Hornby DCC

"Chris" wrote

It's also totally untried & tested right now, in fact last week our Hornby rep told me they still hadn't finalised the design of the planned loco decoders. They would be total idiots if it wasn't NMRA compatible, but we are talking about Hornby so who knows.

I'm told the DCC products should be available in September (October at the latest) and that the basic command centre will only be supplied with a 1 amp transformer, whilst the more sophisticated version will have one rated at 4 amps.

John.

Hornby have advised that it will be NMRA and XPressnet compatible.

Graham Plowman

Didn't they get the Arnold/Rivarossi DCC setup with their Lima/Rivarossi/Arnold/Jouef/Pocher buyout?

Why would a leading manufacturer like Hornby produce something *not* DCC compatible? From a business point of view it would suicidal to do something different these days. Almost on a par with a new manufacturer selecting 4.5mm to 1 foot scale on say 20mm track gauge ;-) Or 30 volt track power. Or anything else weird.

Whether everyone likes it or not DCC is here to stay.

Kevin Martin

"Greg Procter" wrote

No idea Greg, but it's possible that the Arnold/Rivarossi DCC set up was only produced under licence from whoever developed it.

John.

"Kevin Martin" wrote

Because they think they are infalliable?

They've even tried to take eBay on with an on-line auction, which I understand is barely successful.

John.

They certainly missed a trick with the live steam locos.

MBQ

And where in DCC standards would such a large power consuming device such as is required to boil water be allowed?

No the live steam is a gimmick & should be regarded as such. What else can you descibe something that basically goes round in circles. OK the live steam locos have been highly successful, but they have never been intended to work head to head with the regular 12V sisters.

Kevin Martin

"Kevin Martin" wrote

There are 8amp decoders available, although they are quite large. What amperage do the live steamers require? Lenz do a 1.8amp decoder which could easily be accomodated in a live steam A4.

John.

You obviously haven't read the standards, then.

The DCC standards do not specify the maximum power that may be consumed, only the method of delivery, i.e., waveform and voltage levels.

MBQ

Whilst I appreciate this is a sweeping generalisation I would suspect that live steam & DCC are at opposite ends of Hornby's potential market 'spectrum' anyway - I suppose the live steam appears to the model engineering in miniature crowd; whilst DCC presumably appeals more to the 'tech savvy' interweb friendly end of the market. IMHO of course.

There's no reason for the heating current to come via a DCC decoder. It could be drawn directly from the pickups with a simple relay control to switch the heater on and off. The DCC side would only need to handle the throttle servo, reverser, whistle etc.

Hmmm, the initial Arnold DCC setup was the Lenz/Maerklin system - every Ma component fits except the CU. OTOH Ma sold the Arnold CU as their Hamo DCC system. When Ma went to Motorola, Arnold brought out a new DCC system which didn't seem to match others but might have been a rebranded Lenz product. The Rivarossi product looked to be an updated Arnold - ok, we're probably back to Lenz.

I think you'll find that DCC appeals equally well to the technically incompetent. Finally a simple way of running two or more trains on their trainset without having to become an electronics expert.

Simon.

So, how long before the majority train sets that are sold in the shops come with a DCC chipped loco and a DCC controller?

-- Rod

"Benny" wrote

Within two years in my estimation.

John.

Bachmann already sell two sets of complete DCC systems. One with 2 loco's and the other with a class 25 diesel.they are very limited but okay for a youngster. they also say they are going to 'expand' their control boxes but don't hold your breath.

No idea, don't you sell them? The current must be quite high. How many watts do you need to boil very small amounts of water in a reasonable timescale? Even 200w at 20 Volts requires a 10Amp supply. I would not like to attempt to control other models with DCC, if another unit was suddenly without warning cut in with a 10Amp drain on the supply.

I think that Hornby have wisely keep the live steamers as an entirely separate system.

Kevin Martin