question on a potential purchase

zztop May 26, 2009

  1. zztop

    zztop TrainBoard Member

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    New to G scale so I have a question that I hope someone can help answer. I have a LHS that is getting out of the train business and they have a Dash - 9 with the Phoenix sound installed for $400 brand new. I want to use the Airwire 900 with it. Do I still need to buy a decoder for the engine or would I do better buying a Dash - 9 with out the Phoenix sound and just get something like one of the QSI decoders with sound?
     
  2. EMD trainman

    EMD trainman TrainBoard Member

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    Aristocraft locomotives at least the newer ones are made for a plug and play operation to work in conjunction with QSI sound and DCC which makes it a complete cheap package. However, the Phoenix sound system is a better system and Airwire is also a better top of the line DCC system which does require you to buy the decoder seperately.

    So basiclly you are asking should you buy a Chevy or a Cadillac which is basiclly the same comparison. It's up to your budget as to what you want to do. It will definately cost alot more for a Airwire system and decoder, but it's a great top of the line system. Don't get me wrong, QSI solutions makes a good affordable system, but Airwire can do alot more.
     
  3. zztop

    zztop TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks for the reply and the insight EMD. One more question. Since the loco has the sound already installed is it pretty straight forward to install one of the Airwire decoders in this situation?
     
  4. EMD trainman

    EMD trainman TrainBoard Member

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    Airwire has very good instructions and should not be a problem or interfere with your Phoenix sound, they should work together
     
  5. zztop

    zztop TrainBoard Member

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    Ok..I bought the loco but I've been reading about the different control units and the Aristo Revo has intrigued me. I was originally thinking the Airewire 900. I want to run battery power and looking at the Aristo Li-ion batteries seems like a pretty good way to go. If this were your decision to make about different control systems which would you choose and why? Thanks for replies.
     
  6. EMD trainman

    EMD trainman TrainBoard Member

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    I was in on the Aristocraft discussion about Ion batteries at the ECLS train show. They are very weird in how they work and how you have to wire them. I you want alot of volts, you wire these ion batteries in series, if you want alot of amps, you need to wire them in a parallel circuit. They do have a saftey feature I like to keep them from blowing up in you hand if you do something wrong. You need a special ion battery charger also, you can't use a regular battery charger. This is the only battery I know of you can wire in a series and parallel circuit to get the volts and amps you need, you can't do this with a conventional battery.
     
  7. DragonFyreGT

    DragonFyreGT TrainBoard Member

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    I watched the Seminar on the Aristo Revolution system. If you're not getting an Aristo Locomotive, then I'd skip the revolution system as from what I understand it doesn't really work with non Aristo Units other then a few bachmann locomotives, I'd actually contact aristocraft concerning that. If you aren't and don't want to hassle with the T.E. system, yes I'd also reccomend Airwire. My friend uses it and it seems to respond well. As for Aristo's new battery systems, I haven't heard anything positive about them. In fact the safety system that EMD mentioned is the first time I've heard about that. I've heard Sierra's batteries work well but that's jsut my observation. I'm going to do a little more research into Aristo's batteries myself.
     

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