DCC newbie, here. I took the plunge today and bought a Digitrax Zephyr set for the N scale HCD layout I'm building. :tb-err: I also dropped off a Kato F7 A&B set, along with a pair of Kato RDCs, to get an estimate on decoder installation. The shop owner said that he did not think that the F7s were set up for drop-in decoders, and that the RDCs would very likely require custom work. I was under the impression that decoder installs on the F7s would be pretty simple...am I right or wrong? How much of a job is putting decoders in the RDCs...Easy? Doable but not easy? Nightmare? The shop owner also stated that there have been a lot of problems with the Digitrax decoders for Kato units...frequent burnouts. He recommended TCS decoders. Does this sound right? I appreciate any info you folks can give me. Thanks.
Lets start off with the Kato F7's. What year were they made? If they are the recent release, ie, with illuminated numberboards, then they are DCC ready. To make sure, tell us what the Road and Road Numbers are. Next up, the RDC units. They are a major headache to install, but not any sort of custom. It really sounds like the shop doesn't want to do the work, or he wants to soak you for the installs. Anyway, if the F-7's are DCC ready, it takes all of 5-10 minutes to install with either the Digitrax or the TCS decoders. The RDC requires that most of the unit be torn down, so if you are the least bit hesitant, send it to a real DCC operation like Top Hobby Trains, one the advertisers of this site, or PM me and I can suggest a few others. As for the Digitrax versus TCS statements, I think that is a bit of opinion over fact. I have both and I see no difference in the failure rates from either manufacturer with over 100 samples of each decoder. They are both good decoders that excel at different things. Digitrax has better speed matching ability than TCS, but TCS has better lighting effects and slow motion control than Digitrax. Since you bought a Zephyr, you can use either, but download JMRI's Decoder Pro to help with the programming aspects.
David, thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I do not have the F7s on hand....the shop has them so that the installer can work up an estimate. What I do know is that they are Santa Fe War Bonnet units...the A unit was bought January of 2007, and the Kato part number is 176-2121...the B unit was purchased in 2009 and the part number is 176-2211. I believe the A unit did have lighted number boards...I do not know about the B unit, I've not had it out of the box. I checked, and Top Hobby trains was where I got the B uint. Actually, the place I took them to is supposed to specialize in DCC (part of the name of the place), and at least for hardware their prices are reasonable as far as I can tell. I do know that they are seriously swamped right now on decoder installs. The place seems to have a good rep, and at least a half dozen other customers, all "regular" enough to be on first name basis with the owner, came in during the short time we were there. Also, the owner went out of his way to accommodate me (I'm in a wheelchair, and their shop is not what would be considered wheelchair accessible). From their posted pricing list, there are 2 installation prices...one for drop-ins and one for everything else (custom). Once I hear back from them with a final estimate, if it seems out of line, I may take you up on the offer for other suggestions. I'd just hoped to keep the installations local, just in case there were problems.
Your F-7's are DCC ready. And they do take the DN163K0B decoder, which is a drop-in decoder. So you know where you stand on that.
