Mystery Decoders and How to Identify Them
by Bill Sparks
It happens to all of us eventually. We’ll purchase a secondhand DCC-equipped locomotive at a swap meet or obtain a used decoder from a buddy and when it comes time to do some special programming or a decoder factory reset and the common value of CV8=8 isn’t working, you realize that you don’t know who manufactured your decoder. Sometimes you’ll be lucky when you disassemble your loco and the decoder will clearly be marked with the manufacturer’s name and decoder model number, but as often as not you’ll be looking at an anonymous chip that you’d be hard-pressed to identify visually. So what do you do?
Thankfully there is an easy method to identify your locomotive’s DCC chip without the hassle of disassembling your engine. Simply place your locomotive on your programming track (or in the case of a decoder that is not installed within a loco, simply plug it into the club’s decoder tester and affix one alligator clip to each rail on the programming track,) and select Service Mode.
The process will vary from one DCC system to another, but on our club’s NCE programming track, we simply press the throttle’s PROG button (on the lower-left corner of the throttle,) several times until the screen reads, “USE PROGRAMMING TRACK.” Service mode is automatically activated when the programming track option is selected. Press the Enter button and you’ll be presented with three options, select option #1, which reads, “STD.” The screen will ask you to wait a moment as the DCC system communicates with your mystery decoder, after which it will display a screen with a manufacturer number- let’s use as an example you get number 129. Write down this code number. Press Enter on the throttle again, and after another brief moment the screen will display, “VER,” followed by another number, which is the code number for the chip’s model number, sound file version (if so equipped) and other information, which will vary from make to make. Usually this isn’t of great importance, but it can help you - if necessary- determine the exact model of your chip. This is easily done by contacting the maker and providing them the version number.
Refer to the DCC Shortcuts Card on this site, or available free online by searching for “Model Railroad Hobbyist DCC Shortcuts Card,” to look up your decoder’s manufacturer number. Using our example of number 129, we see that our decoder was made by Digitrax.
Now that we know who made our decoder, we can hop over to the manufacturer’s web site and download their manuals free-of-charge, wherein you’ll find everything you need to program your decoder. We can see on the Digitrax website that manuals are available for products made up to December, 2013, and those made after January, 2014, so if you have an idea that it’s a newer decoder, download the second manual, or if you have reason to believe that your chip predates that, download the first manual. If you’re like most folks and don’t have any idea as to the vintage of your chip, download one manual and try programming using the values within it, and if the decoder doesn’t perform as expected, do a factory reset and use the values in the other manual, and you’ll probably be good to go.
It should be noted that most every manufacturer’s products have evolved over the years, so be on the lookout on their websites for manuals for older or discontinued decoders, which your decoder may be.
As always I am available to answer any questions you may have regarding the process of identifying mystery decoders. Good luck and happy railroading!
by Bill Sparks
It happens to all of us eventually. We’ll purchase a secondhand DCC-equipped locomotive at a swap meet or obtain a used decoder from a buddy and when it comes time to do some special programming or a decoder factory reset and the common value of CV8=8 isn’t working, you realize that you don’t know who manufactured your decoder. Sometimes you’ll be lucky when you disassemble your loco and the decoder will clearly be marked with the manufacturer’s name and decoder model number, but as often as not you’ll be looking at an anonymous chip that you’d be hard-pressed to identify visually. So what do you do?
Thankfully there is an easy method to identify your locomotive’s DCC chip without the hassle of disassembling your engine. Simply place your locomotive on your programming track (or in the case of a decoder that is not installed within a loco, simply plug it into the club’s decoder tester and affix one alligator clip to each rail on the programming track,) and select Service Mode.
The process will vary from one DCC system to another, but on our club’s NCE programming track, we simply press the throttle’s PROG button (on the lower-left corner of the throttle,) several times until the screen reads, “USE PROGRAMMING TRACK.” Service mode is automatically activated when the programming track option is selected. Press the Enter button and you’ll be presented with three options, select option #1, which reads, “STD.” The screen will ask you to wait a moment as the DCC system communicates with your mystery decoder, after which it will display a screen with a manufacturer number- let’s use as an example you get number 129. Write down this code number. Press Enter on the throttle again, and after another brief moment the screen will display, “VER,” followed by another number, which is the code number for the chip’s model number, sound file version (if so equipped) and other information, which will vary from make to make. Usually this isn’t of great importance, but it can help you - if necessary- determine the exact model of your chip. This is easily done by contacting the maker and providing them the version number.
Refer to the DCC Shortcuts Card on this site, or available free online by searching for “Model Railroad Hobbyist DCC Shortcuts Card,” to look up your decoder’s manufacturer number. Using our example of number 129, we see that our decoder was made by Digitrax.
Now that we know who made our decoder, we can hop over to the manufacturer’s web site and download their manuals free-of-charge, wherein you’ll find everything you need to program your decoder. We can see on the Digitrax website that manuals are available for products made up to December, 2013, and those made after January, 2014, so if you have an idea that it’s a newer decoder, download the second manual, or if you have reason to believe that your chip predates that, download the first manual. If you’re like most folks and don’t have any idea as to the vintage of your chip, download one manual and try programming using the values within it, and if the decoder doesn’t perform as expected, do a factory reset and use the values in the other manual, and you’ll probably be good to go.
It should be noted that most every manufacturer’s products have evolved over the years, so be on the lookout on their websites for manuals for older or discontinued decoders, which your decoder may be.
As always I am available to answer any questions you may have regarding the process of identifying mystery decoders. Good luck and happy railroading!