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MERG DCC


Chuck
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Okay so with MTH on the verge of releasing the DCC friendly PS3 decoders in the RailKing One-Gauge lineup I'e been contemplating joining MERG which is the Model Electronic Railway Group which offers a DCC setup that can be bought in kit form. One advantage of using the MERG system is the price is quite reasonable and they offer a power booster with virtually unlimited power as I've seen claims in the 100 amp 30V area.

 

http://www.merg.org.uk/index.php

 

In the past I've fooled around with other companies DCC products and I wasn't impressed. Digitrax DCC just didn't have enough power and was expensive. NCE is very expensive and limited to only 10 amps @ 22 volts on the rails. And the NCE throttle felt "cheaply" made after handling/ using the MTH DCS throttle.

 

JMRI is another great program that I've used in the past to program DCC decoders. It's free as it's opensource. They have free apps to run your DCC trains via PC, Tablet & Smartphone.

 

http://jmri.sourceforge.net/

 

 

What I'm wondering is if anybody has any experience making/ using the MERG DCC System??

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Chuck,

 

Yes, I have built an MERG DCC system, and have a second on order. I run trains using JMRI and the Engine Driver app for Android. It works great!**

 

**Now for the gotchas: It works great when it works! I've had two major problems, both with the USB module:

 

1) The first problem was that I was powering it from a separate 5V input (from the command station) as recommended, but the system was very unstable. Trains would run for a few seconds, and then JMRI would crash! Finally I tried changing a jumper so the USB module got its power from USB, and that has worked great.

 

2) The second and current problem is that last week (right before an open house!) my system has stopped working altogether. It seems to be an issue with the USB module. And that would make the most sense because I'm constantly plugging and unplugging the USB cable, and the USB interface board plugs in on top of the board in a way that's not secure at all. It's always lifting up on me, and causing the board to lose power and communication. Also, I'd just taken my system (all mounted in a big box) to a friend's house right before it stopped working. It worked there, but not back at home again after once again unplugging and plugging in the USB cable.

 

So, as long as you get things working and don't wiggle the connectors too much it works great! It's inexpensive enough that I just decided to order a second complete system (and a replacement IC that likely went bad on the USB board) just in case something like this happens again. The new computer interface board I'm getting, however, has a RS-232 serial interface! The old desktop computer I primarily use has a physical serial port. Still, I hope to get the USB interface working again too so I have a backup, and the ability to use a backup computer (my laptop). Next time around I think I'll mount the USB interface in a box with a USB hub, so I never have to unplug the USB cable again.

 

As for the booster, I talked to Mike Bolton who designed it about overrating above 10 amps. He was very helpful and encouraging, however ultimately I've decided it's not worth it. There are too many challenges for me at present. For example, if I remember correctly the connectors on the booster on only rated for 12 amps and the circuit board itself is limited to around 15 amps. Instead I've decided to divide my layout into three booster districts. They are currently out of boosters (I think I ordered the last one this weekend) so I still have one more to buy, but it does take awhile to build the booster anyway. I built the USB and command station in one evening each, but the booster took about three evenings.

 

On, one more thing you should know: the command station doesn't support DCC accessory decoders. I've been looking into how to power switches and I learned than DCC switch machines are not an option. Instead the recommendation is to use the various CAN modules they have and run separate wires to switches and other accessories. That's probably best anyway, in case I ever want to temporarily run DC or even DCS on the rails.

 

I hope this helps with your decision. Let me know if I can help in any other way. I'll hopefully be back in business with my MERG system in the next couple weeks.

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Chuck

I looked at the MERG site. I have looked before and found it very interesting.

All their pricing information is in foreign dollars. Were you able to get pricing

in US dollars?

Tom

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Tom,

 

The exchange rate varies, but the order I just placed last weekend for a serial computer interface, command station, booster, and extra IC for my USB computer interface (less than $1) came to Â£56.34 GBP, or $96.78, shipped to California. That's not bad for a complete 10 amp DCC system! The USB computer interface is much more expensive, Â£25 instead of just £8.75.

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Benshell,

 

 WOW!! Thanks for the great info  :)

For $100.00 I can put up with the problems you mention...What a deal for a 10 amp DCC system! Heck of a lot better than $700.00 and I'd still be using JMRI anyway...hmm :)  

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  • 2 years later...

Well after only 3 years I finally took the plunge and joined up with MERG. :)

 

Ordered and received both the throttle and booster kits...but they're out of stock on the command station kit 91 :mellow:

 

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On 3/25/2017 at 0:37 PM, Chuck said:

Well after only 3 years I finally took the plunge and joined up with MERG. :)

 

Ordered and received both the throttle and booster kits...but they're out of stock on the command station kit 91 :mellow:

 

Congrats! Sorry they are out of the most important piece, but I'm sure it'll come back in stock very soon (within a month, probably less, based on my experience).

 

Also, re-reading my post above, I have a few updates:

 

1) They've redesigned the USB interface so it's much better (and cheaper!) than the old one. However in the meantime I've been using their RS-232 serial interface which has also been great.

 

2) I was completely wrong about the issue I had back in early 2014... the CAN bus needs to have terminating resistors! That was the issue. From the docs I read at the time I was thinking the resisters were only necessary when using the CAN-CAB throttle, and that just between the USB interface and command station I could just wire the CANL and CANH terminals together. That is not the case and it's amazing that it worked for me anyway--up until open house day, anyway.

 

3) A third issue I also had in April 2014 was that trains were mysteriously coming to a stop even with plenty voltage on the track. The issue was my DCC signal was getting corrupted so far away from the booster. There's a problem with inductance when you have two parallel rails carrying a digital signal. I had just barely finished my mainline in April 2014 and more than tripling the length of my track brought this issue to the surface. I did three things to solve it: I installed three MERG boosters in weatherproof enclosures in the yard, close to the tracks, I added more jumpers to the track, and I twisted the wires to minimize inductance.

 

I haven't had any other issues. The system has been working perfectly for almost three years now. But I have an extra command station on hand just in case, and I use it for my programming track. I also bought a CAN-CAB recently and have used in on my workbench and also to run HO trains.

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Ben,

 

Great updated info...thanks!!

 

As far as being out of stock with the command station kit that is no biggie for me...I have lots of other projects to be working on. In fact I was contemplating joining MERG and the day I signed up they were out of stock with the DCC booster kit. I clicked the button to notify me when they were available and was just a few days later I received an email stating they were back in stock! But in-between signing up and placing an order they ran out of the command station...kinda funny really :D

 

Doesn't matter as I'm a DCS user...just want to "play" with the DCC side of DCS. 

 

I did have the NCE 10 amp Power Pro radio equipped thing and didn't like it...throttle felt awfully cheap and toggling to higher functions was a major PIA esp. for a $700 unit...ugh! In the past I owned a MRC Prodigy DCC set and a Digitrax Super Chief Radio equipped 8 amp thing...I didn't like any of them esp. for the prices they charged. That's why I stick with DCS as it's very simple to use and the power available on the track is only limited by the output of the power supply...mine being a Bridgewerks Mag25TDR tweaked up to 30V. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ben, You are right! Less than a month later the command station kit arrived!

I also ordered some of those bending jigs.

I'll keep this thread up once I start building and testing with MTH PS3 decoders. Right now I have outdoor projects to work on.

When weather gets hot & muggy the MERG building will begin!

 

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