Recommendation DCC System

[MK]

I agree with Peteski that the symptoms don't point to the command station.  The fact that almost 100% of your locos reset itself after not being used for a while points to perhaps something else.

When a loco "resets" itself after storage, can you run it on address 3?  Curious as to what it resets to and if it resets to factory.

[mecgp7]

It does not reset to 03. Maybe reset isn't the correct term. I can't read the address most of the time and the only way to get it to read is to program the address again.  Often when I place a loco on the programming track to read the address, it will give me unknown numbers. So a loco with the original address of 1234 would read as 4983 for example. The loco doesnt respond to 4983 when I try it.

Just throwing things out there, but I use Unitrack and Unitrack connections. Could it be that or the wiring?

Another piece of info is that all the decoder equipped locos that I have sold have never had any issues. All buyers have been happy.

I am going to meet with my friend who has a system and give it a try. My frustration with DCC stems from this experience which is why I never got into it.

[peteski]

I suppose that there might be a remote chance that your command station has "flaky electronics" which manifasts itself like somoethgin that can be contributed to electrical connectivity between the command station and the decoder, but it suer looks to most of use with soem DCC or electical experience like connetivity problem.

Is there any chance you coudl take your DCC system to your friend and temproarily hook it up to just prgrammign track? If his command station works flawlessly and yours in that environment is still flaky then that woudl prove that it is your command station causing problems.

I dislike the Digitrax system (but I'm stuck dealing with the one my NTRAK club uses) and I would wholeheartedly recommend trying another brand.  I own an NCE Power Cab, and it is so much easier and simpler to deal with than Digitrax. Perfect for testing models (which is what I used it for, just like you), or for a small layout.

[mecgp7]

Yep, I will bring my system with me when I meet my friend. Thanks for the recommendation on NCE.

[Maletrain]

.  .  . 
Just throwing things out there, but I use Unitrack and Unitrack connections. Could it be that or the wiring?
.  .  .

I have had similar problems reading decoders with a computer and PR4 in stand-alone mode.  The problem was with the Kato type connector to the programming track.  I used a NON-Kato connector on one side of a connection in the middle of the feed from the PR$ to the track, and it has intermittent contact issue.  I found the problem after noticing that the system tended to not work well right after being disturbed.

For SOME locos that had not beeen run for a long time, which were usually eBay purchases, I also found that they would not run on DCC but would start on DC with high voltage.  After running for a while on DC, I could read the decoder.  Of course, the decoder needs to be set up to run on DCC to make that work.  If CV29 is programmed for DCC only, I could not do that.