Depreciation

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Like many people I am planning on making a small foray into the world of DCC (this is after a demonstration of some at one of our club meetings). I already am saving up for a Dynamis, which is well in hand (well, 20% anyway - damn bills...) but I was wondering if I get some cheap(ish) decoders, like a fiver or tenner ones, will it be a very long time before sound decoders come down in price significantly, or is it going to be long enough to be worth creating my own sound schemes?

[Piemanlarger]

i cant see sounmd decoders dropping to less than £50 for several years yet?

[Guest 009matt]

Like many people I am planning on making a small foray into the world of DCC (this is after a demonstration of some at one of our club meetings). I already am saving up for a Dynamis, which is well in hand (well, 20% anyway - damn bills...) but I was wondering if I get some cheap(ish) decoders, like a fiver or tenner ones, will it be a very long time before sound decoders come down in price significantly, or is it going to be long enough to be worth creating my own sound schemes?

 

 

I would be wary of the dynamis, if you are saving, save up for something a little more reliable - there have been a load of people on here commenting on its problems, me included.

 

I use Hornby dcc chips, at £8 from hattons, they are about the cheapest around and a reliable despite what people say. I have also used this sound only decoder (alongside a Hornby chip for the motor and lights) in my garratt loco, cost £25 and is very good. Add this to the £8 for Hornby chip, = sound for £33 Gauge,master sell them for about £32

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120517067542&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=MRC1662&style=&strType=&Mcode=MRC%201662

 

hope this helps

 

Matt

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

In sound as in most things, you get what you pay for. For value for money you should investigate the Digitrax sound decoders. The piggy back ones are going to dirt cheap when the sound/motor ones come on stream and, if you are prepared to get involved in programming using PIC language then you could construct good sound projects.

 

More value is with CT but you might need a pointy hat to re-programme the sounds but their steam ones are out of thee box but all will sound the same.

 

Sophistication and relatively easy programming means ESU loksound at between £85 and £100 per loco.

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Ah thanks guys.

 

I use Hornby dcc chips, at £8 from hattons, they are about the cheapest around and a reliable despite what people say. I have also used this sound only decoder (alongside a Hornby chip for the motor and lights) in my garratt loco, cost £25 and is very good. Add this to the £8 for Hornby chip, = sound for £33 Gauge,master sell them for about £32

 

Looks like this might be the way to go. Cheers Matt

 

So the Dynamis is a bad idea. I know they have infra red issues. Would a Gaugemaster one be any better?

 

For what I need will probably just mean chipping a Bachmann CEP for now but then I plan to get hold of a Heljan 33/1. Perhaps one loco per year...

[Guest 009matt]

 

 

So the Dynamis is a bad idea. I know they have infra red issues. Would a Gaugemaster one be any better?

 

 

 

That was the problem I had. I use a gaugemasyter system, wired and wireless. You should have zero issues with the GM one, it is very reliable, the wireless is RC as opposed to IR

 

Matt

 

The sound chip is pretty good and is certainly worth it!

[Piemanlarger]

I cant praise the Dynamis enough, its the best Dcc controller i have found /used for Sound chipped locos. Never lost signal, had one replaced yes, but with no problem. Best value for money controller to me.

[TheDukeOfWellingtons]

I like the dynamis too for driving sound fitted locos because of the layout and clarity of the function controls. I very occasionally have problems with the infra red signal but nothing that would put me off using the system and I rate it as a very good value controller. Hopefully the pro box will become cheaper in time and allow more people to upgrade to the more advanced set up with hopefully better signal transmission/receipt plus the added versatility of being able to read Cv values.

[Arpleymodeller]

Hi

 

I dont see sound locos prices falling significantly for some years like Piemanlarger said as it is still relitavely new technolegy in the UK,but you can normanlly buy a Sound fitted loco with quite a big reduction from the RRP from the major online sellers like hattons,rails of sheffield,castle trains etc.

