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Plux decoders suppliers in the UK?


Stevelewis
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Does anyone  have  any info  on  UK suppliers  of Plux  decoders

 

I am  aware that  Gaugemaster  list  some

 

I am  specifically  seeking  Plux12 decoders.

 

Thanks

 

Googling 'Plux12 decoders' reveals lots of suppliers.

 

Regards

 

Nick

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  • 2 weeks later...

Does anyone  have  any info  on  UK suppliers  of Plux  decoders

 

I accidentialy ordered some Lenz Plux decoders from Hattons a few years back and discovered they are not compatible with my locos. I was told that they were going to be the way of the future - Still waiting !!

Out of interest what make of  locos use them? I'm guessing European brands

Edited by Gdaysydney
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......Out of interest what make of  locos use them? I'm guessing European brands

 

 

Most of the mainland European RTR brands have been switching over to fitting PluX sockets in new RTR models.

The change has been gradual, but now PluX predominates in most new H0 releases.

A couple of manufacturers have stuck with 21-pin MTC so far.

The smaller PluX sizes haven't really taken off with N Gauge though, with the RTR manufacturers adopting the European (MOROP) Next18 instead.

 

Going back a few years when the NMRA (and MOROP) were discussing the adoption of an agreed standard for a new multi-pin connector, the Americans rejected the adoption of the then, unofficial 21-pin MTC that was already being used by some European manufacturers.

After a long period of working through the issues, PluX was chosen by the NMRA (and MOROP) as the new standard decoder fitting, as it had a number of advantages over the 21-pin MTC.

(Note: the 21-pin MTC was simultaneously adopted for legacy purposes, to legitimise the pre-existance of the 21-pin, with a view to it eventually fading away).

 

Ironically the US manufacturers, who up to that point in time had not fitted the 21-pin in any RTR, failed to pick up the new standard and after a gap of several years, realising they needed a connector with more pins, started fitting the 21-pin sockets instead.

Further more, the 21-pin connector is gaining widespread use in some American H0 RTR.

I am not aware of any US manufacturer fitting PluX sockets in any of their products so far.

 

A truly bizarre situation.

The Europeans proposed 21-pin as the standard, but accepted PluX instead and have gone down that route.

The Americans rejected 21-pin in favour of PluX, but have gone down the route of using 21-pin.

 

The UK market, as usual, fails to catch up and misses out on another positive advance in railway modelling.

 

 

 

.

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Most of the mainland European RTR brands have been switching over to fitting PluX sockets in new RTR models.

The change has been gradual, but now PluX predominates in most new H0 releases.

A couple of manufacturers have stuck with 21-pin MTC so far.

The smaller PluX sizes haven't really taken off with N Gauge though, with the RTR manufacturers adopting the European (MOROP) Next18 instead.

 

Going back a few years when the NMRA (and MOROP) were discussing the adoption of an agreed standard for a new multi-pin connector, the Americans rejected the adoption of the then, unofficial 21-pin MTC that was already being used by some European manufacturers.

After a long period of working through the issues, PluX was chosen by the NMRA (and MOROP) as the new standard decoder fitting, as it had a number of advantages over the 21-pin MTC.

(Note: the 21-pin MTC was simultaneously adopted for legacy purposes, to legitimise the pre-existance of the 21-pin, with a view to it eventually fading away).

 

Ironically the US manufacturers, who up to that point in time had not fitted the 21-pin in any RTR, failed to pick up the new standard and after a gap of several years, realising they needed a connector with more pins, started fitting the 21-pin sockets instead.

Further more, the 21-pin connector is gaining widespread use in some American H0 RTR.

I am not aware of any US manufacturer fitting PluX sockets in any of their products so far.

 

A truly bizarre situation.

The Europeans proposed 21-pin as the standard, but accepted PluX instead and have gone down that route.

The Americans rejected 21-pin in favour of PluX, but have gone down the route of using 21-pin.

