I have a couple of switching modules at home but want to join a club which uses Digitax.
How should my equipment perform? Have to be re-programmed?
Should work fine - You will need a Digitrax throttle. DCC is the same - if it is programmed for an address, it should work on either system.
Jim
Thanks, that is what I expected. I plan to get my own Digitrax throttle,
I’ve had some strange things happen with decoders between systems.
Set up a Tsunami decoder on my ESU system to perfection and it performed equally as well on a Lenz system. Took it to a friends house that had Digi-Trax and I could barely hear the sound and at full throttle, it would barely move. Frustrated, I put it back in the box and took it home. Placed it on my layout and it worked perfect. (?)
In another situation, I set up a Loksound decoder for a customer on my ESU system, when he got it, it performed as expected with his MRC DCC system. Took it to a friend’s place who had Lenz and it wouldn’t even run. Took it back home and it worked fine. (?)
What the differences are, I have no idea. I know decoder manufacturers have a limited number of CV’s they have to follow to be NMRA compliant, but after that, pretty much everything else is propietary to their own design. I guess the big question is … how compatable are these propietary motor / function settings with all the operating systems out there ?
Mark.
Which system do you use at home?
NCE?
Which type?
Rich
Only possible problem would be if you have any locos set up on NCE with a long address of 127 or lower. You will not be able to select that address on Digitrax. Digitrax strictly enforces 1-127 as short addresses and 128+ as long addresses
With Lenz it’s 1-99 is short, 100+ is long, always
NCE, 1-127 can be either, but typically are long so the 1-127 can be reserved for consist addresses.
SO, a loco with short address 110 can be selected and run by Digitrax or NCE, but not Lenz.
A loco with a long address of 40 can be selected by NCE but not Digitrax or Lenz.
A loco with a short address of 40 can be selected by any of them.
–Randy
Mark.
Railcom enabled on a Lenz system has been known to mess up some decoders. You can fine tune the Railcom or disable it on Lenz. Bidirectional Digitrax systems has been known to confuse Railcom enabled decoders such as Loksound and Tsunami.
What is crazy is an older NCE decoder running fine on a club Lenz system one day and not the next. It turned out that one of the boosters was replaced with a new one. The new booster has Railcom enabled by default where the older booster did not have railcom. Disabling railcom in system settings restored the decoder to its happy state of running. You wouldn’t think that adding an upgrade or two would throw a wrench into the works but it does sometimes.
Pete