Hello to all members. Does anyone out there know about the simple decoders supplied by marklin such as those in the circus mondolino engine, the starter br80 and other start up locos - I have some which all look the same to me but have different 6 digit codes on them.
I am really looking for a source of these decoders as I doubt they are made by marklin but rather, bought in - probably in China.
In the past I have bought a number of the circus mondolino engines just for the decoder when they were really cheap, probably because of oversupply - now prices on eBay etc are much higher. I know they are very basic with no functions, but they are great for converting older analogue DC locos to marklin 3 rail.
Any help gratefully appreciated
Thanks
Charles.

I would almost totally agree with Ray 99.9% for the bulk of the loco's in the starter sets but in regard the circus mondolino engines they are more or less the 0-6-0 generic tanker...... when i popped the lid on one of mine the board was a 1 cm square custom job.

Many thanks for the feedback so far. I am aware of the decoders which come with the conversion sets and have one or two of these, but as you point out the circus mondolino type is really what I'm after - for the main reason its very small ( about half the size of a standard marklin decoder) and therefore much easier to fit into restricted spaces in small tank locos etc. There are no wiring looms on these, just two wires to the motor, a DC can type with flywheel, a feed via a resistor from the centre pickup, and the ground via the securing screw to the body - thats it! As I said I've used a few so far on various types of DC motors (Piko, Roco, Fleischmann etc) and they seem to handle the demand OK so far despite their size. Someone must make them in reasonable quantity, but the question is who?
Thanks
Charles