 

The UK market, as usual, fails to catch up and misses out on another positive advance in railway modelling.

 

 

 

.

 

That's a pretty good summary of the farcical position that we are in now. Incidentally, the NMRA used to classify the 21 MTC as 'obsolescent, not to be used for new model designs' or something very similar (dating back to 2010 or earlier) but this seems to have been dropped from the latest versions.

 

Dapol announced, early doors, that it would use PluX decoders for its 00 Western, (and 0 Gauge models too, I think) but they showed up with 21 MTCs. Pity, it would have saved them all the problems and embarrassment that arose from their lack of appreciation of the implications of the 21 MTC specifications.

 

Still, some of the independents have risen to the challenge. Mainly (all?) of those designed to use ZIMO sound decoders for some reason. LOL.

 

Little Loco Company's Class 15 and their forthcoming Ruston 48DS, Class 22 and Class 50.

 

Suttons Locomotive Workshop Class 24

 

Meanwhile, Bachmann equipe Graham Farish DCC and Sound Fitted models, some smaller outline 00 Gauge Bachmann Banchlines models and of course the Baldwin 009 with the Next18 decoders or interface as appropriate. Again, oddly, seeming to be closely linked with their selection of ZIMO decoders.

 

Best regards,

 

Paul

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.....Incidentally, the NMRA used to classify the 21 MTC as 'obsolescent, not to be used for new model designs' or something very similar (dating back to 2010 or earlier) but this seems to have been dropped from the latest versions.

 

 

Indeed Paul.

The NMRA wording (May 2015) reads.......

 

"Starting Jan. 1st 2010, this connector will not be recommended for new locomotive designs.

This will not invalidate the conformance of existing designs.

Controllers for these connectors will continue to conform, as controllers for this connector will be required as long as locomotives with this connector exist".

 

(Note that the term "Controllers", with regard to DCC refers to locomotive (mobile) decoders.)

 

The intention in retrospectively adopting the 21-pin MTC into the NMRA standards, was purely to tidy up, standardise or "legitimise" the use of 21-pin decoders in pre-existing models fitted with 21-pin connectors.

i.e. for legacy purposes.

 

 

 

.

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Living in the USA, and observing this farce with some interest, I think the current shift to using MTC21 in the USA can be defined by three letters: ESU

 

ESU has been very successful in infiltrating the US market with their Select decoders, Replacing US vendors like QSI, Soundtraxx etc from factory installed systems.

 

Since ESU was the developer of the MTC21 interface, they could hardly be expected to push anything else. They have been pushing NEXT18 as well.

 

Although as believe the PLUX series of decoders was better thought out and do not have the incompatibility issues of the various MTC21 flavours, it seems that more and more of the US manufacturers are accepting the "correct" interpretation of the specification lately

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Living in the USA, and observing this farce with some interest, I think the current shift to using MTC21 in the USA can be defined by three letters: ESU

 

ESU has been very successful in infiltrating the US market with their Select decoders, Replacing US vendors like QSI, Soundtraxx etc from factory installed systems.

 

Since ESU was the developer of the MTC21 interface, they could hardly be expected to push anything else. They have been pushing NEXT18 as well.

 

Although as believe the PLUX series of decoders was better thought out and do not have the incompatibility issues of the various MTC21 flavours, it seems that more and more of the US manufacturers are accepting the "correct" interpretation of the specification lately

 

 

I'm not sure how true the part regarding Select driving 21MTC actually is

 

A more interesting thing in US modeling at the moment is what we might call "DCC Built-in", where the PCB of the model has the decoder directly onboard without any socket, and a lot of models here are going in that direction - and this is where I've seen "ESU Select" more.

 

It's not like ESU don't make PluX variants of their decoders too.

