DCC Point Decoders

[IainSanderson]

hi Everyone,  my daughter and I are just in the process of starting a new layout.  We have purchased for her the Western Master with e-link which we have got going and works great with the two locks that she has t the moment.

We have one of the hornby accessory decoders with one point attached that works fine after wIrving it up correctly.

My question is what are your views on the Railmaster system, are we going in the right direction using it to control both trains and points?  Also how do I add another decoder?  I have seen a ZTC 302 point motor with decoder built in, are these any good is anyone using them?

Thanks in advance,

[Yelrow]

Hi, Iain, welcome to the forum, i as do many others, have majestic set. Railmaster, is a great system, which will ably cater for your needs. It is designed do do both, trains and points, i have 15 points, all so controlled. Some decoders are simpler than others, ASD8, by dcc concepts, controls 8, and is very simple to set up. Look at hattons, liverpool. They also, make a 2. Hornbys decoder is fine, just out of stock. You add otheres, just as you did the horndy one, asd8, is on drop down list. I know nothing about ZTC, but the next bus along, will(poster). john

[poliss]

As you already have an accessory decoder I'd suggest just buying the same kind of point motors you already have. The ZTC 302 attaches directly to the underside of the points and looks like it would be a far more expensive way to go.

[IainSanderson]

Many thanks for your help so far.  I am sure we will be asking more questions as we go through the build.

[Fishmanoz]

Hi Iain, there is lots of info about RM here and in the RM forum, including some recent posts with a lot of setup info.  But you seem to be going ok in that regard.

 

RM is a good system with excellent technical support if you run into problems.  I'm sure you'll enjoy using it.

 

If you only have one point at the moment, you can attach another 3 to your decoder before you need more decoders.  You'll find lots of info on at least 5 brands in here.  The easiest to use are the program mode types where you don't need the programming output, you just switch a switch in them to put them in program mode, throw the point you want to control, switch back to run mode and they are done.  The ADS8 john mentions is one of these.

 

Being technically minded and curious, I googled your ZTC to find out more.  All I could find was a picture and a price and I would tend to pass them by on that basis.  If you like the idea of the decoder on the point motor, Traintronics and DCC Concepts do these and have more info available.  The latter you can download the full technical manual from their site.  These 2 also use slow action point motors rather then solenoids so are easier on your points too.

 

Please do keep asking questions, lots of friendly people around here to answer.  

[poliss]

What do they use for search engines down under Fishy? The ZTC manuals are easy enough to find. First result takes you to their homepage and the manuals are listed there at the top.

Seemed to be a lot of cutting to get them to fit.

[KPJunk]

Can some kind person point me in the direction of more info on how to wire the ADS8FX decoder,

despite putting it in the search area, I cannot find anything . I want to find confirmation of which terminals to connect the hornby black , red and green cables to .

any help would be greatly appreciated

keith

[choralc]

If there is nothing clear with what came with the item and you find nothing on their website contact DCC Concepts direct from their website.

[Yelrow]

KP JUNK  hi, Join MODEL RAIL FORUM,  look on google. Richard Johnson(DCC Concepts ) sponsers this forum, and you can talk to him direct. very helpful guy. john

[96RAF]

Also new RMweb forums.

[Flashbang]

Posted on 08:47:41 Thu, 01 Jan 2015 by KPJunk

Can some kind person point me in the direction of more info on how to wire the ADS8FX decoder,

despite putting it in the search area, I cannot find anything . I want to find confirmation of which terminals to connect the hornby black , red and green cables to .

any help would be greatly appreciated

keith

 

Hi Keith

AD-S8fx as too does its smaller sister decoder the AD-S2fx take both its power and data from the DCC system.  So you'll need two wires from the DCC bus pair or the DCC powered rails to the DCC terminals. You only need the one pair of feed wires as all the other "DCC" terminals are linked on the circuit board.

Each point motors output is a group of three terminals marked as "Solenoid" Terminal marked "Com" is the connection that goes to the solenoid motors common return connection - On a Hornby point motor this is the Black wire but on Peco motors it's the Green wire! The two remaining terminals marked as "L" and "R" are the two operation feeds onto which a Hornby motors Red and Green wires connect and for Peco motors it's the Red and Black wires.  You can if a cross-over pair of points are to be moved connect two motors to the one output so as they both move together.

All the other terminals per decoder (There are eight decoders on the one circuit board) are for frog switching used on Electrofrog points and a set of contacts to operate indications or signals etc.

 

Setting up is really simple and involves moving a slide switch for each decoder in turn to its 'Learn' position, setting the address required operate the point then return the switch to the 'Run' position. Simple! 

[Fishmanoz]

What do they use for search engines down under Fishy? The ZTC manuals are easy enough to find. First result takes you to their homepage and the manuals are listed there at the top.

Seemed to be a lot of cutting to get them to fit.

 

Google as I said and all I get is other forums and Taunton Controls who don't seem to have any technical info, just those pictures and prices. 

[Fishmanoz]

And to contact Richard or download the whole manual, just go direct to the DCC Concepts site.  Note though the manual with all the detail is the same for the whole family of AD accessory decoders, the AD designation being for slow action motors as made by DCC Concepts and the ADS just has a CDU added for solenoids, with all other detail the same.

[aturovidal90]

Also new RMweb forums.

[KPJunk]

It's confession time , I ordered the wrong decoder which may have been why I had to ask the questions As things were not making sense 

i ordered the ADFX8 instead of the ADS8FX

i only realised this after an exchange of emails from DCC Concepts who said that only the ADS8FX will work with Hornby points 

because of this I had not used the original decoders and was able to return them on Saturday morning . I was refunded Monday am which was excellent service from a company in Liverpool. 

They did not have any stock of the correct decoder but I've obtained elsewhere.

will let you know how I get on when received but thanks to everyone who have commented 

keith

[KPJunk]

Thanks for the advice about ADS8FX , 

I have now fitted 3 sets of points all working straight away ( just need to tidy up the start up positions in railmaster )

I cannot believe how easy they are to set up compared to the Hornby accessory decoder. 

I have also wired them using 6 core alarm cable which is keeping it all much tidier and easier to manage.

Now to buy another ADS8FX decoder next month and then wire the rest of my points and start using the points in the programmes i have started setting up running my locos.

Keith