Sheldon, good to hear! please let us know what you think of it, the thumbwheel speed control, the current draw (built-in meter) for how many locos you can run, etc.
The thumbwheel on my Powercab acts a little weird once in a while. What happens is when I "very slowly" roll the knob to get the train rolling, the speed setting shown on the lcd panel will go from zero to say four then back to zero again. I don't know if it's because I'm kind of rocking it a bit as I slowly roll it? But generally, If I just roll the knob faster, it works fine. I personally enjoy using the push buttons more. There are 2 buttons, increase speed and decrease speed that adjust one speed step at a time. And 2 buttons that adjust 4 or10 speed steps at a time depending on if you are set up for 28 or 128 step mode. The thumb wheels " ballistic tracking" can also be adjusted. Craig
The Lenz LH100 handheld is so easy to use. No wheels to spin, dances to do, just push buttons and it works flawlessly. Stay cool and run steam.....
You don't have to spin the thumbwheel on the NCE either. As a matter of fact, after hearing from some of the NCE users here, I'm starting to like the idea of the thumbwheel rather than the knob - less in the way than a big knob. I'm not sure what dances you have to do with the NCE though - is it a jig, or more like a riverdance? All kidding aside, I think there are less menus on the NCE than the Lenz. I would consider shuffling through menus more of a dance than having the button you need right when you need it.
Sheldon: You get what you pay for. I have no problem with any of the menus on the Lenz handheld. Lets not try to compare a NCE Powercab to a Lenz 100 system.. The NCE Powercab is an entry level DCC system. Stay cool and run steam......
Bob, There is a reason the Lenz is one of the top DCC systems on the market today. I don't 'dislike' anything about the Lenz system. I simply have some opinions on what I think I like/want. Aside from my opinions, if I could have justified the 'requirements' of an entry level modeler matching the features of the Lenz, I probably would have gone with it. But I mostly couldn't justify an entry level modeler spending that much money. That was the bottom line for me. The difference in cost may not be an issue to you. If need to buy a car to get me back and forth to work - I'm not going to buy a Mercedes Benz SL500AMG. I'd probably buy a Ford Fusion.
Sheldon, That PowerCab looks to be a great product. It has many features not found on products more than 2x it price. and you can't go wrong having the option to use buttons or the thumbwheel without going up/down through menus. I would not compare the PowerCab to a Ford Fusion, that is perhaps more applicable to the Bachmann $61 system. That PowerCab is very full featured for an "entry" level system. The only thing entry level about it would seem to be the price and perhaps the power output. All the DCC systems have their plus & minus, but that PowerCab with a boaster should surpass just about every other system while costing less.
How many amps does the NCE PowerCab put out? How many loco's can you store in the stack? How many turnouts/signals can you store in the system? Stay cool and run steam......
I didn't intend for this thread to be an NCE vs. Lenz argument. The Lenz system was never brought up in this thread until now. But to answer your questions I'll answer them keeping in mind my opinion that pushed me towards the less expensive NCE system: Nothing 'puts out amps' An ampere is a basic unit of electrical current. But to answer your question knowing what you meant: The powercab has a 2.0amp max rating With a layout as small as mine, and the fact that most layouts are broken up into "districts" that are powered by separate boosters anyway - is this an issue for me? Not likely. The powercab can store only 2 locomotives in the 'stack'. To call up a locomotive with address 353, and it isn't in the stack, I simply press: "select loco" "3" "5" "3" "enter" - 5 keystrokes To find a loco in the Lenz stack - I would have to press: "cl" "-" "-" "-" etc., etc. (until I find the loco) "enter" At least 3 keystrokes, most likely more. I'm not saying that's bad but my opinion was that I can simply manually select my loco I want to control probably faster that scrolling through the stack. Turnouts, signals - again I don't mind manually selecting the address if I have to. Bob - I've said before, I don't have anything against the Lenz system. But you insisted on putting me down, out of the blue, for choosing the NCE over the Lenz. I'm not going to apologize for the NCE not meeting your requirements. But they meet mine perfectly fine and I'm sure I'll be happy with it.
