Hi Y'all I've read post after post about decoders malfunctioning or being no good right out of the package. Although I've only been involved in the hobby for a couple of years, I decided early on to go DCC with my new hobby. My first couple of engines I sent out to have decoders installed. Considering the expense, I decided to tackle this task myself (disregarding my clumsy soldering techniques). After a few costly and clumsy mistakes I figured I better find out if my decoders were any good or if I cooked them by not being carefull enough. I did some research and purchased a decoder tester online from Loys Toys. This piece of equipment has served me well. I now test all decoders as soon as I get them and have found 2 bad ones out of the 20 or so purchased. I have also used it to test decoders that I have installed but weren't operating right to see if I cooked them. I found another two that cooked (my fault again) but appeared perfectly fine on the surface. Considering the cost of these little critters, a bit of testing saves not only money but, headaches too. The tester is great and has worked flawlessly. I have tested both plug and play (using an optional wiring harness) and hard wired decoders simply and quickly.
Can't get the Loy's tester anymore. I built a similar one and it has served me well for about ten years. NCE makes a nice decoder tester and it's reasonably priced. (less than one decoder) Testing a decoder before installation begins avoids the remote possibility that your decoder didn't work from the start.
Always. But I don't have a tester - I just use a bit of 'breadboard' and some lamps and resistors (and the speaker for the install) to lash it up. Also makes it easier to try out different configurations or resistor values for lamps/leds.
