05-15-2014, 03:01 PM
You just open a can of worms.
There are several very different aspects to consider
a. How many physical outputs provide the decoder.
Most decoders provide four outputs (white, yellow, green and brown). That sounds good but you are reaching the limits very fast when you want to have front and real lights and alternating ditch lights. All the different lights SP used to have will also exceed this wide found capabilities. You may have to look for not so common decoders to drive more than four lights. Some decoders may provide four wires and "some" tiny solder pads on the small decoder PCB to solder your own additional wires (or destroy the decoder if you do a solder mistake)
b. What logical function can be assigned to why output
Most decoders use directional control for the white and yellow lines. Green and brown are of universal use. But you have to read a lot of details of the decoders to understand if each line can a strobe, a blinking light etc. There are a lot of none standard implementations available on the market
c. What physical lights sources are available on the model
Most models have only one front and one rear light. They may "drive" the front/rear light and the number board. Ditch lights may be available but wired in parallel (Atlas Genset). Most not very modern models lack ditch lights at all. You will find a huge number of instructions how to modify and/or add lights in the internet.Some are simple but most are fairly complex. Functioning ditch lights require in most cases SMD LED soldering and some very fine shell modifications.
d. Do you want to have the best decoder suitable for each engine?
I hate it to find a new set of CVs in each engine. I want to use one line of decoders of one brand in all my engines to do reprogramming in my familiar CV environment. You may not find a decoder brand that fulfills all your wishes in all of your engines.
e. Lights are great but there is something more
The decoder has to drive the motor. You will notice that motor control is implemented very different by the different brands. Especially best motor control of low cost motors limits your choice of brands dramatically. Virtually every decoder will run fine with a Trainman GP38 drive but what do you do if you "fall in love" with an old brass or low coast model with a lousy motor.
Just some thoughts based on my DCC experience.
There are several very different aspects to consider
a. How many physical outputs provide the decoder.
Most decoders provide four outputs (white, yellow, green and brown). That sounds good but you are reaching the limits very fast when you want to have front and real lights and alternating ditch lights. All the different lights SP used to have will also exceed this wide found capabilities. You may have to look for not so common decoders to drive more than four lights. Some decoders may provide four wires and "some" tiny solder pads on the small decoder PCB to solder your own additional wires (or destroy the decoder if you do a solder mistake)
b. What logical function can be assigned to why output
Most decoders use directional control for the white and yellow lines. Green and brown are of universal use. But you have to read a lot of details of the decoders to understand if each line can a strobe, a blinking light etc. There are a lot of none standard implementations available on the market
c. What physical lights sources are available on the model
Most models have only one front and one rear light. They may "drive" the front/rear light and the number board. Ditch lights may be available but wired in parallel (Atlas Genset). Most not very modern models lack ditch lights at all. You will find a huge number of instructions how to modify and/or add lights in the internet.Some are simple but most are fairly complex. Functioning ditch lights require in most cases SMD LED soldering and some very fine shell modifications.
d. Do you want to have the best decoder suitable for each engine?
I hate it to find a new set of CVs in each engine. I want to use one line of decoders of one brand in all my engines to do reprogramming in my familiar CV environment. You may not find a decoder brand that fulfills all your wishes in all of your engines.
e. Lights are great but there is something more
The decoder has to drive the motor. You will notice that motor control is implemented very different by the different brands. Especially best motor control of low cost motors limits your choice of brands dramatically. Virtually every decoder will run fine with a Trainman GP38 drive but what do you do if you "fall in love" with an old brass or low coast model with a lousy motor.
Just some thoughts based on my DCC experience.
Reinhard