I have a command 2000 control system and was wondering if you can use other manufactures decoders or can you use command 2000 decoders with other systems. I am fairly new to dcc so any comments would be appreciated. thanks
Today's decoders are programmed to run on most any DCC system. I had an MRC system and both Lenz and Digitrax decoders performed perfectly. The downside is that the MRC system, because of it's parameters, is unable to fully utilize the full capabilities of these decoders. They still work though, and MRC decoders will work on other DCC systems. Again they are limited by design, but they work well. Mike
The MRC will control decoders from other manufacturers. You should be aware that there are advanced features of some decoders (not MRC) such as speed tables (useful for matching the performance of different engines and limiting the top speed of locos) that can be used if a separate decoder programmer is used (the MRC can only program basic registers). I use the Digitrax PR-1 programmer attached to an old computer to program speed tables and then use the MRC2000 to run the engines. Also special lighting effects can be programmed and will be in effect when the function is turned on.
I will make this a separate post for everyone, but for you, look for the NMRA CONFORMANCE WARRANT, it is your assurance that the decoder, etc. will work on any(?)DCC system. It is not a perfect world, so there'll be some problems, but for the most part if it has a 'warrant' it should interface with anything else that has a warrant
