NMRA DCC (Digital Command Control)

NMRA Digital Command Control (DCC) is the best way to operate your trains. DCC easily allows you to run multiple trains on a single mainline without blocks! Developed by the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) from an original Lenz design, NMRA DCC compatible products are now produced by many companies. DCC is suitable for all sizes of layouts.

DCC Consultation

If you are considering converting your current layout to DCC or if you are considering building a new layout using DCC, Central Hobbies has a DCC consultation service. We will assist in you configuring a DCC system for your layout. The fee is $25.00 per hour or part thereof. Consultation fees may be credited towards the purchase of a DCC system from Central Hobbies.

Service and Support for Central Hobbies DCC Customers

Central Hobbies' trained staff provide service and support for all DCC products purchased from us. We will help you select the right decoder for your locomotive models. We will arrange for the repair and or replacement of defective or damaged products. If necessary we will arrange for loaner products from our stock. These services are provided free of charge to all Central Hobbies Digitrax customers.

Service and Support for DCC Equipment Purchased Elsewhere

If the supplier you purchased your DCC products from will not or is incapable of providing Service and Support for you, Central Hobbies will provide Service and Support for a fee. The handling fee will be from $5.00 to $25.00 per item depending on what it is. Loaner items can be supplied for a weekly rental fee. Depending on the circumstances, Central Hobbies may waive the fees.

MRC

MRC manufactures the Prodigy and Prodigy Advanced DCC System. Central Hobbies does not stock this system We will order them in for those who want that system.
We do not stock MRC decoders as there are better, more cost effective decoders available from several other manufacturers. We will supply MRC decoders if you really want them.

Atlas Master DCC System

Atlas has entered the DCC market with a repackaged basic Lenz System with their own software. This is an entry level system.
Central Hobbies will provide service and support for Atlas Master DCC products purchased from us. Support for Altas DCC products purchased elsewhere will follow the guidelines set up for Digitrax products.

Central Hobbies no longer stocks Atlas Master DCC systems. We will order one for you if you want one.

Please note that there are programming issues with this product. It does not easily program paged mode decoders. Atlas has issued work-around instructions for this problem. If you are having problems programming a paged mode decoder with an Atlas system you purchased from us, we can program it for you on the store Digitrax Demonstration System.

Train Control Systems

TCS has several decoders.

DCC Specialties

DCC Specialties makes decoders for the Tortoise

Power Supplies

Most DCC systems need a power supply. As well as the 5 Amp Digitrax PS515, we have the Magna Force power supplies for $ 51.99 Can$. Both may be used with all major manufacturers DCC systems ( Digitrax, Lenz, North Coast, Wangrow ).

Roco Digital

We are out of stock of the Roco Digital Crane and accessories (Light, Electro Magnet and Working Clam Shell Bucket). We will stock these items again if we can find a new supplier.

The best Digitrax throttle to use is the UT1 followed by the DT400. Both give good feedback on which function is selected . Any other throttle will work as well.

• Roco Digital Crane Operation

  The Roco Digital Crane can be operated by any NMRA DCC compatible system.

  When selecting the locomotive with your system, remember that the crane decoder operates in 14 speed step mode. When using the crane with a Digitrax system you must status edit the crane when you first select it. The proper status is 02 or 12. You can program the crane decoder to run in 28 speed step mode.

  The Roco Digital Crane has four functions that can be controlled. You can:

  • Turn the Accessory on or off, ( If the accessory is on you can operate any of the other functions and it will stay on).

  • Rotate the Crane cab clockwise or counter-clockwise on the chassis,

  • Raise or lower the Boom

  • Raise or lower the Hook

• Operating the Crane:

  To control the functions of the Roco Digital Crane, you use a combination of the throttle speed control, the throttle direction control, the headlight function control and the function one control.

  • The headlight and function-one controls select which crane function you are going to control.

  • The direction switch controls the direction the crane function is going to operate (Forward = Up or On or Clockwise, Reverse = Down or Off or Counter-Clockwise).

  • The speed control determines how fast the crane function will move. Note that not every function starts moving at the same speed. The boom and hook functions start moving at the first or second speed step. The Cab starts rotating around 43% speed.

  The rotate/raise/lower functions are easy to control. You set the two functions to the appropriate states and use the direction and speed controls to operate the function.

  The accessory control is different; to control the accessory both of the two functions must be off.

  • to turn the accessory ON select the forward direction and turn the speed control on to 14 or so. Then turn the speed control back to 0. This will turn the magnet on or turn the light on or open the excavator bucket.

  • To turn the accessory OFF select the reverse direction and turn the speed control on to 14 or so. Then turn the speed control back to 0. This will turn the magnet off or turn the light off or close the excavator bucket.

  • After the accessory function is on or off it will stay that way while you operate the other functions.

  The following table shows which combinations of functions control what crane function.

  Function	F0	F1	Motor Fwd	Motor Rev
  Turn The Accessory On or Off	Off	Off	On	Off
  Rotate The Crane Cab	On	Off	CW	CCW
  Boom - Raise / Lower	Off	On	Up	Down
  Hook - Raise / Lower	On	On	Up	Down

  
  

• Programming the Crane

  As the decoder in the crane is made by Lenz, you must use register mode programming to change the decoder address. Although the instructions only mention changing the address, the decoder has all of the CV's of a current (2000) Lenz decoder.

• Crane Wheels

  The Roco Digital Crane has European depth flanges on the model wheels. Roco makes two types of replacement wheel sets to convert the model to NMRA RP25 wheels. Roco part number 40266 is used on the crane model (you need three packages (two wheel sets per package)). Roco part number 40264 is used for the gondola.

• Couplers

  The crane (and gondola) come with Roco style European couplers in a NEM mounting box. The NEM box will take Kadee #17 (short), #18 (medium) or #19 (long) couplers.

• Weight and Lifting Capacity

  The lifting capacity of the crane cannot be increased by weighting the cab. This will only make the Crane cab heavy and it will tip over backwards when it is not lifting anything. The only place to add weight is in the body. The Roco coupler mechanism is in the way of this. If you Canadianize the body (remove the buffers and fill in the end beam) you will gain space to add some sheet lead. This will help increase the lifting capacity. The only way to greatly increase the capacity is to add the outriggers to the body.

• Magnet and Light Roco Part Number 46806

  This kit has two accessories: a light that fits into the end of the crane boom and an electromagnet. You can only use one or them at a time.

• Excavator (Clam shell bucket) Roco Part Number 46807

  The operation of the Excavator is voltage dependant. You may not get reliable operation on an 'N- Scale' voltage setting (Digitrax Chief). Setting the voltage switch to the HO Scale setting will give more reliable operation.
  
  Good results may be obtained with Woodland Scenics medium ballast. The fine ballast just runs out of the bucket. Unless you push the bucket into the ballast, you will not get a full bucket of ballast. You usually get a quarter to third bucket full.
  
  It is easier to load a gondola from a track side ballast bin, than to unload a car.
  
  The magnet glued into the hook attachment device (reference Fig 4, item 2) is not glued very well. You will probably break it free after you have removed the hook from the hook attachment device one or two times. It is easy to glue back into place.

Decoder Installation

We reserve the right to correct errors and change prices without prior notice. Please note that page updates are done as time permits. Page contents may lag behind store stock.

Updated January 5, 2007