# Absolute newbie



## mlw (Apr 29, 2013)

Hello,

I have been helping my father set up a garden railway. He has a mixture of Aristocraft, USA trains and one LGB Gensis locomotive. We set up a test circle and noted some major variations in speed for the same voltage. I did some reading and it seems that DCC would help this problem.
Now the problem -

I am totally confussed over all the systems. Aristo seems to have one, Airwire seems to work for USA trains and LGB has a different one.

Is there a system that will work with all three brands and dare I hope not too complicated to set up. 

Oh, I should mention that if possible track powered but wireless (radio) control.

I tried to dig through some of the information on the forum and find myself still confussed.

Thank you
Marilyn


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

By "wireless," do you mean a handheld control unit without a tethered connecting cable? Radio control means (usually) that the control is sent via RF, and not through the track; DCC is a coded signal sent through the rails from a central unit, which can be controlled via a wireless handpiece. 

To use DCC, you need a central unit and each locomotive must have a compatible decoder. 

At least I think so - I'm as confused as you are!


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## josephunh (Mar 27, 2013)

Marilyn that's been my complaint as well and sorry to say answers are not easy to come by as the manufacturers of products and even folks here don't bother to write proper guides, and before some forum folks jump on me I mean proper guides guys, I write them for the army for a living and nothing in this arena comes close. Anyway as a newbie as well there are a few different people who make systems some are DCC some are proprietary like Aristocrafts. Anyway you put it the coverting to use remote control will be costly. I have found that picking a system can come down to how you are running your trains. Are you using track power or battery, or in my case thinking of both. So far I have narrowed my search down to using the QSI DCC decoders as they do make boards for a few different manufactuers. Hope this is some small help.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Marilyn, I have several questions. Are you planning on running more than one engine at the same time on the same track (oval)? How long will your mainline be? Depending upon how you answer these questions might help us help you know whether you need DCC, or just straight analog DC track power. If you want to run two engines with different speeds at the same voltage at the same time, either pulling the same train, or two different trains, you will need DCC or battery. If you are only going to run one engine at a time, straight DC track power is fine. I have a number of engines that have very different characteristics. I have been using analog DC on my layouts for 30+ years. I run one engine at a time. If I double or triple head, I use matched locomotives. Such as USAt F3 AB or ABA. You are just beginning, start simple and add other power systems as you gain experience. Most of all get involved with local clubs or individuals in your area. Talk to them about their power choices and why they made that choice. What part of the country do you call home? I have nothing against DCC, it is just that for a beginner it adds another level of complication. Get some experience and then decide whether you want DC, DCC, battery/RC. Chuck


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## SLemcke (Jun 3, 2008)

Marilyn, 
If you give your location you might find a few people in your local area, possibly a club, and if you're real lucky one of the few Gscale dealers. I'm sure they would be happy to help. Also they may have different systems that you could check out. 

Just about all the systems out there will work with the trains you mentioned, the difference will be the ease of install and set up. 

Steve


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## tazzytazzy (Dec 27, 2007)

Marilyn,
You might want to check out the series of article about DCC to understand it's basics from the DCCWiki:
Introduction to DCC

There's more article there that may help you, although the garden section is currently small, it may help you.

Also, wiring for dcc has some great information!


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

Train-Li just got in a new product (easy train control) which is a receiver that has track (unit has input diode bridge) or battery input and the output drives up to 4 amps to an engine. A 2 button key fob operates the engine. 

Transmitter and receiver can be programmed for up to 1024 different addresses. 

And all this for $90.00.


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