Would love to hear from anyone who has Lenz DCC system 90 or 100, as
>to wether or not they like it.
>Thanks
>Ed
Ed, I own Digitrax, but I have used Lenz, Easy DCC and North Coast.
I like them all. Each one has a different philosophy and style of operations. Exactly what are you looking for in your DCC system? This is an excellent place to discuss this topic. You will get a great deal of input here. Some of it will actually be useful. SO.......
Describe what you are thinking that a DCC system should do, OR.... what it is that you want it to do, and I'll bet you can determine if Lenz is what you want. Unfortunately, actual operation of the system is sometimes the only way to really determine if it is what you want. We can't do that here :-( But you will be glad to know that no matter what system you ultimately decide upon, it will be leaps and bounds better than DC/block control.
There is an !yahoo Group email list specifically for Lenz to which you may wish to subscribe. You can do so by sending a message by clicking here:: mailto: snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com. You will need to confirm the subscription but after that you will receive email from the group.
If you wish to access the homepage for this group, you must then register with !yahoo free.
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Welcome to DigitalPlusbyLenz Date: 23 Jun 2003 09:25:05 -0000 From: DigitalPlusbyLenz Moderator
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Hello,
Welcome to the Digital Plus by Lenz list. Now over 530 strong. Please take a moment to review this message.
This is not an official list Sponsored by Lenz. We do however have their permission and as they do monitor it, we have the chance for help we may need. If some one else is unable to answer the question.
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Thanks, Richard
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
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Froggy Thanks for the response. I now have MRC 2000, and it is easy to use for my grandkids who run the trains with me ( quite well too) I want to upgrade my DCC system especially to get sound, but I am curious about the way the way an operator can control more than 1 train. Now with MRC, and its 5 throttles, it is easy to control several by 1 operator. Does the Lenz 90 or 100 allow more than 1 throttle to be plugged in? Does an operator have to keep punching in an address to switch from one to another train? 2 or 3 operators would be ideal if each could easily control a couple of trains. I would be interested to hear from you, or anyone who has experience with this system. Or is Digitrax better for my purposes? Many thanks Ed
Yes it does. For all practical purposes you can plug in an unlimited number of throttles. In truth you cannot, but you CAN have more throttles plugged in than you can get people into the room, so the "unlimited" effect is apparent. The same is true of all four high-end systems: Digitrax, Easy DCC, Lenz and North Coast.
Alas, Ed, I cannot remember if you can toggle back and forth between two trains with the Lenz controller. I know the North Coast controller can. The Digitrax DT-300 and DT-400 throttles have two controls built in such that you can simultaneously control two trains from a single throttle. It is not necessary to toggle between the two. Digitrax also has an inexpensive basic throttle that can control one train at a time and is intuitively easy to use. This is the UT-1
I am surprised that no one else has picked up this thread. There are others that can tell you lots more about Lenz than I can. It is difficult for me to remain purely objective, since I an such a Digitrax Devotee, but I will say wait until you hear from several others before you make a final decision. All four of the high-end systems are good systems and any one of them will serve you well. If you want to know more about Digitrax I can tell you a lot. Let's see what the Lenz users have to say first. Stan Ames sometimes answers these questions. His wife is a Lenz distributor and Stan knows a great deal about Lenz and DCC in general. You can expect him to be as Bullish on Lenz as I am on Digitrax
I don't know if you can plug more than 1 throttle as I have only one !; but with the LH 100 throttle, you can easily switch between two trains just by keying the ESC key Jacques a écrit dans le message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.mindspring.com...
There is a Lenz web site with all the specs, manuals etc at
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.
I own a Lenz Set 01, so of course didn't reply to your original query. I use the LH100 push-button throttle that came with that and have added a LH90 big knob throttle.
To add this extra throttle was as simple as soldering up a 5 pin DIN socket and wiring it in. In fact I have several of these sockets spread around. All the throttles communicate via the XpressNet bus. You can buy solderless kits to do the same thing.
The LH100 has a 2 loco stack, the LH90 has an 8 loco stack. For ease of control of loco speed, the rotary knob control wins hands down. If you want sound then the LH100 has 0-9 function keys direct, the LH90 is 0-4, then shift key to get 5-8.
Give Steves Depot a call. Listed in MRR. I talked to him for several hours about a DCC system before selecting my system. He is in New England and knows the Lenz and Digitrax systems and will discuss them with you without trying to sell you one or the other. I found him very helpful.
another train?< Not sure about the Lenz but the Digitrax DT400 has a "stack". With the proper setting I think it will hold 16 addresses. Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong.
Ed, I have a Lenz set90 and absolutely love it. Very easy to use, and has all the features you'd want.
1) Yes, you can have multiple throttles plugged in. Lenz uses a technology called XpressNet to connect throttles to. Since this is being picked up by most of the industry (but not Digitrax), you can also get 3rd party items for this (for example, I use the Atlas front panel connectors, as they are less expensive then the ones from Lenz)
2) re: having a "stack" with the most commonly used loco addresses already programmed in - yes the Lenz set supports this. It also allows you to choose the "size" of the stack. I.e. if you only have 3 total locomotives, you can just set the stack size to 3 and then toggle through the three addresses. I think (not sure) it supports up to 8 locos this way.
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