Loco decoder

[whiteshield]

Good evening.

I shall be buying some decoders and would like some guidance.

I've read some articles and whilst they have been helpful they tend to reflect the author's prejudices on what make. I know there are many good makes but my quetion is what should 

I look for and what should I avoid.

Will be using in DCC ready and old loco's that I shall convert, hopefully. Would like to add sound at some stage as well.

John 

[2e0dtoeric]

How long is a piece of string?

Ask ten people this, and you'll get twenty answers.

Older loco's, ie the tender drives, or 'pancake' motors, need more amps than a modern motor, so that's your first decision, a 1 amp output decoder!

When it comes to sound, first off, is there room for the speaker? Do you need to run longer wires from the decoder to wherever the speaker will fit? Which size of speaker will fit in the available space.

You have to do your own research on this question, really - because as you say in your question, different people have different opinions, so in the end you have to decide for yourself!

[Howbi]

@whiteshield.........remember this is a Hornby forum so we recommend Hornby decoders, the 4 pin X9659, the 8 pin R8249, the Sapphire 21 pin R8245 and the forthcoming TTS sound decoders next year........they all work as entry level devices satisfactorily............there are many others from various makers at various prices some of which are very sophisticated with features you may never use until you become a DCC genius.... 😆

[96RAF]

Although all DCC kit should talk to any other DCC kit according to NMRA rules, you should also consider incompatibility as sometimes controller A and decoder B will not communicate properly with each other and this applies across several makes, not just Hornby controllers and some Bachmann decoders. 

 

A search of the forums will bring up past discussion to give you some idea of this fairly rare but irritating problem if you happen to have mismatching kit. It is basically a case of which controller do you have and avoiding any known incompatible decoders.

[whiteshield]

Thank you for your replies.

John

[OzPepper]

I'm still a noob to this, but let me add my two cents for what they're worth.

 

When I ran my DC and the DCC trains for the first time recently, I was all very excited, for the first few minutes. Then I realised there was something missing. Sounds!

 

Sounds to a train is like a dorsal fin to a shark; without it a shark is just a big guppy, and a train is just an oversized toyota. Therefore, if you are going to get a decoder, go for a sound decoder from the get-go.

 

The problem with existing 3rd party sound decoders is that they are way overpriced for a small computer chip. Heck, you can get a complete Atom laptop for about the same price as a Loksound decoder.

 

The whole ballgame just changed when Hornby announced TTS decoders from £40 to be available soon. No further ifs or buts, I recommend TTS Sound Decoders FTW!!  😎

[Fishmanoz]

If the sound decoder market ever approaches the size of the low end computer market, Loksound decoders will be less than £40 and TTS ones will be found in corn flakes packets.

[96RAF]

These things are sold for what a companies marketing department think the punters will pay. It has little to do with the economics of bringing the product to market.

 

a guide to any market department driven price is if it ends in .99. Nothing ever really costs round pounds less a penny.

 

when did you ever see something priced at pounds 39.43 or euros 117.71, etc. If so you may be more likely to think it had been priced based on real costs.

[john_doman]

Hornby R8249 work fine for most loco's. if you are after really smooth, quiet operation, with shunting speed option etc, go for Lenz Silver/Gold. Very efficient, and small, which helps in many steam loco's.