Again nice and clear vid. I bought 2x sets of the AD8fx decoder which is the model to drive non-solenoid point motors as I had already bought several Fulgurex slo-mo motors. The Fulgurex weren't that great eventually so I swapped them all out for the DCC Concepts Cobalt slo-mo point motor as they were a good price in packs of 12. Ironically DCC Concepts now produce a Cobalt slo-mo motor with decoder built in.
Eventually as my solenoids fail i will replace them with the point motors you mentioned. Definitely cleaner wiring which is something everyone needs honestly.
Yes - TBH I think I undersized the wiring to the Fulgurex so they weren't getting enough grunt over a 4m lenght. There were a few sticky ones (drive mechanism) anyway so an executive decision was made. :-)
Great Video, one question regarding the momentry toggle switch what delivers a short burst to the Solenoid but will it keep my led lit on the control panel what I'm going to build? Cheers
Cheers Jonathan! Mate, they no longer make this model, best to have a look at the ADS-8sx. As far as I understand they should work with any 3 wire operated point motor. Cheers, Ben.
I have 4 of these. The biggest nightmare is the lack of memory for the frog switch if there is a short circuit meaning I have to reset the points before I can drive anything over it or if the short circuit happens while something is on the points. I've got round it by buying a 2nd hand DCC master for £50 and running Accessories on the 2nd circuit. I found them easy to program, but when I expand to the next few (78 points in total) I'll be buying the SX. By the way, they will work with Loconet systems, using the track power rather than loconet.
I have completely transitioned mine to 8SX decoders (only 74 points in my case). And in complete agreement with you that they were a bloody nightmare. Can't say that im upset that they discontinued them.
Hello John. As I have recently learned this product has been discontinued by DCC concepts its replacement is the ADS-8sx decoder, which is without a doubt superior in every way. Insul frog points won't affect you in the way with this hardware, as for your LED related question while I myself do not use them the ADS-8sx does provide a terminal specifically for the LEDs. They remain powered on at all times depending on the switch positions. Any center spring loaded SPDT momentary switch is fine for your needs. Hope this helps you out John and thanks for the comments! Cheers... Ben.
Hi Ben, I managed to get a AD-S8fx from TMC for £46, I see you have inputs for dc/dcc on each block can you just jump the terminals instead of individually wiring them from the bus?
@@HighOakJunction Gday John! YOu in fact only need to wire power one dc/dcc terminal the pcb connects all the blocks together. Word of caution please make sure your power is off before wiring these older units are highly sensitive to surges and short circuits! outside of that wire, it in attach your solenoids and flick the read switch and jobs done. Hope this helps! Have a terrific Xmas and new years! Cheers, Ben!
@@theengineshed359 thanks Ben I will make sure it's not connected. I just saw the dc and dcc connection on each green terminal block so assume you had to power each one. Thanks for getting back and the helpful advice. Like you you tons of points on the layout. Thanks John.
When you press the learn such button and then back to run mode does this just register that one port or the whole board? Do you have to do this process to each of the 8 ports?
Almost correct. The programming switch is independent for each terminal, once programmed only that terminal will respond to that address and so on. If you want multiple terminals to be assigned the same address repeat the process for the desired outputs. Just FYI this model no longer exists, the process is the same on the newer model. Hope this helps
Great video - I have a load of these and agree with you wholeheartedly! - just a few questions - have you powered them directly from the track bus? I suspect you, with 68 points, separately power them on their own bus - be interested to know what you do? Also, do you power at 4 points on the board or just at one power point - I know it says power at one point only, but interested to know what you do - if you have your own power supply to these, what do you use? Cheers JC
Gday JC! Mate glad you enjoyed the video! All my accessory decoder take power from the DCC bus, personally the wiring is simpler and makes installation far easier. AS for power my layout is commanded by an ESU ECOS and that has more than enough horsepower to drive everything I require. With regards to the 1 or 4 point power wiring, I only use 1 point of power. These days the majority of the decoders I use are the newer ADS 8sx models and so only 1 power input is provided. Hope this clarifies things for you mate! Thanks for the comment and sub! Cheers... Ben!