Sheldon: I wasn't putting you down. The system you bought is your choice. The only thing I mentioned was that you could purchase the NCE PowerCab at Tony's for $139. You could have bought it elsewhere at other etailers for the same price. Service by the seller is also an important consideration when you purchase DCC equipment. In other threads as well as inferences in this thread you seemed very opinionated about being negative about the Lenz products. I have nothing against NCE. I almost bought their high level system. The NCE Powerhouse certainly doesn't meet my requirements. As far as keystrokes go, to call up a loco all I have to do is enter the loco number. The number of keystrokes depends on the loco number. I don't have to scroll through the stack to find the loco I want. Even the Digitrax Zephyr can store more loco's in a stack. Ten opposed to two. The Lenz 90 system as well as the Lenz 100 can store 256 loco's. Well enough..... Stay cool and run steam.....
In my email discussion with many DCC "experts" out there about the PowerCab. They had thought that the stack of 2 was a limitation of the memory in the PowerCab, and that adding the smartbooster would/will/might increase the memory and also increase the stack#.
Kozmo, I'll bet that I find myself still manually selecting the loco. I've read the manuals to all the systems pretty thoroughly and I'm not to clear about what good the 'stack' is. It seems manually hitting the loco address will be faster...
For the Lenz system the Command Station maintains a database of all the locos you have entered into the system with their function and speed information you have programmed into them. This database is called a stack and can hold 256 locos. From the handheld you can either scroll through the stack or simply enter a loco's address that is in the stack/database directly. You can also toggle between the last two addresses you have entered. So for Lenz you think of stack simply as the database. I don't know how that compares to other systems.
I hear ya. I just had been told that so I thought I'd share since it has been brought up. When Looking at the PowerCab & Prodigy Adv., I was thinking, a stack of 2, too small, then I saw a stack of 25 on the Prodigy Adv I'm thinking ok, like I'm gonna scroll through more than 6-8? never, like you say, I'd punch in the loco/consist # 1st.
pilotdude, Okay - that makes more sense than. If you can store function and speed information. So if you have a speed stored in the stack and you come to a grade, will the decoder compensate for the grade and increase the voltage to the motor to maintain a constant speed?
Bob or someone with more Lenz experience hopefully can comment on this as I am just getting started with my set up. All the details on how it interfaces I am still learning. And again I don't know how it relates to the way other systems operate.
Here's my veiw on the Procabs recall stack limit: It only matters for what you have moving on the layout. If it's not being used , then does it need to be in the stack? Most small layouts for which I think the Powercab was designed, are most likely going to have only 2 trains moving on them by one operator at the exact same time. Another operater would be using another cab, not sharing a cab. How many operators can actually pay attention to and prototypically operate more than the 2 train recall limit of the Powercab at the exact same time? Now my layout is a large N scale layout. I have about 150 feet of single track mainline. So I will get 3 trains chasing each other at the same time. I enjoy watching them go round and round. It would be nice if the recall stack would hold 3 or more trains. But when I OPERATE my railroad, switching the different industries, I run only one train at a time. I wouldn't want more than 1 other train running in the background anyways so the recall stack limit of 2 trains is fine for me. Craig
I believe you are refering to Back EMF. which i'm 99.9% sure is handled by the decoder not the system. from Tony's trains site:
That is my understanding of Back-EMF too Kozmo. I believe the database is used for among other things consisting info, when you unplug and replug your handheld, remembering your layout state from one session to the next.
Craig: That is exactly my thought. I have an even smaller N scale layout (about 12-15 feet mainline run). I can barely get one train going. Kozmo: Thanks, looks like back-EMF is what I was describing. I'm currently re-reading the NCE manual so I don't have to flip through it so much this weekend while getting setup.
