Z Scale Decoders

OK, I admit it, I'm a decoder freak! I was sorting throught my stash this morning, and thought I would take a few pictures to show size comparisons, and discuss some features. Here's the stash, stored in anti-static bags, which is the safe way to store them:


Here's the lineup, showing sizes of the smallest up to the largest of my current supply, including yesterdays aquisition of Uhlenbrock Comfort Mini's:


Zooming in of the 3 smallest I have been able to aquire, you can see the Uhlenbrock is noticably smaller than even the Lenz Gold Mini:


When you compare the smallest Uhlenbrock next to the smallest Digitrax offering, you can see it is almost half the size, for these minimal 2 function decoders:


I installed an Uhlenbrock into one of my AZL SD45's last night, and although I did not wire up lights yet, it was a simple install because the provided frame notch for decoder was a vast canyon of abundant space, where even the Lenz Gold Mini was refusing to fit. It's all in the width.

There are even smaller DCC compatible decoders out there, but I have yet to find a source for them in the US. One I want to try, the CT Electronik DCX74z is even smaller than the Uhlenbrock offering with 4 functions and possibly ditch light effects.

 

There is another item I want to throw at you, the Lenz Power 1 module, which although available for about a year now, has received little fanfare. I have installed 2 of them inside custom built tenders, and they hold enough juice to cary the loco over the dirtiest track with ease. The one installed in my Mikado will run it for about 1 foot without electrical pickup, and the one in my 10 wheeler will run it about 3 feet, even puling a 10 car train!

So what's inside a Power 1 module? Well I opened one up to take a peek. I cut off the thick black heat shrink tubing to reveal an 8mm x 16mm supercap with a whopping 1 Farad of storage at 2.7 volts! If you guys are familiar with the big caps that car stereo fans install to keep their headlights from dimming while their subwoofers boom, well this tiny cap holds the same amount of juice! It uses Carbon Nanotube technology (Aerogel Foam) to store vast quanities of electrons. This baby is high tech for sure!


I bent the cap out of the way to see what's under it on the topside of the board:


And here is the bottom side, where you can see a higher density of components:


This module has 3 wires which solder to the Lenz Gold decoders, a positive and negative, and a charge line. Seems a lot of components but, it does have to convert 10-16 volts down to 2.7v for the cap to store, then back up to 12 volts or so to keep the decoder supplied with power during interuption of track power. I am sold on this technology, and can't wait till we see the tiny surface mount versions of these caps built onto decoders. Even 1 second of power is enough to smoothly run a balky steamer through a nasty turnout, so a small supercap built onto a decoder would be a really happy decoder indeed!

Lastly, I want to throw up a picture of the new Digitrax DZ123MO drop in deocder, compared to the DZ123W wired in decoder:


You can see it is much larger than the wired decoders, but just enough narrower that it can fit in place of the MTL GP35 light board. If the component density was packed better, there would be enough space on this board for a 4 function deocder with sound! If I was the guy designing Z Scale diesels, I would be fitting tiny cell phone speakers just under the locomotive fans, and the decoder board would be a 4 or 6 function sound decoder. After seeing the component density of the Uhlenbrock 73400 deocders, I am more than convinced onboard sound in Z Scale is an EASY proposition!

 

haha! Look at the bottom left bag in the first photo of this topic!

I got a few of them now! Decoders are to me, exactly what Heroine is to an addict! I get all itchy and uncomfortable, and even
irritable when denied a new decoder. I try to maintain my cool but decoders and Z Scale locomotives are my drug of choice, so I try to make sure Y always have an abundant supply, to help easy my suffering of life! haha!


I look at the Lenz Gold Mini next to the Uhlenbrock Comfort Mini, and it's like comparing a Minivan to a Mini Cooper!

 

Hi Gwyl, the DZ123 decoders are only 2 functions. I was hoping that the drop in decoder would have been based on the DZ143, so it would have 4 functions.

Nice Stereo Chris, That looks like a 1.5 Farad cap?

 

Cool pictures Chris. I looked up the price as $45 from Digitrains, and direct from the manufacturers website for list price of $42, and that's with VAT which I should be able to get out of making them $33.60 list. I am looking for a discount dealer now, as I want to buy a lot of them.

I just noticed they have a sound decoder that is 24mm x 9mm, and they are billing it as the worlds smallest for $101.50

 

I would like the lower voltage mod! yes!

 

Another Uhlenbrock 73400 decoder install

Last night I installed one of the 73400 decoders in an AZL SD45, and it was a perfect fit, however the SD70 is still a tight fit, and even the 73400 is huge and don't fit all that easy. (yes I got bored making 36' boxcars so i went back to the DCC thing this afternoon. Still enjoying my day 1 vacation though)

I'l show you what I had to do to fit the 73400 into the SD70:


Wiring is easy, as the Comfort Mini has only 6 wires, and the AZL board has 6 terminals. 1-orange 2-gray 3-red 4-black 5-white 6-yellow.


Run the wires long enough to reach the front of the loco. Wrap some Kapton tape around the decoder so it don't short anything. Put the shell back on, but not the cab yet.


Put some black tape inside the cab to prevent the cab from illuminating.I filed the sides flush with the top of the frame clip for extra room, but it might not be necessary, then the cab went back on easy, and the lights worked just fine.



Well, it's not that hard to do, but still not a drop-in. The inside of the AZL shell is only 6.8mm wide, so even this 7.5mm wide decoder is too wide to fit in back where I would like it.

 

I did it this way because the LED's and resistors were already wired in, and correctly aimed at the headlights and tailights. There is no frame electrical pickups available, so without the light board you would have to figure out your own electrical pickup.

Someone else did one of these sd70/73400 installs recently, and Jeff Merrill asked them to post pictures but they told him that it was too much hassle to open the shell again, so we won't get to see what was done to make it fit.

 

Well, I am interested in the low voltage mod, and a bulk order of these decoders for a discount. I know I would have no problem using up a bunch of them, because every day I get a couple requests from N Scalers and Z Scalers asking if I would install decoders for them.

My only concern other than time, is that sometimes an install goes bad and you end up with a loco that don't run good anymore. It's too risky with expensive Z Scale locomotives. Naturally I would have to eat the locomotive cost, so a bad loco install can wipe out a month's worth of hobby money.