I'm new at this. I think I understand the components you specified, the main module and the point motor etc. But what button do you depress to throw the turn-out? I must be missing something. Thank-You
With this particular unit, you have 2 options. You can wire in an SPDT switch to the three ports marked "momentary" on the board. Or and depending on what DCC unit you are using. All you need to do is set the small switch near the capacitor to the set mode, and on your command station, there should be an accessory section (again depending on your command station). You simply select the DCC accessory address you desire and change the direction a few as if it were a locomotive and return the switch to the run position. I recommend pre-wiring and programming these units before you install them under your baseboard. And a bit of masking tape and Nikko will help you label which output is which for when you install the switches. I hope this helps roger.............. Cheers, Ben.
@@theengineshed359 Sorry just to clarify for my slow brain here - does that mean you only need to provide track power to the +ve and -ve that are alone on one end of the board and that will then work for telling the board which address is being thrown or do you need to wire something else in in place of the switch options in the middle of each section? Also how do you attach the board to the base board?
@@MrDobilina You're absolutely correct. You will only need to provide power at one point and it will power the whole unit. Outside of that, there are no additional requirements for this product. It will receive commands from the DCC bus without any problem. I would honestly recommend you look at the ADS-8sx unit if you are looking to invest in this kind of hardware.
Now discontinued but still some left at: scalology.co.uk/collections/cobalt-point-decoders/products/universal-dcc-decoder-cdu-solenoid-drive-8-way-added-features
@@theengineshed359 The main thing that makes them superior is the discharge button, other than that they operate similarly. The reason for this was due to failures: all caps get charged and then the user changes the wiring about, causing a short and damaging the unit.
@@blade1137xxv The other major advantage again is the power off memory for electro frog points. But yes I'm aware of the issues that hindered this product much to my own expense. Comparatively still among the best options cost wise for an accessory decoder. I would like to see at some point a variation of a "digital" seep style point that would remove the mess of wires and save space.
Again nice and clear vid. I bought 2x sets of the AD8fx decoder which is the model to drive non-solenoid point motors as I had already bought several Fulgurex slo-mo motors. The Fulgurex weren't that great eventually so I swapped them all out for the DCC Concepts Cobalt slo-mo point motor as they were a good price in packs of 12. Ironically DCC Concepts now produce a Cobalt slo-mo motor with decoder built in.
Eventually as my solenoids fail i will replace them with the point motors you mentioned. Definitely cleaner wiring which is something everyone needs honestly.
Yes - TBH I think I undersized the wiring to the Fulgurex so they weren't getting enough grunt over a 4m lenght. There were a few sticky ones (drive mechanism) anyway so an executive decision was made. :-)
Great Video, one question regarding the momentry toggle switch what delivers a short burst to the Solenoid but will it keep my led lit on the control panel what I'm going to build? Cheers
Great video, will this unit work with tortoise switch machines?
Kind regards
Jonathan
Cheers Jonathan! Mate, they no longer make this model, best to have a look at the ADS-8sx. As far as I understand they should work with any 3 wire operated point motor. Cheers, Ben.
I have 4 of these. The biggest nightmare is the lack of memory for the frog switch if there is a short circuit meaning I have to reset the points before I can drive anything over it or if the short circuit happens while something is on the points. I've got round it by buying a 2nd hand DCC master for £50 and running Accessories on the 2nd circuit. I found them easy to program, but when I expand to the next few (78 points in total) I'll be buying the SX. By the way, they will work with Loconet systems, using the track power rather than loconet.
I have completely transitioned mine to 8SX decoders (only 74 points in my case). And in complete agreement with you that they were a bloody nightmare. Can't say that im upset that they discontinued them.
Also I forgot to mention I have Insul frog points.
Hello John. As I have recently learned this product has been discontinued by DCC concepts its replacement is the ADS-8sx decoder, which is without a doubt superior in every way. Insul frog points won't affect you in the way with this hardware, as for your LED related question while I myself do not use them the ADS-8sx does provide a terminal specifically for the LEDs. They remain powered on at all times depending on the switch positions. Any center spring loaded SPDT momentary switch is fine for your needs. Hope this helps you out John and thanks for the comments! Cheers... Ben.
Thanks Ben that's a big help, appreciate you getting back. John
Hi Ben, I managed to get a AD-S8fx from TMC for £46, I see you have inputs for dc/dcc on each block can you just jump the terminals instead of individually wiring them from the bus?
