[upnick]

Hi all,

I recieved a new toy this week in the form of ESU's decoder it's a great piece of kit but can anyone give me a guide to what the lights mean when you are testing a decoder as they change on direction of the motor running and i know they give you other information.

I have looked on the sheet that came with it but of course they are in German, and the site provides no other information.

upnick.

 

[dwb]

QUOTE they are in German, and the site provides no other information.

Ah yes. This has got to be one of ESU's biggest weaknesses, their reluctance to provide English language translations for some of their kit. My suggestion is that you try BabelFish or one of the other "online" translation engines. They come up with some odd things sometimes, but they will give you the general gist of what is being said. If you get really stuck, post the machine translation and maybe someone can give another interpretation.

David

 

[ME 26-06]

QUOTE (dwb @ 1 Jun 2008, 16:16) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>If you get really stuck, post the machine translation and maybe someone can give another interpretation.

David

Or, tell one of the resident posters that are native German speakers how great Taurus engines and Eurofima coaches and/or Traxx electric engines are

. Then post the German original instructions (or a link to the internet version) - I bet they can´t turn down your request for a translation!

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (upnick @ 1 Jun 2008, 22:11) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi all,

I recieved a new toy this week in the form of ESU's decoder it's a great piece of kit but can anyone give me a guide to what the lights mean when you are testing a decoder as they change on direction of the motor running and i know they give you other information.

I have looked on the sheet that came with it but of course they are in German, and the site provides no other information.

upnick.

***I don't have one to hand but if its like every other decoder tester such as the NCE which I usually use the lights that change with motor direction show you the motor direction and that it has changed. The other LED's show you that a function is working by turning on when the appropriate decoder function is selected with the controller.

regards

Richard
DCCconcepts

 

[Derek H]

I purchased one of these the other day, and had the same problem.
I have worked out so far the following.
If I am wrong correction gratefully received.

Looking at the tester with the motor at the top, when power is connected you will see two green LED I believe these just indicate track power,
The four LED's just to the left from the top are I believe,

1, FORWARD LIGHT (yellow)
2, REAR LIGHT (red)
3, AUX 1 (yellow)
4, AUX 2 ?

Items 1 and 2 change when direction is changed,
item 3 and 4 will only work if decoder is equipped to operate these functions.

 

[Brian Considine]

I'm sure that I have a decent translation - I'll have a look later & if I have I will post it.

 

[upnick]

Using this tester before fitting the decoder to any loco with the 12v output on my gaugemaster D model i noticed the other day it can be connected to the track as an alternative, would i be able to have a plug on the edge of the board from the bus wire to power it up and test decoders, also would the cab be an advantage over the knob on the transformer for testing, if this can be done which mode should the NCE be set to test prog/main track i would presume no locos could be on the track to save any conflicts in readings if used with the main track.

 

[John]

Dear All,

In June, I translated the main part of the documentation (the table) and posted it on a Yahoo Group. As far as I know I can't put an attachment to a message on here or even on a PM?

Send me a PM and I'll send you the pdf. I'll probably need an email address to do this, unless someone knows a better way. I don't want to upload it to a website and make it public as it is very much an unofficial translation and I would need to add all sorts of disclaimers and acknowledgements to ESU before going public.

By the way, (just for ME

) you don't need a native German speaker. Not all Brits are incapable of learning a foreign language, although living in a country for over 30 years does help!

 

[upnick]

QUOTE (upnick @ 7 Sep 2008, 10:18) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Using this tester before fitting the decoder to any loco with the 12v output on my gaugemaster D model i noticed the other day it can be connected to the track as an alternative, would i be able to have a plug on the edge of the board from the bus wire to power it up and test decoders, also would the cab be an advantage over the knob on the transformer for testing, if this can be done which mode should the NCE be set to test prog/main track i would presume no locos could be on the track to save any conflicts in readings if used with the main track.

Hi all,

I found the tester under the bench under a pile of instructions and am still wondering if it is meant to be hooked up to the DCC bus for testing if i fit a plug in the edge of the board used when needed, as outlined above can the cab test the decoder more with the cab ? Also which mode should the cab be in when testing if it is ok to power from the bus wires.

 

[TWG]

QUOTE Hi all,

I found the tester under the bench under a pile of instructions and am still wondering if it is meant to be hooked up to the DCC bus for testing if i fit a plug in the edge of the board used when needed, as outlined above can the cab test the decoder more with the cab ? Also which mode should the cab be in when testing if it is ok to power from the bus wires.

I think that possibly the easiest way to understand how to connect up the ESU tester is to imagine that it is a locomotive. You plug the decoder in and it will power the motor and switch lights (LEDs marked LV and LH - Licht vorn, front, and hinten, rear, in German) and functions 1 and 2 (shown by the LEDs marked AUX1 and 2). So if you want to test that a decoder is working properly you connect the tester to the main track supply. If you want to programme a decoder you connect the tester to the programming track output.

I have my tester connected to my programming track, because my digital control centre is set so that it automatically switches the track to normal track power when not in programming mode. If yours does not have this facility, you will have to change the connections depending on what you want to do.