I am wanting to learn about ESU decoders, I have a majority of Kato Locomotives that have the TCS K1D4 decoders installed. I have heard is that the ESU decoders are better in that they don't fail as much. So I want to put one into one of my Kato's, I do not need sound so do I get a LocPilot or LokSound and no speaker, and which one?
Hi Bruce, I see you are relatively new to TrainBoard so, welcome. There is a lot of valuable help here. I am, by no means, an expert at decoder installs even tho I have done just a tad over 100 into my locos. I am 83 as of last 08/15 and have "played trains" on my own since I was 6 years old. SO......... You did not mention anything about the age of these KATO locos and that might make a difference in your options. As I see it, and I hope the experts will chime in soon for you, is that the K1D4 is a drop in decoder board. I do not think that ESU makes a LokPilot as a drop in for KATO's. I have used several of their LP Micros in KATO installs by using the original factory light board, altering the board traces to accept wires from the LP Micro. Cost for an LS5 is too prohibitive to purchase a drop in to use it as a silent runner. BTW, I would have to agree that the ESU and/or Zimo motor control is far superior than most other manufacturers products, but then I am spoiled. Yes I have some ZIMO's as well.
So far I've only used the older wired nano and wired micro (like them). Is the The LokPilot Micro Direct ... .... an option that might work. I only looked at them and haven't bought one... https://www.esu.eu/en/products/lokpilot/lokpilot-micro-direct/ I love ESU decoder and after using up some of the Digitrax I have will probably use them exclusively and I am ordering and using them on any loco that has special interest to me now. ESU has great decoder but are about the worst when it comes to knowing which of theirs might work in an application (Digitrax might be the best). I think they would find a much wider base if they did a better job of that. Sumner
Thank you Sumner, Yes if they did like TCS and showed what decoder works with manufacture/model that would be very helpful.
Thanks for the chat my friends, much appreciated. Sumner I totally agree about ESU communications regarding their products, perhaps it is a translation issue. I think they have over extended themselves by trying to get their decoders into nearly every manufacturer without much regard for the normal modeler that buys their goods and has supported them for many years. Their manuals suck and what we need are " ESU for Dummies " installation manuals. Oh well heck the end products are great. Now about the 54650 LP direct micro. I looked at the measurements and they are .08" narrower than the new LS drop-ins they make for KATO units. Don't know if that could be made to work. Why not just use an LP Nano that can be easily installed. BTW, I too have used several of the LP5 micro & nano's. They work as well as the ZIMO 621's I have. All good stuff!
Unfortunately at this time there is no drop in non-sound decoders for Kato from ESU at this time. However that could change or already be in the works. If you are not in a hurry it may be a matter of waiting till they or another manufacturer release something like a next18/NEM651 adapter board for kato narrow body diesels that would allow you to "plug in" one of their existing micro lokpilot decoders. If you had to have it now time you'd need some micro soldering skills and the DC light board that comes with the DC version of the locomotive and then a wired lokpilot micro such as the lokpilot 59820 or 59826. With that DC light board you'd have to cut wire traces then solder in the wires from the decoder. I'll spare you any more information on how to do this unless you are wanting to try this out. If you are curious to try sound though ESU does have a drop in which seems to work for most of the recent kato narrow diesels: 58741. P.S. I am basing my answer off the TCS K1D4 you mentioned in the first post. Kato wide body diesels will have a different setup/configuration.
If you’re not worried about sound, I’d stick with the TCS decoders. They’re super easy to program, and I’ve had nothing but success with them. TCS is very responsive, so if one did fail, I don’t expect you’d have any trouble with a replacement. That said, I don’t think I’ve ever had a decoder fail without my involvement.
Hi Check the esu 54650. It looks like the TCS K1D4. I changed to ESU LokSound to replace the K1D4. I am away from home right now, so I cannot visually check.
just be aware that while the ESU decoders are top of the line, the most recent models V5 are a pain to program due to the hundreds of CV and the nighmare way of accessing them, also their english manuals arrive far later than the original german, and the translation often leaves a lot to be desired. The best way to use them is to buy their lokprogrammer or use JMRI. I would keep the TCS, unless you need top of the line motor control and extended use of CV customization, or sound. I had a LPV5 on one italian DMU and was lucky to live in Germany at that time, the local ESU dealer was so kind as to take the DMU and program the needed CV for free. After that i got on a shopping frenzy of Digitrax decoders. (I am a very basic DCC user, so i stick to the rugged and simple). Just think if you do a global CV read on JMRI, ESU V5 takes 20 minutes, Digitrax, 2.
+++1 on the "use JMRI"! RailCom allows rapid decoder readback from the mainline, while it and other trains are running. TCS, ESU and Zimo decoders and command stations support Railcom.
I caved and bought the LokProgrammer. It is nice because you can test things on the fly while you are programming. I still use my NCE PowerCab to control the layout, and then to adjust CVs. JMRI is in the future, once I figure out how to interface all of the Arduinos...
TCS are very good quality decoders; and regarding LokPilot, a fellow modeler tells me he had a bunch of them fail FWIW.
