Plough Vans Decoder

[Fowler4f]

I am thinking of fitting LAIS decoders to the Plough Vans, has anyone got a better suggestion ?

[Old Blarney]

 Does the LAIS decoder have stay-alive? Suggest you use a decoder that has this facility to prevent flickering of lights both internal and external when traversing points and crossovers. That's my experience with these Plough Vans.

 

Old Blarney

 

[DiveController]

Agree with OB if you have that option. One of the other threads on the Ploughs highlighted this flickering issue probably because is 4 wheel and light relative to a bogie loco. I don't know if there were any decoder recommendations made, maybe check the DCC forum?

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by DiveController

[WRENNEIRE]

On 7/10/2021 at 11:17 AM, Fowler4f said:

I am thinking of fitting LAIS decoders to the Plough Vans, has anyone got a better suggestion ?

Most LAIS decoders have 2 extra wires for a stay alive capacitor 

[DiveController]

Possible solution on this thread. I need to fit some myself hence my interest

 

[Fowler4f]

From the Top Man  @DCC Concepts ‘use any loco decoder with stay alive but don’t connect the Orange & Grey wires’

 

[DiveController]

On 15/1/2021 at 3:40 AM, NIRCLASS80 said:

https://www.dccconcepts.com/product/zen-black-decoder-universal-easy-to-fit-8-pin-direct-decoder-with-6-functions/

 

11 hours ago, NIRCLASS80 said:

They work fine for me but light flickering is still an issue 

 

4 hours ago, Fowler4f said:

From the Top Man  @DCC Concepts ‘use any loco decoder with stay alive but don’t connect the Orange & Grey wires’

 

Easy for the vendor to say but NIrClass80 used one of theirs but still has flickering. I wonder if IRM has a recommendation for flicker free direct plug  DCC chip in the ploughs? @BosKonay

Edited October 9, 2021 by DiveController

[murphaph]

I don't think any decoder without a healthy stay alive will help as the wagon type will always tend to lose contact with the track momentarily and this will mostly be determined by the quality of the track. 

 

[murphaph]

By the way the "use any decoder but don't connect the motor" certainly doesn't apply to ESU decoders and several other types. They use a back emf pulse from the motor to acknowledge the programming commands. That's why locos creep during programming. Perhaps the DCC concepts comments were limited to their decoders which I have no experience of but it shouldn't be assumed that this is valid for all makes.

To use a loco decoder as a function only decoder an appropriate resistor may be substituted but it needs to be beefy enough current wise not to burn out. Otherwise if you want to reprogram the decoder a motor needs to be connected across the terminals. Simple stay alives can also mess with programming by "swallowing" the command pulses rather than them reaching the decoder itself so watch for that.

How do I know this? I tried using a loco decoder to control the lights in the dummy car of the Bachmann 2700 set. I was scratching my head for a while wondering why I couldn't program it once installed but it was programmable on the ESU test bench.... because the motor is connected on the test bench. You live and learn.

[NIRCLASS80]

I have used old 8 pin decoders in the past for functions only but I always carry out programming on an old spare 8 pin chassis and then install in the rolling stock saves any hassle. 
 

Everyone has their own way of going crazy!