The DS64 is a stationary decoder that will control four switch machines of any type. The DS52 will control two ditto. An online price for a DS64 is $47.99. An online price for a DS52 is $19.99, so two DS52s come in at $39.98 to do the same job as a $47.99 DS64.
Is there an extra value feature in the DS64 that isn’t accounted for here?
The DS52 doesn’t provide support for routes, doesn’t support optional buttons for manual control and doesn’t feedback status to loconet.
As far as I understand it, the feedback feature is available only to the Loconet, so it wouldn’t be useful for an NCE system. Is this correct – and if so, is there a relatively simple workaround?
That is my understanding as well.
There are folks that don’t use Digitrax for DCC but still use loconet for stuff like this. But, if I were not a Digitrax user, I would be looking at other stationary decoders. NCE has the Switch-It and Switch-8 which I believe are the lowest cost ($6.82) per turnout. RR-Circuits has some nice stuff. So do several others.
If you are just lookign for turnout control and are not using Digitrax, there are many other less expensive options. However, if the reason you are adding turnout control is to also add detection and signalling, even if you don’t use Digitrax you can install Loconet and utilize the DS64 feedback plus occupancy detectors to feed the logic in JMRI to determine the signal aspect to display. There are many NCE users who do this for their signaling and detection, keeping the two seperate, ne to drive trains and one to operate all the extras.
–Randy
One other advantage the DS64 has over the DS52 is that when used with LocoNet, the DS64 can be powered by external power instead of using track power.
That buys you two things:
First, if you need to throw a turnout to fix a short, you can do that since the DS64 isn’t dependent on that now-shorted track power.
The other is that you’re not wasting expensive booster capacity to power stationary decoders.