 

I think the problem with PluX is simply that it's "too well thought out", while the compatibility between PluX 8, 12, 16, and 22, seems like a good thing in principle, in practice it just makes a confusing mess. If you're buying a bells and whistles model, with a PluX 22 socket, you want a PluX 22 decoder. But the same manufacturer might save a few cents and only put a PluX 16 socket in their "just one bell and a whistle" model - now you can't mix and match decoders. The benefit of someone spending a bag of money on a bells, whistle, and fairy lights model but being able to put a "just the basics" PluX 8 in there, just isn't useful in practice.

 

 

If you're a manufacturer who's having a little cash flow problem, and still not really putting much effort beyond "we put some lights in" in your models, the good old 8-pin NEM652 is probably doing you just fine. You probably didn't even bother to leave space for a decoder *and* speaker in your most recent model.

 

If you're a manufacturer who's trying to do a little more, but having a bit of a backlog problem, now is probably not the time to rework all of your electronics. Especially since PluX22 has the same number of pins as 21MTC anyway; all you're going to do is give yourself more problems. Your customers are used to 21MTC decoders, and while it might not be a "blessed" standard, the problems with it are long, long in the past.

 

If you're making something a bit smaller, the Next18 interface is only moderately incompatible with itself, and also not a blessed standard, so it's 21MTC all over again - but much smaller.

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....If you're buying a bells and whistles model, with a PluX 22 socket, you want a PluX 22 decoder.

But the same manufacturer might save a few cents and only put a PluX 16 socket in their "just one bell and a whistle" model - now you can't mix and match decoders.

 

Deciding on how many DCC operable features are included in a RTR model is a commercial judgement.

If the manufacturer only includes a few operating accessory unctions, then there's not much point fitting a decoder that has higher capability. 

 

In a market where lots of working features are the norm, a manufacturer who uses fewer in their new model, will be judged by the individual consumer accordingly.

It doesn't matter what sort of socket they fit.

Many of the European manufacturers have now switched over to fitting PluX connectors in their new H0 models and have stopped fitting the 21MTC connector in new product.

Except where there is a question of very limited space (very small locos), they have universally fitted a PluX 22 socket, even if there are a limited number of operating features on the model.

Most locos only need a  12 or 16 pin decoder anyway, so the 22 pin socket covers all angles.

 

 

...If you're a manufacturer who's trying to do a little more, but having a bit of a backlog problem, now is probably not the time to rework all of your electronics. Especially since PluX22 has the same number of pins as 21MTC anyway; all you're going to do is give yourself more problems. Your customers are used to 21MTC decoders, and while it might not be a "blessed" standard, the problems with it are long, long in the past.

The US market wasn't used to 21MTC at all, even after PluX decoders became available.

The NMRA made it clear that the intention of retrospectively adopting the 21MTC was for legacy purposes and recommended that they were not used in new RTR model designs, post 1st January 2010.

I don't believe there was a single US RTR model, factory fitted with a 21MTC socket before that date, or for a number of years afterwards.

 

By the time US RTR and decoder manufacturers started adopting 21MTC, PluX was already becoming established in Europe and a number of PluX fitted decoders had become available, even from ESU.

 

As sparaxis says, ESU have had a large influence in events.

 

 

In the UK, we are still struggling to get manufacturers to fit a half decent set of independently operating lights to our new models.

 

.

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From a model manufacturers point of view where PluX is concerned you just fit the biggest socket that you have room for (typically 22 pin in 0/H0/00, 16 pin in N, 8-pin in Z) - the customer can then decide how many bells and whistles they want to install and plug in the decoder that fits their budget knowing it will fit in the designated space. The range of PluX decoders required to meet all requirements would be around five across all scales :-

 

8-pin for Z and simple N with motor and 2-functions

16-pin for motor and a few more functions

22-pin for motor and 10-functions

16-pin sound for N and small H0/00

22-pin sound for 0/H0/00

 

The 12-pin PluX decoders have been a popular budget size but probably are not really needed - they could probably be superseded by budget 16-pin and high powered 8-pin when anyone gets around to using the 8-pin variant.

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