TheSnapper
Western Thunderer
This is a plea for help from any fellow WT’ers who may have some insight into the Secret World of Märklin and particulrly their MFX decoders.
I have a Gauge 1 Märklin BR38 loco fitted with a Märklin MFX decoder:
Also see here at a recent running session: http://www.westernthunder.co.uk/index.php?threads/german-modelling.4631/page-10
The loco runs fine using my NCE DCC system, and manual states that certain CV’s can be changed. However, I am finding it very frustrating that I can’t even change the address of the loco. I cannot read any CV’s using my controller or Decoder Pro, and any attempted changes cause the loco to become unresonsive, necessitating a CV8 reset (which thankfully works OK).
I am coming to the conclusion that unless I can conquer the beast, I would be better off replacing the decoder with a large Zimo (preferably) or a Loksound XL. I have approached both Zimo & ESU, but no-one appears to have any knowledge (or interest?) about doing this.
Removing the tender body to get at the electronics reveals this mass of non-colour-coded wiring:
The large black box is the speaker enclosure. The mass of black wires goes via a multi-pin connector to the loco. Presumably they include connections to & from the motor, lights & smoke unit(s).
HELP! I can’t find any detailed technical information on the Internet. Besides being able to define which wire goes where, what is the function of the separate PCB which fits on top of the lower board with multi-pin connectors? Is it the sound decoder?
I would like to know if anyone has any knowledge of these decoders/installations, or if you know of anyone who has!
Any information would be appreciated
Cheers
Tim
I have a Gauge 1 Märklin BR38 loco fitted with a Märklin MFX decoder:
Also see here at a recent running session: http://www.westernthunder.co.uk/index.php?threads/german-modelling.4631/page-10
The loco runs fine using my NCE DCC system, and manual states that certain CV’s can be changed. However, I am finding it very frustrating that I can’t even change the address of the loco. I cannot read any CV’s using my controller or Decoder Pro, and any attempted changes cause the loco to become unresonsive, necessitating a CV8 reset (which thankfully works OK).
I am coming to the conclusion that unless I can conquer the beast, I would be better off replacing the decoder with a large Zimo (preferably) or a Loksound XL. I have approached both Zimo & ESU, but no-one appears to have any knowledge (or interest?) about doing this.
Removing the tender body to get at the electronics reveals this mass of non-colour-coded wiring:
The large black box is the speaker enclosure. The mass of black wires goes via a multi-pin connector to the loco. Presumably they include connections to & from the motor, lights & smoke unit(s).
HELP! I can’t find any detailed technical information on the Internet. Besides being able to define which wire goes where, what is the function of the separate PCB which fits on top of the lower board with multi-pin connectors? Is it the sound decoder?
I would like to know if anyone has any knowledge of these decoders/installations, or if you know of anyone who has!
Any information would be appreciated
Cheers
Tim