Has anyone any suggestions for suitable small decoders to fit in the sort of loco bodies that 009 generates.
I have a small Zimo decoder in my one 009 foray into DCC. Zimo have or had a very good name.
Whilst I've not done much in the way of DCC I'll make the following observations...
Chips aimed at the N, or even Z scale market should fit in most 009 bodies without issues.
As to manufacturers... In many respects you get what you pay for, so sticking with one of the well know manufacturers may be better than using one of the 'badge engineered' ones or something that is a knock-off copy of one of the well known ones.
It's also unlikely that the chassis will have a socket to plug a chip in, so you'll either need chips that can be hard-wired in, or wire in a socket for the chip to plug into.
One issue I'm having at the moment with a project to chip my father in law's N-gauge locos is that a lot of the small chips I've been recomended - Digitrax125 or 126 & CT Elektronics DCX75, 76 and 77 - seem to be very hard to get hold of in the UK (been wating nearly 2years for the CT chips to come back in stock...).
There is a section of the forum dedicated to DCC ("Digital Electrica and Control" at https://www.009society.com/forum/index.php?board=24.0) that may also be worth looking at for some extra information.
Hope that helps.
I can't comment on any but Zimo. They are all I have experience since moving to DCC Control. I use the MX658N18 in my Baldwin, and that's a tiny little chip with sound support!
I have been using Digitrax decoders in the main since I switched to DCC 6-7 years ago. The choice was guided by a friend with an extensive OO layout that uses a Digitrax control system, which he was - an still is - very happy with. My command station is also Digitrax.
I have found that the Digitrax "N" or "Z" decoders are pretty straightforward to fit and program and I use JMRI to do the programming, which takes a lot of the uncertainty out of the process.
I have also used CT Electronix DCX decoders, which are tiny and also have very extensive capabilities for something so small. The only caveats are that finding an English language wiring guide on the interweb took me ages - I fretted about getting the right connections and avoiding "magic smoke" incidents (don't ask me how I know about these). In addition and more importantly, I found that my CT decoder DCX77z needed a considerable amount of trial and error tuning to get a good performance out of the Kato chassis / motor combo. There is guidance on this (from memory) the N Gauge Society website. It's not a problem once you know that each chassis is different to these decoders. For some reason I have had a lot of time on my hands recently.
Finally, I have found that it doesn't matter how small the decoder or how large the body shell, getting the lid back down and wires packed away after a conversion is just one of the "joys of DCC", this is particularily an issue if you include lighting to the setup.
I hope this helps
Tony
ED
That Zimo is rather larger than I would want , particularly as I don't expect to be using sound. I think perhaps something like the MX616 would be more my cup of tea particularly for the small locos I plan to use. Thanks for the info however. It's good to get positive reviews about any product.
Tony
All very helpful. I must admit that I haven't yet got to grips with detailed programming, my testing has been 'out of the box'. Not sure with the operation I'm planning much tweaking would be required. Small size is more important. Thanks
The Zimo 616 seems to be the Decoder of choice for 009, but at £32 I am tempted to try and use sockets so I can swap them around with the older locos that don't get much use.
My experience, admittedly of some years ago, is that sockets take up a lot of space relative to the size of a 009 loco. If finding the space for a decoder is going to be hard, find the space for decoder and plugs/sockets will be even more so.
Quote from: duttonbay on February 16, 2021, 01:55
My experience, admittedly of some years ago, is that sockets take up a lot of space relative to the size of a 009 loco. If finding the space for a decoder is going to be hard, find the space for decoder and plugs/sockets will be even more so.
You are definitely right about the space. I wasn't thinking about the standard ones, but looking for something smaller, and probably only 4 wires. Luckily 009 uses low current motors so there are options, but its going to be tricky.
I just can't justify £30 each for my collection of old bits and pieces that very rarely get used, but I have a box van which I plan to fit with pickups and house a decoder in it so I could modify my older locos to get their power from that. Not ideal but it should work.
Quote from: Tim Parsonson on January 07, 2021, 11:01
Has anyone any suggestions for suitable small decoders to fit in the sort of loco bodies that 009 generates.
I'm new to this "DCC" lark, and have a similar query to Tim. It seems that what is needed is a table of decoders, listing the capabilities and features (sound etc.), any issues on compatibility and dimensions. I appreciate that the manufacturers list this, but having the information would be a help to modellers. Most retailers only stock one or two brands of decoder, so direct comparision (in normal times) is difficult too.
As to space requirements, some modellers are building radio-control and batteries into OO9 locos, so DCC should be "easy" (I use the term loosely)
jch