I've got my first mfx loco, the Bayerische B VI 37974, and have a few notes to share. I don't think it has been collected before on this site; sorry if I'm wrong.

This loco is mfx with sound. It has 11 functions in all. However, the essential ones IMHO are light, sound, and whistle, and possibly "shunt speed". These are all reachable with 6021, Intellibox or Daisy! Other sounds are not lost, they are produces spontaneosly and randomly. "Brake sound" means putting screaming brakes off; so loosing this disability is not really a loss either.

I have a Mobile Station which normally serves as a throttle to the Intellibox via the Uhlenbrock adapter. Setting the locos acceleration, max speed and sound volume is done easiest by using the Märklin connection track (Ugly Box) temporarily, really as a kind of programming track. Putting the loco there, it is recognized as a mfx loco, and these parameters could be set easily on the menu. A silly thing is that the Motorola address (70 by default) cannot be set in this way. So if the intention is to run the loco on Delta, it's not enough to borrow you friends Mobile Station to change this. But if you have a 6021, and possibly 6020/Intellibox there is this clumsy procedure with a series of key presses and reversings to achieve this; I haven't tested yet.

The settings of acceleration, max speed and sound volume is common for both mfx and Motorola operation. And now, what happens if the loco has been registred as mfx, if the "feedback" is disrupted, either by using the adapter as I do, or a "booster" like the Delta Control? In the first case, the entry on Mobile Station looks fine, it blinks to indicate that the contact is lost, and unfortunately gets useless. The mfx signal transmitted is not reqognized by the adpater, and not retransmitted. In the latter case however, there are reports that everyting works OK; however, the speed bar blinks to show that the Mobile Station doesn't hear from the loco any moore.

So. With the adapter you must either set a Motorola address and use the left buttons to control f1-f4 without getting any symbol, or look up a loco with a similair function mapping in the Datenbank, and then change the name etc.

/Lars

Hi Lars,
Do you mean that, using your mfx loc with 6021, any sound can be produced at anytime, whatever the running state, independantly of the user willing ??? That would mean that this loc is not compatible with 6021 !!


In the MS notice (coming with a start set), it's clearly written that the mfx decoder loc adress can be modified with the MS. May be a problem with your decoder that should be fixed -free- by Marklin ???
NB: It seems that programming the decoder with the MS is rather critical, as it is said that no other power consumer (coach lights, smoke generator..) is allowed during this operation.

Anyway, thanks for all these informations.

Fred

Hello,
no, not in any state of course. ESU are clever folks; the random sounds don't occur unsuitable. When "general sound" is off, there is no such sounds. Coal showel may occur "under steam", meaning both still standing and when running. Brake sounds occur always when braking. I don't understand in what sence this should be incompatible with 6021???

The programming of address you speak about I guess refer to non mfx decoder. Of course it's useless to have this choice as long as the mfx loco is used on the Mobile Station itself. It becomes useful for a shop selling a mfx loco to a buyer who has Delta control only, and things like that. And for me, as I wan't to use another address on my Intellibox; which of course is not a good argument in M's ears.

Regards,
Lars

Hi all,



Same happens when the slider makes bad contact.Happened to my mfx converted BR 44.

Best regards
Guus

If you have a mfx loc you can not program the adress of the mfx loc with a mobile station. mfx has no adresses anymore. Only when you use motorola you must use a adress.

Hi all,

I've tried to change the adress on 2 of my mfx equipped locs with my Mobile Control to no avail.The change adress option simply doesn't show on my MS with this type of decoder.

However the change adress option does show up on the screen of the MS with an other loc having an externally programmable decoder (the regular type not being a mfx).

So I think the instructions in the Handbuch accompanied with the starterset are a bit misleading.

The default adress of the mfx decoder is changeable however with the CU 6021.

Best regards
Guus

Hi Manfred,

Are you sure it's on the site you mentioned,since it was last updated in 2003?

Guus

Manfred thank you,didn't know about that one.

Best regards
Guus

Hi Lars,

Very well said if I may say so and I agree with you.

This is their text on page 98:

In models with mfx decoder or externally set decoders,the menu for setting the adress is extended by the option of also changing the adress in the locomotive.

Best regards
Guus

I might have been wrong about the author of the article about the MS and the delta booster.

http://hgh-esn.ath.cx/ (Link doesn`t seem to work any more?)

http://80.144.47.38/ (Seems, this one`s only accessible to msn users.)

The guy`s name is Hans-Günter Heiserholt. His homepage has an abundance of great information and has been freely accessible until the recent past.

Regards,
Manfred

This link works well! Many thanks Manfred.

Looking at the electric diagram given on this site, it seems that the delta booster is connected as I thought above (That may be obvious to some of you, but for I don't have any delta booster, I was not sure!). Due to the ebay low price of delta booster, it can be a good solution for me (up to now, I used my own DIY booster for the MS).

Unfortunately, I don't speak German, and I could not understand what is said, on the above site, about programming adress of mfx decoder, the loco being on the boosted part (= after delta booster) of the track! Automatic translation (ets.freetranslation.com) is rather confuse in this case!

Fred

You can readdress the MFX decoders with the LokProgrammer to resolve any address conflicts when not using a MS.

Well,
the function to set the Motorola address is there, in the Mobile Station, and in the decoder. So they have deliberately removed a function, and say it's not needed. Which it is for some people. Thats just silly IMHO. Besides, I don't regard mfx high tech at all. It's mre or less the same old technology which is in Delta! Refined yes, the decoders are certainly on a higher technology level than before (as they now are equally good as we have had in DCC for some time). And the Mobile Station IMHO is more user friendly. But easiness of use is not the same as high technology IMHO.

Lars

Thanks a lot, Manfred, for your kind translation.

That means that the address of a mfx decoder can be programmed with a Mobile Station + any booster that stops communication from decoder to MS. It was precisely my question.

I think that also solves the Lars' problem (1st post in this topic)?

Best regards,

Fred

I guess that programming through the adapter won't work. However, I think that Uhlenbrock tells how the '6021 procedure' could be performed using the Intelliobx; but I've not tested and not read thoroughly.

And thanks digilox, for telling me about the 29750 trick. I'll certainly test that when I get time. I remember now that it has been known for a while, but unfortunately, I wasn't very interested when first published.

Regards,
Lars