purpose of DCC because all your locomotives will run all at once.
Like the majority of DCC systems on the market, your Zephyr will run any manufacture’s decoders and sound decoders. Does that help clear things up a little?
Again, HR, welcome to the forum! Feel free to come back and visit us as often as you can. And remember: The only dumb question is the one NOT asked. We all were in your shoes once with DCC and none of us has a corner on the market on knowledge. (Although a few here come pretty close on certain topics.)
Thanks for the welcome and the great information. Feel encouraged and informed. Will be exciting to see the first one run. Have two diesels on order (back order!).
The only other heads-up you may appreciate is - be prepared to turn down the volume of your sound loco. For some reason manufacturers like to set the volume default setting at “threshold-of-pain”. The first time I hit the whistle on my PCM T1, first shift at the local brewery went on lunch break.
Welcome to the forum, HR. At least one of our DCC gurus here recommends doing a factory reset of the decoder as soon as you power it up. Assuming it works as soon as you power the tracks, it is often a good idea to simply do a hard reset of the decoder so that you have a baseline from which to adjust your locomotive’s behaviours. In some decoders you alter CV #8, while in the QSI’s you have three to alter. In any event, those factory defaults allow you to check things out and to then set the performance variables to suit your taste.
This was not really part of your question, but since you seem to be a novice, I felt that this advice may save you some confidence-dashing problems early on in your experience building.