DCC ImpulsesColumn - 9
Systems varywidely inhow theyhandleaddressesbetween
100and127. If all your locos fall in this range, youmayhave to
changeall their addresses. However, I don’t think folks are con-
cernedwith thiswhen theyask the question.
What I believe theyareasking really is, “I’ve spent a lot of time
workingonmy locos andgetting the sound volumeand sounds
andmomentum, etc., just right.Will I have to change those set-
tings?”And theanswer isno. Thereare somedecoderswhich
don’tmeet theNMRA specson some things likemomentum.
However, theywill react the same regardlessof the system
issuing the commands.
Anotherarea thatbugs folks frequently revolvesaroundpro-
gramming sounddecodersorotherdecoderswith largeenergy
storagecapacitorsonboard. It frequentlygoes like this: “I have
aDCC system (like theNCEPowerHousePro) thathasaNMRA
warrant (issued in2005). I cannot readmySoundTraxxTsunami
equipped locomotivewith it.Why?”Thecapacitors ina lotof
moderndecodersexceed the specificationson theoriginal pro-
gramming trackoutputs.Manyof thecurrent generationDCC
systemsweredesignedbefore theNMRA issuedenhanced
RecommendedPractices (upgraded toStandards in2012). The
latestdesignswill readall decoders. Systems thatweredesigned
prior toabout2005will probablyneedaprogramming track
booster
to read thesenewdecoders.
ThekeystoneofDCC is the fact that it is a standardized system,
supportedbymanymanufacturers.
So, if onemanufacturer goes away (aswithWangrow), there
areothers to step inandfill thevoid.
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MRH-Apr2014
