making tracks Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 New to the UK are the lococruiser LC101 8 pin basic DCC decoders so today, I fitted one for the first time. The model I chose to fit it to was a Hornby M7 tank. Although Hornby reccomend removing one of the side tank weights to locate the decoder, I placed it underneath the coal in the bunker, as the removal of such a large weight may effect the haulage capacity of the loco. This meant drilling a small hole from the bunker bottom through the running plate for the routing of the wires. I then fitted scale head and tail lamps front and rear, along with a red LED in the firebox to make use of this decoders very handy 5th function. After testing that everything was fine and working as it should the M7 was reassembled. Using the CVs to configure the lights, it was quite simple to use the F0 function to operate the white running lights so that they illuminated directionally. The red tail lamps were programmed so they could be turned on ond off at will individually using the F1 and F2 buttons. Using the F3 button, we set CV64 to 64 as advised in the instructions and achieved a pleasing firebox "flash" effect. However after some experimentation, by setting CV64 to 70, the "flash" effect became more realistic, giving an alternating bright and the dimmer effect. The only other adjustment that was needed was to change slightly the drive frequency as there was a slight "hum" from the motor. This was adjusted using CV9 . A very pleasing result for a decoder that retails for under £15 !! roy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest baldrick25 Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 http://blip.tv/the-rail-channel/ane-lococruiser-lc101-installation-and-review-5486752 ANE Lococruiser LC101 installation and review by the Rail Channel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon A Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Roy, Where did you get the decoder from? Gordon A Bristol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
making tracks Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 Gordon , Keytes Model Railways in Essex avialble via the website roy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Looking at ANE's website, it implies that it only supports 2 digit addressing. Can anyone confirm this ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
making tracks Posted September 27, 2011 Author Share Posted September 27, 2011 you can address between numbers 1 and 111 - so 3 digit Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ron Ron Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 you can address between numbers 1 and 111 - so 3 digit Believe it or not, that's actually classed as 2 digit addressing ! The full range of 2 digit addresses is 1 - 128 although not all decoders or DCC systems can deal with the full range. . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted September 27, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 27, 2011 Believe it or not, that's actually classed as 2 digit addressing ! The full range of 2 digit addresses is 1 - 128 although not all decoders or DCC systems can deal with the full range. Digitrax only goes to 127. In fairness to other systems, they appear to be much more logical in their crossover point between 2- and 4-digit addressing, usually setting 99 as the limit, which is "correct", but that works aginst them when the decoder - relatively unusually these days - won't accept a 4-digit #. We are lucky that cheaper decoders are coming to market these days - but you need to compare what they actually offer. I think I'd happily trade a few functions for 4-digit addressing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Actually, the address range is 0 - 127, so the Digitrax is addressing the full "two digit" range. Why the odd numbers? Because they are based on binary numbers, so factors of 2 but numbered from 0 upwards rather than 1. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Just recieved one of these, but have yet to try it. initially it will go in my 'mule' for testing, but later into a Lima xGWR railcar as this is the only loco I have left who's DCC number will fall into the range of addresses available. If it works OK, I may get more to fit into low numbered loco's. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ron Ron Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 The full range of 2 digit addresses is 1 - 128 .......... Actually, the address range is 0 - 127 ........ Silly me, of course I should have said 0 - 127. Written in haste and all that. 128 is outside the 2 digit addressing range. Addresses 0 and 3 are reserved for DC loco running and default address, respectively. Not all DCC systems can use the full range of 2 digit addresses, for example.... Hornby Select 1-59 Hornby Elite 1-127 (n.b. also has 4 digit addressing) Lenz Compact 1-99 (n.b. withdrawn from sale several years ago) Roco MultiMaus 1-99 (n.b. also has 4 digit addressing) NCE PowerCab 1-127 (n.b. also has 4 digit addressing) MRC / Gaugemaster Prodigy Advance2 1-127 (n.b. also has 4 digit addressing) . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Combe Martin Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Digitrax only goes to 127. Before anyone thinks that this means Digitrax decoders don't support 4 digit addressing, I'd like to point out that they do. I'm sure the comment wasn't meant that way, but surely, no decoder allows an address of 128 in CV3, baring in mind that the address range is 0-127 ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted September 29, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 29, 2011 Before anyone thinks that this means Digitrax decoders don't support 4 digit addressing, I'd like to point out that they do. I'm sure the comment wasn't meant that way, but surely, no decoder allows an address of 128 in CV3, baring in mind that the address range is 0-127 ! I was gently pointing out what Ron recognised anyway - 127 vice 128 - but since I've used only Digitrax for the last 14 years, I didn't presume to know what other systems might do. ISTR when i got my DT100 throttle in 1998, the handbook said 4-digit addresses were only available up to 9980, but that hasn't been a problem so far..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 I need to ask a few questions about this, so I will start a topic on DCC questions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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