One example I know of is Hornbys sound 60048 being sold for £135 online when the RRP is £193!

 

Regards

Lewis

[newbryford]

Hi

 

I dont see sound locos prices falling significantly for some years like Piemanlarger said as it is still relitavely new technolegy in the UK,but you can normanlly buy a Sound fitted loco with quite a big reduction from the RRP from the major online sellers like hattons,rails of sheffield,castle trains etc.

One example I know of is Hornbys sound 60048 being sold for £135 online when the RRP is £193!

 

Regards

Lewis

 

There are bargains to be had with sound - I know of one retailer shifting sound Class 20's at £105 (members of our club chipped in to buy 6, so got a good discount). Whip the decoder out, sell the loco on for £30 and you've got a decoder for £75, add £15 or so to get it reblown - cheaper than a decoder on its own.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Ed-farms]

There are bargains to be had with sound - I know of one retailer shifting sound Class 20's at £105 (members of our club chipped in to buy 6, so got a good discount). Whip the decoder out, sell the loco on for £30 and you've got a decoder for £75, add £15 or so to get it reblown - cheaper than a decoder on its own.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

The only draw back ot this is Bachmann will not accept fault if the decoder turns faulty. There is a seal on the socket which says "warrenty void if broken" so I would take extreme care doing this as you could wind up totally out of pocket if it goes wrong.

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Of course you could wait until the warranty expires and then do it...

[Marty Mc]

Hi

I must be a terrible chancer then. I now pull out all my 21 pin loks get rid of the PCB board and solder directly on and inside the loksound chip to get the best out of them.

 

Warranty it is great that we have it but it is just not worth it for me as I live in Australia and buy from the UK.

 

Have you looked at buying from Germany? I cut a deal with a supplier there if I buy X amount at a time it works out to be a very good price.

 

Cheers

 

Martin

[neal]

I too have just dabbled with the MRC 1665.

 

I fitted this into the tender of an 8F, and piggybacking the tender pick up connections this gets current from the loco and tender. The ballast weight had to come out, however there is plenty of room in the coal space for liquid lead to keep the tender on the rails.

 

This decoder has a huge variety of options, although mostly US based. Whistle 7 is an acceptable UK heavy goods loco (from a choice of 34), and the chuff choice (12) provides a good deal of variety, several of which I would consider not out of place in a Stanier or other 2/4 cylinder U.K. loco. And you don't have to turn the bell sound on!

 

Whilst my loco has a BEMF decoder installed, synchronisation is where this chip falls down - although chuff rate and start rate can be modified. The speed curve of the loco decoder and sound chip are not identical, and whilst the loco 'syncs' at quarter and half speed, this isn't perfect. If you had the patience, customisable speed steps could be programmed to a loco decoder so that synchronisation occurs across the range, although I have yet to undertake this painful task!

 

Other sounds include 'clank' for loco's with worn mechanisms (Fn 9), and a coast effect (Fn 6) which just gives coach/rail noise.

 

I am sure the purists would pour scorn on the sound authenticity, however this is immense fun for £32ish (including speaker).

 

When I get chance I will get some video on line, as there appears to be little available of this decoder in action!

 

N

[neal]

Done it,

 

Check out link on parallel thread:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/333-dcc-sound-videos/page__st__100__gopid__127113&?do=findComment&comment=127113

 

N

[Chrisr40]

Hello Neal

 

I wont pour any scorn on it - for 32 quid I think its not half bad - if someone wants to complain about authenticity tell them to mind their own !!

 

Well done for having a go - I may even be tempted to try myself -

 

Chris

[peach james]

I've one of the digitrax sound & motor decoders downstairs to play with- it just depends on when I manage to find time to do so.

 

(4 year old, 4 week old, 400 sq ft upstairs & 400 sq ft downstairs to finish...)

 

James

[gwrman]

Hi, why don't you forget the dynamis (waste of money), get something like a NCE Powercab or Digitrax DCS50 Starter set both at around £130+ each. Much more flexible systems.