Kudos to Digitrax tech support

[randgust]

I'm still basically a DC guy, but am coming up with a limited roster of DCC equipment to run on others layouts and shows.   I've done a lot of custom builds on my Climax kits with DCC now, not a total Luddite.

This project was taking one of the old Life-Like plastic frame PA's and putting a DZ126 in it - easy enough as lots of room in there, plastic frame, and it pulls like a mule, great contact.   A fairly inexpensive project, too.

But - the ATSF ones had a mars light in the high nose and a headlight below that.   Hmmm.   How the heck do you do that without the extra F1 bulb leads?  I'd read it could be done.

Finally decided to just ask.... and got a good answer in 24 hours, which CV's to set to what and it worked great.   Just what I wanted.  Mars light looks good and is controllable off of F1 off the rear headlight leads.

So I like to salute good support when I see it, as an old IT guy i've seen a lot of BAD support.

[peteski]

Finally decided to just ask.... and got a good answer in 24 hours, which CV's to set to what and it worked great.   Just what I wanted.  Mars light looks good and is controllable off of F1 off the rear headlight leads.

It is all described in the decoder manual, but yes it is much easier (and a lot less head scratching) to just get the values for the CVs which need to be reconfigured to map the rear headlight to F1 and assign Mars light effect to that output.

[randgust]

That manual left me in the dust.   I'm used to simpler things like unbricking a Win11 machine after an update.

[Sumner]

Glad you got it  .

I've used a number of the 126's and not a bad decoder but for just a couple bucks more now try a ( LokPilot ).  Smaller, know for this build you didn't need smaller, but still nice when you do.  The other thing is many more function outputs you can use and even a couple logic ones that can be used with a small add-on card as normal function outputs.

Get a couple and try them, great decoders.

Sumner

[peteski]

Another vote for ESU decoders, especially since the price of American decoders have gone up close to the German decoders.
And for a super deal you can get a LokPilot Standard nano with 8-pin wire harness for less than $9!  That's a deal of the century.
It is not quite as feature-rich as LokPilot 5, but even with a 7x8mm footprint it has 4 fully programmable functions.  That thing is tiny!

https://toytrainheaven.com/product/esu-sale-bulk-lokpilot-nano-std-dcc-nem652-8-pin-interface-harness-list-price-40-98-sku-3979-5366102/
I don't' know why they used a photo of another adapter.  This what the decoder looks like:
https://www.esu.eu/en/products/former-products/lokpilot-nano-standard/
Manual:
Go to https://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/instruction-manuals/digital-decoders/ and look for "LokPilot Nano"

[Sumner]

And for a super deal you can get a LokPilot Standard nano with 8-pin wire harness for less than $9!  That's a deal of the century....

Did you get yours yet?  I was going to order (maybe they are all gone by now) but worried that the deal might be too good to be true and my money might disappear 

Sumner

[peteski]

Did you get yours yet?  I was going to order (maybe they are all gone by now) but worried that the deal might be too good to be true and my money might disappear 

Sumner

Yes, I got mine and they are legit.  Actually I placed second order yesterday (for the total of 30 decoders). When I ordered them originally they were even less expensive than $8. I wish I ordered more at that time.

Toy Train Heaven (TTH) is a legitimate dealer, they have been around for many years and I have dealt with them many times in the past.  They are actually related to Lee English, his model train store and his Z scale couplers, and Bowser.

I also noticed that TTH is located in Montoursville, PA which is the same place ESU used to have their U.S. office before moving to Colorado.  I wonder if the fact TTH has a large quantity of those discounted decoders is just a coincidence or not?

[Sumner]

Yes, I got mine and they are legit.  ....

Thanks, ordered 15 and he said at that time he had probably 100 left.  The listing is very confusing.

Sumner

[peteski]

  The listing is very confusing.

I agree. While it is for the TTH disadvantage, we can take advantage of it.