Russ, I COMMEND YOU, for helping Gil out!:thumb: one note though, i think for those reading this post we should mention, NOT ALL DCC DECODERS ARE DC COMPATIBLE! i am NOT familiar with the Shays decoder, i assume you are:thumb:. i would hate to see someone buy an engine with a decoder that IS NOT DC compatible, and try and run it on DC. today, most ALL sound decoders will run on DCC or DC, they can distinguish between the two:thumb:, but MANY plain DCC decoders CAN NOT. just wanted to make those that didn't know aware of this. -DeanoRuss Bellinis said:...If it is equipped with a dcc decoder; and you don't have dcc, no problem. The decoder can tell if there is a dcc signal in the track or not. If it doesn't see a signal in the track, it will default to dc operation.
Russ, i would like to make it clear that a decoder being able to read DCC and DC IS NOT PART OF THE NMRA STANDARD. Russ, you bring up a good question:thumb:, though i do not have a list of both compatible decoders, i will tell you this, most sound decoders sold today DO read DCC and DC. 3 examples are QSI, Digitrax and Loksound, they will run well on ANY system:thumb:. as far as regular decoders, 99% DO NOT READ BOTH DCC and DC! again, i am sorry Russ, but the list would be a mile long. i have sound in ALL my engines, but some of the engines i bought with just a regular decoder(and changed them out to put sound decoders in them), Bachmann, and Atlas's regular decoders for example DO NOT READ BOTH DCC AND DC! i will go a step further, honestly, i have delt with MANY different "regular decoders", and NONE of them can read both systems. HOWEVER, i am sure someone makes decoders that can do this, i just cant think of any. SOUND DECODERS are a different story, like i mentioned, several companies make sound decoders that will read both DCC and DC. hope this helps, -DeanoRuss Bellinis said:Deano, I thought being dc/dcc compatible was part of the NMRA standard. Do you know or have a list of decoders that are not dc compatible?
Russ, WOW, don't trust the guy that told you that, as that IS NOT, how decoders work:thumb:. Russ, please, believe me, i wouldn't steer you wrong, if you had a decoder, and tried that, it would fry the decoder out. most, modern sound decoders wouldn't do that(QSI, DIGITRAX,Loksound), but a regular decoder...would only last about 3 seconds. Russ, i hope i have set you straight:thumb: BTW, Jim is 100% correct! Soundtraxx LC decoders DO NOT read DC. -DeanoRuss Bellinis said:My understanding was not that they read both dc and dcc, rather that they looked for a dcc signal and if it wasn't there, the decooder just bypassed everything to let it run on dc with a slight bit of noise.