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Offline river6109  
#1 Posted : 04 February 2020 03:43:29(UTC)
river6109

Australia   
Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 14,636
Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
I've must have been one of the first Märklin fans who ordered the Motorola digital system in large quantities to be able to run trains on my layout.
it consisted of 2 x 6020, 1 6021 (later addition), 9 boosters, x amount of control units, 4 x 80f units, 30 or so 6088, 120 turnout motors, 120 under floor motor assemblies, 6080 decoders and later 60901 decoders.
It was an enormous outlay of A$ 20.000.00 or so and than the trouble started with the introduction of new digital system with add ons to connect the old system to the new system.
Than came the MFX technology, everybody enjoyed it, you no longer had to register a loco anymore but this wasn't the end, MFX +, DCC and today some Märklinist are utterly confused what is what and what purpose each digital word means following some posts on this forum.

I'm sure it will not be the last update or change of a new system down the pipeline as technology improves again or manufacturers realize its all a bit to complicated and I wonder whether its another money spinner for the company to haul in extra dollars by convincing us the the latest technology is the best we had for a long time and what will it bring, more Aux functions or will it be that someone is coming up with a new idea to make things simpler, you don't have to press all these Aux buttons anymore to achieve a sound.
It will be interesting to know where it will take us. at least with Märklin you don't have to program a sound file to get the steam chuffs right.
Or is it just me who thinks the digital system is becoming to complicated or is it my lack of the digital technology/knowledge to led me believe its to hard how to operate an Ipad or tablet or the latest mobile phone.
For instance I got used to the ESU sound decoders and got quite good how to program the sound decoders but now with the latest new Version V 5.0 more options are available to program your sound decoder and unless I have time to study the new options and their better functionality I'm turning them all off to get to where I was with the V 4.0 sound decoders.. for instance before, to program a braking distance you had 2 options, 1.) a time factor, the other the distance factor, with locos responding differently every time you turn on your system the time factor had variation as to where the loco came to a stop, where as the distance factor didn't change at all, also you could have a loco doing 5 km/h and it still would stop at the given distance., the new options are there to idle the braking distance even more and unless I will or can understand the meaning behind it, it will be turned off as I've found 1 loco running normally and than it reduced its speed to half and than went back to normal speed.

Also getting the right speed for the chuffs is getting harder and harder by manipulating certain CV's sometimes it takes me hours to do so.

John
https://www.youtube.com/river6109
https://www.youtube.com/6109river
5 years in Destruction mode
50 years in Repairing mode
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Offline Eurobahnfan  
#2 Posted : 05 February 2020 17:28:58(UTC)
Eurobahnfan

United States   
Joined: 09/08/2008(UTC)
Posts: 407
Location: Stockton, CA
Although a number of my locos are digital, I seem to have purchased more analog locos recently than those with decoders (even the most basic). Why? Because of their simplicity in terms of operation, not to mention maintenance - much like some of my pre-war O gauge items. As I get older, the less interested I am in having to program something in order to "play" with it.
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Offline Carlos  
#3 Posted : 08 February 2020 14:58:37(UTC)
Carlos

United States   
Joined: 15/11/2014(UTC)
Posts: 126
Location: Freeport, New York
Originally Posted by: Eurobahnfan Go to Quoted Post
Although a number of my locos are digital, I seem to have purchased more analog locos recently than those with decoders (even the most basic). Why? Because of their simplicity in terms of operation, not to mention maintenance - much like some of my pre-war O gauge items. As I get older, the less interested I am in having to program something in order to "play" with it.


Is a way to control the analog locomotives with my centra station 3+? what I mean is if you could control the speed of them.

Thank you, regards,

Carlos
Offline bph  
#4 Posted : 08 February 2020 15:54:03(UTC)
bph

Norway   
Joined: 04/08/2018(UTC)
Posts: 985
Originally Posted by: Carlos Go to Quoted Post
Originally Posted by: Eurobahnfan Go to Quoted Post
Although a number of my locos are digital, I seem to have purchased more analog locos recently than those with decoders (even the most basic). Why? Because of their simplicity in terms of operation, not to mention maintenance - much like some of my pre-war O gauge items. As I get older, the less interested I am in having to program something in order to "play" with it.


Is a way to control the analog locomotives with my centra station 3+? what I mean is if you could control the speed of them.

Thank you, regards,

Carlos


In short no. (they will ether run at max speed, or the analogue reverse relay would kick in, and then stand still buzzing)
Offline thing fish  
#5 Posted : 08 February 2020 16:19:08(UTC)
thing fish

Turkey   
Joined: 25/01/2020(UTC)
Posts: 207
Location: istanbul
Originally Posted by: river6109 Go to Quoted Post
... I wonder whether its another money spinner for the company to haul in extra dollars ...


Isn't that the case with each and every new(!) technology? If you ask me "digital" was a major breakthrough, from there on it's only small additions to gadgets and functions that doesn't add nothing close to what you pay for them ... this is my rule of "diminishing benefits": the more you pay, you benefit less and less from every additional penny you spend. That is, you pay for bells and whistles that you can get by without, and spend more of your time on figuring out how to use them in an efficient way and loose your appetite on the way.

Just imagine what is possible with a simple mobile phone nowadays and how much of it we actually use.

This is the "post truth" era ...

C.
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Offline RayF  
#6 Posted : 08 February 2020 20:20:02(UTC)
RayF

Gibraltar   
Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC)
Posts: 15,838
Location: Gibraltar, Europe
I keep things simple by only having sound in a loco if it's factory fitted. All my analogue to digital conversions use the simplest and cheapest methods and equipment, and I won't complicate my life by adding additional lighting, sound effects or other "refinements".

I read about some of our members additional "improvements" to their locos and I hold my hands up in horror! BigGrin

Life is too short to spend it complicating my hobby. Digital operation is fun and allows you to run various locos on the same tracks without complicated wiring. That's about right for me.
Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
thanks 8 users liked this useful post by RayF
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