Dennis Cherry said:
Just got back from the NMRA Convention in Philadelphia.
Went there for four reasons:
- Independence Day.
- Ride the East Broad Top Railroad.
- Garden Railroad Tours.
- DCC Manufacturers.
Did all four.
Some items came up about DCC that I would like to have some feedback about. This will be a indoor display.
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Use Crest power supplies, other manufactuers has to many noise spikes.
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Use Stainless Steel Track, when Brass Track gets dirty you will have problems.
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Automatic Controls, All major manufacter where present and went to some biased and non-biased clinics. Talked to several very knowledgable people on what systems would work for automation. Two systems came to the surface, Zimo and Lens. Zimo by far had the best system, and best features for automation, Lens coming in second place.
Zimo has a complete package and Lens needs 3rd party software support. Lens has come up with many new products and has several other manufacturers make compatible products and you could fully automate a layout and both systems could still give you manual override.
Zimos new sound system is awesome, they had a Large Scale Engine on a oval of track set at about 10 degrees, when the engine went up grade the engine would sound just like it should go up a grade and downhill it would sound like it was coasting. Also no speed change up and down the grades.
OK now comments on your experiences. What I heard is fact or fiction? What else should be considered?
Dennis,
On the Switching Power supplies, if you buy the ones that are used for computer applications you can be sure you won’t have noise spikes.
If you decide to go with ZIMO you won’t need a switching power supply since the ZIMO system has built in voltage stabilisation (tightly clamped up to full load!), use a suitable size transformer and you’re in business. The ZIMO system is also variably adjustable (stepless) from 12 to 24 V, a big advantage if you run different scales (in my case N, HO/HOm and 2m).
One of the neat ZIMO features is running a wayfreight under manual control, while the rest runs on automatic, and still being able to progress down the line when traffic permits, an interesting proposition on a single track line with reasonably dense traffic.
When it comes to automation ZIMO has the advantage to have a really smart architecture which permits any of the components to start data transfer at any time. This is much faster than the polling which many of the other systems do, where each component gets addressed by the command station in a certain order. Add to that ZIMO using an industrial strength CAN-Bus which works at a higher transfer speed (128kb/s) than the other systems. Next in line are the smarter components which function as train detection und turnout activation units.
On boot-up the ZIMO system, using MX8, MX9 and STP, will know the position of every turnout on the layout and will know where every engine is.
In addition to that you get precision stopping with automatic signal control, not to mention the smoothest running engines - acceleration and braking - with the ZIMO decoders. What one gets out of the ZIMO decoders is amazing!
None of the slight jack-rabbit starts which are de rigeur with certain decoders that work in conjunction with a battery of other electronic gear. That’s one of the reasons I mentioned recently “Remove all that gear and install better stuff!”. Of course not everyone notices the jack-rabbit starts, but after one watches the proto for a while one expects the same smooth operation from the models. 
When looking at DCC systems one item I pay close attention to is “upgrade path”; how long will the current components be current and is there a way to keep pace with developments? Ask the DCC mfgs how they will implement Bi-Directional Communication - the next big thing which will allow even more nifty features/functions.
In ZIMO’s case it will be a matter of updating the software of the decoders which have been delivered since 2004. Rather than having to remove the decoder from the engine and send it to the factory/service depot, it can be updated in the engine by using the MXDECUP together with the ZST software. You have to buy the MXDECUP, but the ZST software is free and the upgrade software is also a free download from the Internet. Pretty nifty if you consider how other mfgs make you jump through hoops; if it isn’t that they expect you to upgrade from version 1 to version 2 and shortly thereafter to version 3, then it is the bother of removing decoders to have them updated. Time lag and money spent on shipping; if you’re lucky the upgrade will be “free” but that isn’t a sure thing.
When it comes to DCC there is more to look at than “will it move my trains in circles”! Speaking of which the ZIMO command station comes equipped with two (2) circuits to set up point to point back and forth operations i.e. street car line or captive mine train etc. etc.
Is ZIMO perfect? Not yet, but they’re working on it. 
