Comparing 21 Pin Decoder Performance | Bachmann vs LaisDCC 

Thanks 😀 That's good to know I'm not the only person who thinks cheaper is sometimes better. I now have another bachmann 21 pin loco, so will try it in there shortly and see if it runs well. People all spoke quite highly of the Bachmann decoders.

@@LittleWicketRailway Hi, some 6 or 7 years ago I purchased a good few Bachmann decoders when I first went digital for my Bachmann diesel locos. All those decoders showed manufacture 151 which is ESU. Interestingly, a few of those have since failed but all my cheaper Hornby, Hattons and Gaugemaster ones are still all perfect! I've since replaced quite a few with sound decoders and Hornby TTS at £35 have been fine, smoother than some ESU Loksounds! Plug and play it certainly isn't.! But worth swapping around to get best results, Same with speakers. Will subscribe and follow you. Cheers. Vivian

Thanks for letting me know. I've not used either of those, but I'll check them out. I'm pretty tight, but I suppose there's no point having a nice model with a rubbish decoder.

I think I've only got one loco with a LaisDCC decoder and a stayalive (DCC concepts?). I'll see if I can dig it out and run it on the select. I've had issues before with it, but that was because I hadn't disabled DC running, so every time the stayalive kicked in the thing would shoot off for a few seconds.

LaisDCC work really well in some locomotives, but they're rubbish in others. In terms of value I think they're the best on the market. You can now get the 8 pin decoder with a stay alive for around £20 which is pretty impressive.

Thanks Bob 👍 The rolling road is made by Hornby. It's quite expensive compared with some of the others on the market, but I've got no complaints so far.

Thanks for the tip. Do you remember what values you set them to?

Thanks David. although there seems to be some debate on this subject of Select NMRA compliance. I believe that the Hornby Select and the DCC++ controllers are considered to be NMRA compliant, however, they're not NMRA warranted. Having done a bit more reading it appears that I'm not the only person to find that Bachmann 21 pins decoders can be a bit fussy about their controllers.

@@LittleWicketRailway thanks for the reply but i have to disagree a bit I’m not sure about the DCC++ controller as it is the first time I have heard of this make but the hornby select DCC controller is not compliant, there has been videos and forum threads about this and the conclusion that has been made is the hornby select is not compatible with layer chips but it is compatible with early chips like the bachmann 554 so if you can find one of them second hand that may be a bit better when it comes to performance with a hornby select controller

Hi Luke! I think you're right. It seems like the Select and the 36-557 might not get along. I''ve heard mixed messages about the Select being NMRA compliant though and I'm not sure what the trurth in. I think older versions of the Hornby select might not have been NMRA compliant, but the latest firmware might be NMRA compliant. There's also a difference between NMRA compliant and NMRA certified. The Hornby Select isn't certified. Only Hornby will know for sure about the compliance now.

It should have popped up in the top right corner where I was pointing?

I'll get that fixed this morning, here's the link ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AqnPy2YBaVw.html

It's a good point, but I never really taken any antistatic precautions. I probably should earth myself and wear a strap, but touch wood (or should I say radiator) I've handled hundreds of decoders and ICs without issue. Out of curiosity I've just taken a quick look at a Hornby decoder manual and there's no mention of antistatic precautions that I could see.

Hi! That's a really difficult question to answer as I've not really kept track (and I don't like to think about it!). It is quite a bit when you add it up, but I always look for the cheapest way of doing things without cutting corners. This is why I use the DCC++ base station and the sensor hub, cheap alternatives to the commercial systems. Little Wicket might be getting a rebuild in the near future, so I'm hoping most of this stuff is reusable and will be in service for many years to come. I've tried to break it down into the major areas below, all amounts are approximate and the spend was spread over a long period of time. Baseboard and frame - £100 (this covers the cost of all the timber, wood treatment, screws, etc. The layout is actually supported by two large metal shelving units. I've not included the cost of tools used to put it together.) Track - £300 (some of the track was second hand, the turntable was a gift and a lot of it came out of train sets. The most expensive parts are the points and I wouldn't use as many in future, I've learned that a simpler layout causes fewer problems and is more enjoyable) Wiring - £50 (this is the wiring from the DCC bus, the dropper wires, the accessories power and a few other bits, but doesn't include the DCC++ base station) Point Motors - £80 (I used solenoid point motors and I really regret it. I find them unreliable and expensive at £4-£5 each. I wish I'd used cheap, reliable servos and would probably have saved at least £60) Accessory decoders - £200 (These contain capacitor discharge units used to fire the point motors and they're the Hornby branded versions. Another mistake, I wouldn't need these if I'd have known about servos. I could probably have saved £150 here. It hurts just thinking about it. On the bright side I can either reuse them or sell them on second hand as I still have all the boxes) Sensors - £100 (this is for the infrared sensor network that monitors the location of the trains and allows automation, obviously not essential on all layouts. There's about 40 sensors on the layout, a sensor hub and all the wiring. I didn't know about block occupancy current sensors when I made this, but next time I'd use them and I'm looking at ways of reducing the wiring by using wifi.) Landscape - £100-200 (this is really hard to estimate, but includes paints, fake grass, the materials to create the canal, the incline, etc. I tried to keep this as cheap as possible by recycling materials I had already such as polystyrene packaging. All the trees are cheap from Ebay. I printed a lot of the retaining walls myself and stuck them to thin plywood) Buildings - £200 (most of my buildings are from Metcalfe and they're usually around £10-£15 each depending on the size of the model, some of these are gifts as my mum enjoys building them for me)

Thanks Jean. I really wish I had another 21 pin loco to try it in to prove for sure it's the decoder. I will contact the shop and see if they'll exchange it.

@@LittleWicketRailway the link did not show up

Thanks for letting me know. I'll get that fixed today. Here's the link that should have popped up ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AqnPy2YBaVw.html