LGB MTS With Railroad & Co? (MTS Vs DCC)

[stevenfitch]

Hi

I'm new to G Scale but been using the smaller indoor scales under DCC for years.
I have 2 LGB locos (a Stainz and a 'LOK 1' shunter) and one Aristocraft Dash 9.

I am using Railroad & Co software from Freiwald with Digitrax hardware as i have done for years, i can control the locos but have come across a few issues which i'm hoping someone may be able to throw some light on.

Stainz - Works fine, i can move it back and forward and turn the light on and of using Function 0. I fitted a new LGB recommended decoder to this a few months ago.

LOK 1 - This worked fine using an LGB MTS controller and was on address 3, i never controlled the loco with the PC i just put it straight on the programming track and attempted to change its address to 2 using the Railroad and Co programmer - now the loco will not respond to anything (no movement, no lights) except the horn will sound on Function 1

Dash 9 - I am told by the previous owner that this has 'an MTS decoder fitted'. Looking inside it has a decoder board fitted to the original control board and it works on its address (i forget the address number), however the lights only work on/off via the internal switch and not a decoder function. I am assuming the same is true for the smoke generator which also has a switch, i just have no fluid to test this.

The big question... Is MTS the same as DCC so this should all work or do i just need to strip out the LGB decoders and fit some other true DCC decoders to these... If the second is true then feel free to recommend a decoder brand, id also like some level of 'stay alive' to cope with dirty track and plastic point frogs.

[Itareus]

"Is MTS the same as DCC"

Essentially yes, but the LGB stuff, especially the older stuff, can be a bit 'quirky'.  You can find wiring diagrams for LGB locos and decoders online - to work on MTS the lights will need to be wired through the decoder.  I'm not familiar with the Railroad and Co programmer so can't comment on what might be wrong there.

Sorry I can't be of more help, I'm no expert.  Have you got a local dealer that could read out the decoder settings using the LGB MTS Laptop programming software and maybe offer some advice ?

Edit: Someone (LGB I think) did once do a capacitor discharge unit that would cut in when track power was lost.