Hello all,
been a member of this blogger for a long while, but had not been following it for a long while, as my focus had gone to my other hobby, the Cumberland West layout ( Cumberland West - 2017 Tour Video ).
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But my interest has sort of shifted back to European trains (specific Italian) but also my old Marklin. When I say old, I mean very analog.
Working on the CW taught me a lot about digital (DCC) and I am very comfortable in setting it up, using it, etc. I also own a lot of Digitrax hardware, due to buy outs and friends.
I recently discovered that Marklin sells upgrade kits to change AC motors to DC motors. And an idea came to me. What could prevent me to use my Digitrax system and hardware with my Marklin. All I would have to do is to change the motors to DC, add a Digitrax decoder and off I go.
I can feel the stomach turning in many "Marklinisti". Let me say right away, what I have is not for collectors (I do not own anything that would be "valuable" to a collector) and second, I am not going to get my engines running on a digital Marklin layout (because I have no friends that have that setup). And I will be running with the middle contacts and sliders. At some point, the idea is to upgrade the decoders to ESU, possibly with sound; I do understand that ESU decoders can run with the Marklin system. My view point is that Lionel and MTH are doing the same thing with their systems, so why not Marklin.
I will be using JMRI and a laptop to control the trains, occupancy, signals and turnouts. I plan to use C track, though I have a ton of M track. The reason I am not using the M track is that I have not found a way to control the turnouts digitally while having one side of the coil common with the rails. Thats a no no for DCC. But C track turnout wiring is separate, so it should work.
Presently this "test/demo" will be a simple loop with 2 sidings (plus the main) on opposite sides of the loop. One side will be staging with 3 trains, the other a through station. The loop is single track at the curves. The idea is to use JMRI automatic running capability to put up scenes were trains go by, stop, are passed, at the station; sort of a pageant running.
Well, there it is: it's official. Now it is a matter of getting some of the kits (I ordered 1 60943) and see what engines I have can fit this kit. My engines are mostly from the 30* series from 3000 to 3099, all from when I was a kid in the 60's. I have no newer ones.
I also got from a friend some Digitrax hardware to control turnouts (DS54s), block sensor (BDL168s), signals (SE8Cs), and power districts (PM42). I already have the Command Station (DCS200), a booster (DB200), and a number of throttles (DT500, DT402, DT400, DT100).
I also have a Locobuffer USB from RR Cirkits and a laptop with the current JMRI.
Cheers to all, and I hope to keep you abreast of the progress.
Leo P
been a member of this blogger for a long while, but had not been following it for a long while, as my focus had gone to my other hobby, the Cumberland West layout ( Cumberland West - 2017 Tour Video ).
x
But my interest has sort of shifted back to European trains (specific Italian) but also my old Marklin. When I say old, I mean very analog.
Working on the CW taught me a lot about digital (DCC) and I am very comfortable in setting it up, using it, etc. I also own a lot of Digitrax hardware, due to buy outs and friends.
I recently discovered that Marklin sells upgrade kits to change AC motors to DC motors. And an idea came to me. What could prevent me to use my Digitrax system and hardware with my Marklin. All I would have to do is to change the motors to DC, add a Digitrax decoder and off I go.
I can feel the stomach turning in many "Marklinisti". Let me say right away, what I have is not for collectors (I do not own anything that would be "valuable" to a collector) and second, I am not going to get my engines running on a digital Marklin layout (because I have no friends that have that setup). And I will be running with the middle contacts and sliders. At some point, the idea is to upgrade the decoders to ESU, possibly with sound; I do understand that ESU decoders can run with the Marklin system. My view point is that Lionel and MTH are doing the same thing with their systems, so why not Marklin.
I will be using JMRI and a laptop to control the trains, occupancy, signals and turnouts. I plan to use C track, though I have a ton of M track. The reason I am not using the M track is that I have not found a way to control the turnouts digitally while having one side of the coil common with the rails. Thats a no no for DCC. But C track turnout wiring is separate, so it should work.
Presently this "test/demo" will be a simple loop with 2 sidings (plus the main) on opposite sides of the loop. One side will be staging with 3 trains, the other a through station. The loop is single track at the curves. The idea is to use JMRI automatic running capability to put up scenes were trains go by, stop, are passed, at the station; sort of a pageant running.
Well, there it is: it's official. Now it is a matter of getting some of the kits (I ordered 1 60943) and see what engines I have can fit this kit. My engines are mostly from the 30* series from 3000 to 3099, all from when I was a kid in the 60's. I have no newer ones.
I also got from a friend some Digitrax hardware to control turnouts (DS54s), block sensor (BDL168s), signals (SE8Cs), and power districts (PM42). I already have the Command Station (DCS200), a booster (DB200), and a number of throttles (DT500, DT402, DT400, DT100).
I also have a Locobuffer USB from RR Cirkits and a laptop with the current JMRI.
Cheers to all, and I hope to keep you abreast of the progress.
Leo P
Hi Leo. I'm doing exactly what you are doing, but use an Uhlenbrock Intellibox for my Command Station. I control M-track turnouts using Digitrax DS-64 decoders. In order to separate what Maerklin calls "ground" (the brown wire) of track and the M-track coils, you just need to remove the bulb in the turnout lantern. That makes the coils completely isolated. The yellow wire from the turnout is common, the blue wires actuate the coils one way or the other.
ReplyDeleteThe Locobuffer USB works well. I converted several Maerklin analog locomotives using ESU permanent magnet rotors. When I started on this 10 years ago I also tried using decoders from Uhlenbrock that can drive the Maerklin AC motors, but was not particularly happy with the running characteristics of those decoders.
Feel free to browse my blog around 2008 - 2010 to see how I started. http://blog.lostentry.org/
Bernhard
Thank Bernhard. I will check it out. I never thought I would put my old Marklin into the digital world, but here I am. Thank you for the M track turnout tip. I will check it out and I am sure that it will work. I do like to have a light there, but it could be a separate circuit that handles all the lights. Great point. Cheers.
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