After a review of the 74461 I am not sure what disappoints me more, the product itself, the marketing or the documentation.
I fail to see any reason to buy and use this product.
The Product. Cat#:
- 74461
The Product Title:
- Digital Installation Decoder / For Maerklin and Trix C-Track turnouts.
Description:
- A Digital decoder for "under roadbed" Installation and connection to, Maerklin and Trix C-Track turnout mechanism (exception: Maerklin three-way turnout .. ref 74465)
Packaging:
-
Good: Image of the triangular circuit board on the front so showing what to expect,
-
VeryGood: on the obverse, a highlighted section listing (functional contents)
- - 1 x 74461 Digital Installation decoder
- - 1 x Connecting Cable Maerklin
- - 1 x Connecting Cable Trix
(MyWorld people take note of how "front of house" marketing should be done)Contents:
- In addition to the information on the the box, the internal list elaborates/includes
- - 1 74461 Digital Installation decoder
- - 1 Connecting Cable -
yellow, red and brown (for Maerklin C-Track)
- - 1 Connecting Cable -
blue, red and white (for Trix C-Track)
- + Installation Instructions
- + Warranty Card
- Not mentioned, but included are a couple of sticky labels, to record the address on and attach to the decoder

Image showing BoM items (minus warranty and user manual documentation)
the 4 items (decoder, cables x2 and lables) come within the sealed pink antistatic bag
The Decoder itself- The decoder circuit board is shown with the DIP switches visible - There is actually a hole in the circuit board and the switch block is soldered on the side with all the other components.
- The Decoder under review had no marking to indicate version. The only identification was "SE110726C"
- the observable difference compared to the 74460 is the power cable is pluggable - this allows for a choice of Marklin or Trix connection.
Technical Data:
- Load at lantern output <= 100 milliamps
- Load at turnout output max. 2 amps
- Voltage for the digital power circuit max. 20 volts eff.
- External voltage max. 20 volts DC.
notes! below- Electrical Strength max. 40 volts
Comments: at no point in the product description is there an overview of the following - when references do appear (at the installation stage) it is as though you are expected to already know what you are there to achieve.
- 1) the decoder has two solder tabs that are for the connection of an associated lantern in the turnout, The new items catalogue description does make reference to this and the fact that 'soldering skills are required, this tidbit is lost in the description of the item in the online data base. Other than the <=100milliamp reference above the closest we see to information about this capability are the words"Not included in delivery scope" adjacent to it in a picture.
- 2) also not found specifically , is any descriptive reference to the purpose of the 3rd (yellow) wire in the feeder cable. At first guess it might be thought that this would be for a separate power feed to the lantern so as not to draw power from the trains on the track - in which case those without any intention of using lanterns might be tempted to cut it off to prevent the exposed connector shorting things out : DO NOT DO THIS. As it transpires this same feed (Yellow wire) also provides the power for the solenoid operation. So while the commands are delivered via the tack (Red/Brown feed, the grunt for the devices, both Turnout motor and Lantern, comes from the yellow). In 'basic' connection mode (aka 74460) the yellow would tap into the red ("B") track connection , along with the red. In "Alternative Power Supply" mode, the product specs (above) state 20 Volt DC for the external voltage - keep in mind that this is provided by exactly the same (yellow) wire as you would connect to the track Red in basic mode - so it is unclear why DC is specifically mentioned but a separate comment under "Norm use" states that the decoders 'external' (yellow) connector may only be connected to a Maerklin or Trix switch mode power pack . And it must be reinforced that when using an external power source the blown/return needs to be tied to the Brown/"0" of the track feed.
Decoder Addressing.Again , until product availability, the New Items description were at odds with those in the product database (and common sense). The confusion over dip switches use
AND programmable addressing as well as the address ranges for each remained until the product actually hit the streets. Specifically not mentioned was the DCC address range which common sense would at least align with the CS2s 2000(+) range (now seen to be 2044 as above).
In the first instance it is noted that the DIP switches block has 10 bits (this is similar to it predecessor but the meaning is different).
- position 10 is for selecting fx/MM (off/0) of DCC (on/1),
- this leaves the 9 other switches for BINARY (not Trinary) addressing = 512 addresses
- NOT FOUND ANYWHERE in the documentation is the (now) observed state, that setting address "0" in the DIP switches is what sets "the decoder for programmable address mode". by address "0 I mean switches 1-9, switch 10 must be on for DCC
- so this leaves the decoder with a hard coding address capability of 1-511
- - the various sub-ranges are a subset imposed by the controller/MM architecture (e.g 6021 = 1-256 , MM architecture = 1-320, MS2=1-320),
- In DCC mode the current limits are 1-2044
Programming.- The prime reason for programming of this device is to set DCC addresses between 512 and 2044. (although you can also program 1-511) For this purpose CV1 becomes the lower byte address (0-255) and CV9 comes into play as the higher value address byte (x256 multiplier) with a documented range of (0-7).
