# A list of decoders that work in various units



## rreiffer (Jan 14, 2009)

Hello all, 
Has anyone thought of keeping a list of engines and decoders that have worked in them? It would be nice to know if someone has been successful with a particular decoder/engine combo. I am not sure where we could keep it on this forum unless we had a common document to update. I know both George and Greg have done wonderful work and their information is fantastic but it would be nice to have it all in one location. Thoughts/ideas?


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## steam5 (Jun 22, 2008)

I have my favorite brand of decoader and stick to it. Keeps things consistent. The range of large scale decoders is limited compared to HO and N scale. But Large scalers don't need a huge range. 

There is a lot of different decoders on the market for large scale, I'm sure 99% of them will work for 99% of large scale locomotives.

I don't think compiling a list of decoders installed in locomotives will achieve much. You will get many many different solutions for each type of locomotives, there is no real right or wrong answer.

Alan


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Alan's comments are right on the money.

There are comparison charts of DCC decoders on the web but these are meant to show features and capabilities in a simple tabular format so one can quickly pick the ones that have the capabilities one is looking for - not to associate specific decoders with specific locos.

Some decoders have special pin-out arrangements that makes installation in certain locos easier. There is unfortunately no "standard" Large Scale DCC decoder connector like for the smaller scales.
I don't think the last attempt be Stan Ames went anywhere in the end.

Here is a very simple decoder comparison chart:
http://www.tonystrains.com/productcompare/decoder_comparison.htm

Looks large and complicated because it covers all scales - for Large Scale it only covers a fraction of what is available.
But even if you list all Large Scale decoders that exist globally, there will not be more than about two or three dozen.


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## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

I've only owned two decoders in my entire life, and I know nothing about any others. I like them, probably wouldn't replace them, so I'm pretty unqualified to compare them with anything else - that may be better. 

Thanks, Robert


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