Robert, If a guy had the Loco and the Decoder he could always send them to Litchfield Station or some place for the install. It seems there are more and more guys getting into the business of doing decoder installs now and there must be someone out there that would do Z Scale.
I am sure there are lots of guys who do the decoder installs, it just takes a bit of asking around. The big problem with AZL locos is the cost if something goes wrong. I was trying to pull my AZL SD70 mechanism out of the shell, and the truck sideframes popped off, then tiny parts sprayed all over my messy garage. I had to take the other truck apart to see how to put them back together, and I probably spent 90 minutes just finding the parts and putting the trucks back together before even getting the shell off to look at the decoder install. If you did decoder installs as a side business, after a few months it would become easy to the point that you would be fearless, and pretty quick. Several months ago, there was talk that a drop in decoder for the SD70 was in the works, and that we might see it later this year, but the year is ending soon, so I it could be coming any time. I heard that Train Control Systems was making the decoder. This decoder would be the narrowest decoder produced, because there is only .27" wide space inside.
the only advantage in dealing with Digitrains is that he takes credit card and speaks English, but the guy in Austria is OK via e-mail. And you guys might suffer from double exchange from € to £ and then to $ NMRA DCC spec requires decoders to work down to 7V or else they are not approved. here the quote from S-9.1 "...The minimum peak value of the NMRA digital signal needed to provide power to the decoder shall be +/-7 volts measured at the track..." so the quoted track voltage should be no problem - I guess all the decoders that Rob showed below will be saying track voltage 12-22V because this is what is needed for larger gauges. It is only Z that has this concern about voltage Chris
Yes, TCS is making the decoders for the SD70s. I talked with them about two weeks back. I plan on following up again very soon. I will keep everyone informed if I have more information. Yes, the SD70 trucks are a little tricky. I have had the same thing happen to me. I think it is easier to remove the shell, unclip the holding clamps and remove the trucks even before you do any work. Rob
well, you could go one step further and make your own decoder mg: here is the link to the guy, who actually does it: http://www.fremo.utwente.nl/selfmade_decoder/decopic_e.html and than installs it in his Z loco:thumbs_up: http://www.fremo.utwente.nl/selfmade_decoder/z-lok_e.html his decoder is only 6mm wide... Chris
Jeff and Robert; i've been watching your posts, and was wondering if you have web like to CT Elek? I would like to look into this small sound decoder you both mentioned. Thank you Tony B...
why don't you open Google, type CTelektronik and .... http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=CTelektronik&btnG=Search&meta=
Hello Chris; I did the Google search before i wrote this, and sucsesfully found CT Elektronics page, but could not locate the mini sound decoder that Jeff and Robert where talking about. If there is any more info about this sound unit, i would appreciate it. Tony B.. PS; Chris; how are you coming along on the diode voltage reducer unit? I am still waiting for my power cab, so i have nothing new to report...
sorry, misunderstood your question, that is the sound decoder the guys are talking about (bottom of the fron page for CTelektronik): http://www.tran.at/Produkte/SL74.htm too big for Z as Rob says :-( as for diode track voltage reducer - just got RRampmeter today and waiting for diodes to arrive. Will update as soon as ready Chris
By the way, the 4 function CT Electronik sound decoder will fit inside a Z Scale tender easily. It is much smaller than the 2 function MRC sound decoder that I already fit inside a tender: Here you can see the 3/8" eight ohm speaker I fit inside. It's from a cellphone and is pretty loud. Also I fit 2 D size 150uf Tantalum caps, that I soldered to the DC side of the bridge rectifier on the decoder to help heep the decoder running in case of loss of electrical power: Kim Vellore has this loco now, as he is working on a 2 Farad Supercap electronic flywheel circuit that should keep the loco running several feet with sound, lights, and motor running, in case of track power interuption. Yes, it's overkill, but us BAZ BoyZ are electronics fanatics here in Silicon Valley!
Robert, that is amazing. Sound in these model Locos brings the whole scene to life, I have 2 steamers in N Scale with sound and its incredible. People that hear them run are totally in awe. Make sure you take and post lots of photos of these installs, it looks so easy more of the group might tackle a job like that. Bob
Will the Lenz power 1 module fit inside a standard marklin tender? And do you need an additional decoder?
the dimensions of it are 0.9" x 0.55" x 0.39" (22 x 13.3 x 9.4 mm) so I doubt it will fit (as is) into the Z tender and on top of it you also need separate decoder (power module is not a decoder) Chris
well, turns out that the "brain wave" I've had to use one heat sink for all the diodes in each leg was actually a "brain fart" :angry: here the picture of my stupidity: of course this doesn't work beacause the heatsink grounds everything to common... well as they say in US of A: if you dumb you suffer back to the workshop Chris
Chris, why are you using diodes to drop the DCC? Doesn't your Power unit (e.g. NCE Command Station) have voltage adjust? You can use a common heat sink, you just need to put the appropriate insulators.
Hi Chris; I piched up my power cab yesterday, and spent a long while talking with Chris my dealer about voltage contol. After a call to NCE, we found that the diode voltage reducer that others a talking about, is not needed with the NCE systems. This type of diode voltage reducer is put in to stop run away trains from over volting. NCE clains that this is not possible with there system, as a run away train will continue to run at the last set moter speed (and thus the same motor voltage) as where it was last set. The problem of over volting run aways has not been reported on NCE, only on other brands of systems. Also i had brought up the use of the EB3 to controll tack voltage as a end result of running through the EB3. This is also not needed with the power cab. The power cab comes with a regulated 2amp supply, and the EB3 regulates to 3 amps. Odviously, this circuit buss protector will do nothing in the event of a short. However, if you upgrade to he 5amp optional power supply, then you will want the EB3, as it will issolate three seperate buss's, and thus isolate the short on the problem buss without ill effect o the others. Lastly, the discussion of voltage controll within the power cab; The NCE's pulse width managment controlls the amount of power supplied to the loco motor. Unless your like to run your trains very fast and at crazy high speed, you will not be harming you 10 volt motor. i found that step 30 is above prototypical speed, so to opperate above this seems silly. I hope his helps out Chris; Tony B... PS: Can anyone tell me of a source for the CT Electonik sound decoder in the USA? I want to get one to experimant with ASAP.
Jeff, NCE PowerCab hasn't got (apparently) adjustable voltage. It is only available on ProCab. So I have no choice, but to use diodes to make sure that less than 10V is supplied to the track, so that regardles of my stupididty, decoder glitches, software problems etc I will never exceed the voltage that can "cook" Maxon, Fulhauber motors. Thanks for the advice about heatsink Chris