- - eg CV9=0,CV1=1 = 0*256 + 1 = 1
- - eg CV9=1,CV1=9 = 1*256 + 9 = 265
- - eg CV9=7,CV1=252 = 7*256 + 252 = 1044
- NOT FOUND ANYWHERE is a specific need to ensure switch position 10 is set to 1 (DCC mode) in addition to all other switches (1-9) off.
Note: the combination of 7(CV9) and 255(CV1) could give address 2047 but the last couple of address (above the documented 1-2044) must be reserved.
Attempt to load CV9 with a greater value than 7 fails to stick. Attempting address 2045-2047 cause CV9 to show(255)
Two additional programing points need highlighting
- CV36 is exposed as the means to disable (turn off) the lantern - This is a firm setting and does not appear to be linkable to a (separate) address to add value for layout operation in any way. There is certainly no reference (other than the CV) to this feature or why/when it might realistically be used. Maybe if there was a "dimmer" capability there may be some practical use.
Feb2014 update: The Jan2014 CS2 updated provided insight to CV119(for 74461) and CV125(for 74465) as a means to vary the brightness - this is a PWM function with the range 0=off to 255=100%
- In fx(MM) operation the programming (of CV8(reset) and CV36(lantern power)) are also documented , but given the only reason to do a rest would be to set the lantern state back to on, I see little chance of use. Programming can be set from a 6021 using "traditional methods",
but with some complicated preamble/postamble steps added. As the fully MM architectural address range of 1-320 can be addressed by the dip switches there is no need to resort to a programmable option. If all address switches are left off in MM mode (i.e. switches 1 to 10 all off) the default address appears to default to #1, regardless of CV1 value.
- even if the decoder is in DCC "hard mode" using the switches, the CVs can be read and while the address cannot be changed CV36 can.
Miscellaneous:- Improvement: The DIP switches are addressable from the underside without needing to remove the circuit board and risk damaging the mounting studs
- Bad: On current (relative pricing) schedules the 74461 works out at over 3x the per/address compared with a 60830 - the previous 74460 price differential had stabilized at just over 2x
- The instruction manual includes an address chart for the switch setting of the 1 to 511 permutations. as is Maerklins want they include a column for "keyboard", with two values - presumably the keyboard(6040) unit number followed but a button number (1-16). This might not be too bad except thay imply that keyboard address 17 to 32 are valid for addressing the 256-511 range - this is news to me! It would also have been nice (confidence check) if the example picture of setting the DIP switch address and the adjacent image of recording the number on a lable refered to the same address -the image of the decoder is a lazy copy of the 74460 , showing only 2 power connection wires.
Summary:- Price aside I have only ever seen the 74460 as having any use in a child's carpet-bahn environment, where removing of excess wiring during assemble/dis assembly is desirable. In any type of fixed layout , concealing the electronics (from future maintenance or readdressing) has scared me and something to be avoided. This feeling was exacerbated by the loss(failure), over only a couple of years, of 10 such devices from the first batches.
- The Lantern support being added to the decoder is a red herring as far as I am concerned, even if it added the "non-flickering" feature compared to wiring direct to the track. However if you were concerned about this at all you would have already been running a different power feed.
- If, as may be a modellers want, a separate power supply has been installed for the lanterns in order to vary the brightness(mood) this capabilty can not be used now as there is a need for the 20V to drive the solenoid. It is noted that the reference is a "MAX 20V DC" - no reference is made to a minimum !
- By sourcing turnout power from other than the track is a good thing but this has been achievable with k83s on a separate bus or k83 look-a-likes from other vendors for years
- Of real concern however is the inadvertent reprogramming of DCC address (and the horror of having to reprogram them by isolating each individually). While people with a "programming track" option like a CS2 "should" not be driving their main layout from it - I have seen people do this forgetting they had another loco on the track other than the one they were targeting. The MS2 however has no such "programming track" so everything goes out to the main line.
- Also of note(concern?) is that , in my trials, CV programming became questionable with continuous usage (testing numerous reds/writes - using MS2 at the time) - This may be a MS2 trackbox or a one off decoder issue - but I did note the decoder was warm to the touch (no actual turnout switching had been taking place). Turning power off , to let it cool down, did help.
If/When Maerklin post the user manual online it will probably have the following URL ...
http://medienpdb.maerklin.de/product_files/1/pdf/74461_betrieb.pdfEdited by user 16 April 2015 02:24:24(UTC)
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