@@HighOakJunction Gday John! YOu in fact only need to wire power one dc/dcc terminal the pcb connects all the blocks together. Word of caution please make sure your power is off before wiring these older units are highly sensitive to surges and short circuits! outside of that wire, it in attach your solenoids and flick the read switch and jobs done. Hope this helps! Have a terrific Xmas and new years! Cheers, Ben!
@@theengineshed359 thanks Ben I will make sure it's not connected. I just saw the dc and dcc connection on each green terminal block so assume you had to power each one. Thanks for getting back and the helpful advice. Like you you tons of points on the layout. Thanks John.
When you press the learn such button and then back to run mode does this just register that one port or the whole board? Do you have to do this process to each of the 8 ports?
Almost correct. The programming switch is independent for each terminal, once programmed only that terminal will respond to that address and so on. If you want multiple terminals to be assigned the same address repeat the process for the desired outputs. Just FYI this model no longer exists, the process is the same on the newer model. Hope this helps
@@theengineshed359 thank you so much this has helped in my next steps of my layout
Great video - I have a load of these and agree with you wholeheartedly! - just a few questions - have you powered them directly from the track bus? I suspect you, with 68 points, separately power them on their own bus - be interested to know what you do? Also, do you power at 4 points on the board or just at one power point - I know it says power at one point only, but interested to know what you do - if you have your own power supply to these, what do you use? Cheers JC
Gday JC! Mate glad you enjoyed the video! All my accessory decoder take power from the DCC bus, personally the wiring is simpler and makes installation far easier. AS for power my layout is commanded by an ESU ECOS and that has more than enough horsepower to drive everything I require. With regards to the 1 or 4 point power wiring, I only use 1 point of power. These days the majority of the decoders I use are the newer ADS 8sx models and so only 1 power input is provided. Hope this clarifies things for you mate! Thanks for the comment and sub! Cheers... Ben!
I'm new at this. I think I understand the components you specified, the main module and
the point motor etc. But what button do you depress to throw the turn-out?
I must be missing something. Thank-You
With this particular unit, you have 2 options. You can wire in an SPDT switch to the three ports marked "momentary" on the board. Or and depending on what DCC unit you are using. All you need to do is set the small switch near the capacitor to the set mode, and on your command station, there should be an accessory section (again depending on your command station). You simply select the DCC accessory address you desire and change the direction
a few as if it were a locomotive and return the switch to the run position. I recommend pre-wiring and programming these units before you install them under your baseboard. And a bit of masking tape and Nikko will help you label which output is which for when you install the switches. I hope this helps roger.............. Cheers, Ben.
THANK= YOU. You are good at explaining , all cleared up now.
I don't know which one I like the most. Cheers, Roger.
Always happy to help Roger! Thanks for the subscribe!
@@theengineshed359 Sorry just to clarify for my slow brain here - does that mean you only need to provide track power to the +ve and -ve that are alone on one end of the board and that will then work for telling the board which address is being thrown or do you need to wire something else in in place of the switch options in the middle of each section?
Also how do you attach the board to the base board?
@@MrDobilina You're absolutely correct. You will only need to provide power at one point and it will power the whole unit. Outside of that, there are no additional requirements for this product. It will receive commands from the DCC bus without any problem. I would honestly recommend you look at the ADS-8sx unit if you are looking to invest in this kind of hardware.
Sold only got 6 to wire up Keith
Now discontinued but still some left at: scalology.co.uk/collections/cobalt-point-decoders/products/universal-dcc-decoder-cdu-solenoid-drive-8-way-added-features
It was a foregone conclusion really. The newer model is vastly superior but if you can still get the old ones cheap its not a bad solution either way.
@@theengineshed359 The main thing that makes them superior is the discharge button, other than that they operate similarly. The reason for this was due to failures: all caps get charged and then the user changes the wiring about, causing a short and damaging the unit.
@@blade1137xxv The other major advantage again is the power off memory for electro frog points. But yes I'm aware of the issues that hindered this product much to my own expense. Comparatively still among the best options cost wise for an accessory decoder. I would like to see at some point a variation of a "digital" seep style point that would remove the mess of wires and save space.