Hi,
Has anyone used any type of decoder tester?
If so which brand and why did you like it?
Thank you, Lucy 1
With the decoders available today you can test them in a locomotive; but, for those times you want to know for sure about a decoder that is not working as you expected, then a decoder tester is useful. However, you need more than just a basic decoder tester.
Here is one way to build an enhanced decoder tester, http://www.tonystrains.com/technews/enh-dtester.htm
Keep in mind you need an easy way to change out the speaker as all sound decoders do not use an 8 ohm speaker.
I use one all the time. I built my own using a 12 volt gear motor for the motor load and 12-16 volt 60 milliamp grain-of-wheat lamps for functions. What I like best about it is knowing that the decoder I am about to install actually works. If a decoder supplied by a customer does not work on my tester, I do not waste time installing it and there is no argument about which was bad - the decoder or the installation. I even test the decoders that I provide. If I plug in half a dozen decoders one after the other and one does not work, it is pretty hard for the manufacturer to claim that I somehow damaged the one decoder but left the others intact. And while the decoder is still connected to the tester, I can program it using Decoder Pro on an old laptop connected to the tester via a LocoBuffer-USB and a Zephyr.
Since most of my decoders are NCE, I use the NCE tester. I mounted it on a small 'electronics' box I got at a local electronics supply store an added a 4 pole, double throw switch to it for checking additional functions that the large scale decoders I use have.