Hi,

You also have to connect the decoder programming wires to the screw terminals on the 60971 module. See attached photos.

Thanks. Yes, I did see that diagram/instruction in the 60971 booklet, but didn't see how it applied in this case. Now I am really confused.

It says to attach "the red and the black decoder wire" to terminal D.

As much as the Germans pride themselves on precision, whatever they meant didn't translate to English very well. Does that mean there are two wires, one red and one black, and you hook them both to terminal D?? OK,I can't imagine they mean to attach the red and black WIRES from the decoder to a single terminal, do they?? Besides, those two wires are already soldered to the 8-pin connector to pins 8 and 4 respectively, so I can't imagine you're supposed to unsolder those two wires and hook them both to terminal D.

Or maybe they meant there's supposed to be a single wire that is red and black, and we should hook it to terminal D. Except that the 60986 decoder does not have a single red and black wire.

Interesting idea about reversing the connector. The 60971 board has the "1" pin clearly marked on it, so figured that should be right. Very difficult to reverse it, because the soldered-on wires conflict with the green terminal block. Nonetheless, I managed to bend several pins trying, but they can be straightened -- but it didn't work anyway.

Seems the 8 pin connector includes all the basic wires you normally need to run the loco: motor 1 & 2, track 1 & 2, headlight, taillight, common for lights, and AUX1. So what is a "programming lead"? If you had the train on the track and were programming the decoder with a CS, the two track leads would be the only two involved, and they are included on the 8-pin.

All that said, I'm totally confused, but let me toss out another weird idea: The wires off the 60986, as I mentioned, are not in Marklin colors but rather, ESU. Any chance that's really an ESU decoder in a Marklin wrapper and you need the ESU programmer to do this? Maybe dumb idea, but heck, grasping for straws at this point.

If you are using the ESU / NEM colour scheme, normally the orange wire is on pin 1 - at least on ESU decoders it is.



That seems to line up with the page you posted from your decoder manual.

If you don't have the orange wire on pin 1, then maybe you've soldered the wires on the plug back to front.

Golly, that really should have worked. The way I read the 60971 manual, page 5, you plug in the 8 pin connector, then connect blu/or (blau/orange = bl/or) into slot E, and blu/yel (blau/gelb = bl/ge) into slot F. With the 8 pin connected, those are the only two additional wires you need to connect.

Still encoder will not answer.

OK, now let's be sure the 8-pin is still right. Stick it on the ESU decoder tester and EVERYTHING works perfectly: lights, sounds, motor. So that's not it.

Put it back on the programmer, hook up the two blau striped wires. Can't imagine how one could screw up (catch the pun) the two wires into the screw terminals.

Still won't answer. I just don't get it. I'm jinxed.

Good thought, but I've used it on quite a few decoders now, but all with 21 pin connectors. First time with an 8-pin connector -- and of course, no excuses, but completely neglected to go back and read the part on using it on 8-pin set-ups until it was pointed out to me. However, it seems pretty straightforward: plug in the 8-pin, hook up those two blue/x wires, and let 'er rip ....

OR, I missed something else I'm supposed to do differently. I'll keep looking. Thanks.

That absolutely has to be a great idea -- because we both thought of it! Already did that. Thanks.

That's probably worth a try, Donb. Also considered disconnecting the 8-pin connector from the programmer, unsoldering the red and black wires from the 8-pin, connecting the red and black wires together to the D screw-connector, and the Blu/Blk to the G screw, and just taking the 8-pin completely out of the equation. (Can put the red and black leads back on the 8-pin later.) Am i interpreting the instructions correctly for a decoder with no connector then? (BTW, they apparently really DO put both red and black in the same screw connector, and it does make a certain amount of sense when you think about it to ensure zero voltage on the power leads of the decoder.)

ESU sound decoders with 8-pin interface IE loksound 5 -8 pin, do not have additional programming wires like the Marklin 8 pin decoder has. They are able to accomplish all programming tasks via the 8-pin connection. Far superior in my opinion.

You would need to get the ESU lok programmer kit, it's just a little more expensive than the 60971 kit, the lokprogrammer software is a free download from the ESU website.
I regret not switching to using ESU decoders a lot sooner.

I just got a reply from Curtis Jueng on the topic of the blue wires needed to be connected, he says:
"This really depends on if the Decoder has, or needs, it’s firmware updated. Once the update has been applied, you shouldn’t need the blue wires connected."
So I took out my Class 18 that I had installed the 8 pin decoder, I then connected all the blue wires and updated the firmware.
I then disconnected the blue wires, and then try to read the decoder, and that failed. I reconnected the blue wires and it read the decoder just fine.
Puzzling.

He is from Marklin USA, one of the co-authors of the Marklin Digital Newsletter.

Hi JD,

I had connected all three blue wires, but afterwards after the loco was reassembled, I thought I should have tried connecting just the Blue/black (decoder ground) wire and see if that works. Oh well.