I seem to have done little more than ask questions since my period of hibernation ………………………… :roll: :oops: :oops:

Whilst rummaging through the drawer containing my decoders etc.,  I came across this little chap.

I think it came in a bag of goodies from John Dew some time ago…………






Other than the fact that it's a decoder, I have no idea what make or type it is.  As you can see the wires have been cut off so I can't connect it to see what the manufacturer's reference is …………….  The only thing printed on the sleeve is "WOER".  There are just 7 wires attached and, having removed the sleeve, 5 are soldered to tabs on one face and the remaining 2 are soldered to blocky things on the rear.

Has anyone seen something similar and can identify it ?

Hi PeterI dont recognise it but we are talking about 9 years ago! When I first started with DCC I tried out decoders from a number of manufacturers and I do remember round about the time we went to France replacing a Bachmann decoder but if I had included that in the goody bag it would have come with a health warning :roll:

The wires look long enough to extend the red/ black grey/orange and temporarily hook up to a loco and see what it reads - if it was once mine cv1 will show a 4 digit number rather than 03.

HTH

WOER is the heat shrink tubing manufacturer if I'm not mistaken.

A 9+ year old chip might be more trouble than it's worth? If you strip off the wire sheaths you could power up and check CV8 which is mandatory NMRA, it'll tell you the manufacturer, likewise CV7 the version info 

CV 8 values here:



https://www.nmra.org/manufacturer-id-numbers

Thanks guys.  :thumbs

I can't think where it came from John - either from you or taken out of a loco where the decoder was replaced.

The wires are quite short - not particularly evident from the photo …………………… :hmm

Thanks for the decoder brands Colin - saves me looking it up again if, in fact, I manage to get the thing in a readable position ……………… :roll:

I'm currently trying to kill 2 birds with one stone - I'm practicing soldering new wires onto the pads - I bought a new iron plus some 0.6mm solder (unleaded unfortunately, the leaded version being banned here in France).

If I manage without destroying the pads and / or decoder, I'll plug it into my Zimo MXTAPS decoder tester and see what I get ……….  I don't think I can programme anything other than Zimo decoders on their MXULFA programmer but it should read out the manufacturer's details.

I have yet to learn what I can do and how to do it with the aforementioned gadgets but I'm sure they'll be useful at some stage on my journey into the dark arts …………………. :hmm

Well it's a Bachmann decoder - CV 8 = 101 but who made it I have no idea.

I understand Bachmann have done the rounds with decoder manufacturers - CV 7 = 46 which, according to JMRI, could be an N scale EMD decoder or either a 2 or 4 function decoder ………………… :???: :???: :???:

I have no idea how to find out the version or age of it plus, I'm not sure my Zimo equipment will drive the thing.  It read the CVs OK but didn't turn the motor on the MXTAPS tester. 

I'd de-soldered the short wires and successfully resoldered longer red, black, orange and grey wires to the requisite pads so that was a first !!  :cool:

The DCC wire I have is AWG 36 (or is it SWG ? - tiny and supplied by DCC Concepts so could be based on the British standard wire rather than American - can't remember now but typically, AWG and SWG are not the same !!!….)  but I've read that the most commonly used size is 30 AWG so I'll order some of that and see if slightly thicker wire is more friendly …………… :cheers

Peter,

You've made excellent progress into the "dark side" by the sound of it.

Regarding wire, I always use the DCC Concepts fine product as it has the great advantage of making packing into small spaces much easier. The lighter gauge is easier to solder as well, once you get used to it so I'd persevere for now as you may regret having heavier material.

I did some background checking on the quoted resistivity of the various AWG grades and convinced myself the internal resistance of fine wire is no big deal over the very short runs involved.

Don't be fooled by readings from your workshop multimeter as my elctronics friend says the accuracy at the level you'd need to make meaningful decisions is not possible to achieve. That's why I went and looked up the quoted values for various gauges.

Good soldering Peter,

I recycle my old decoders by making use of their decoder  functions and use them  in wagons/ carriages to turn lighting off/on.