how many amps do I need please

[stockers]

That converter you have got - just be aware that you can get straight through and cross over connectors.i.e. the pins are reversed.

 

[Chris Wright]

It is straight through not twisted that I bought but let's see if this works.

 

[stockers]

Have a look here for crossover, rollover and straight through information.
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/cable/cmts/ubr10012/installation/guide/hig/u10kcbl.html

 

[Chris Wright]

Very helpful, thank you.

 

[Chris Wright]

Just to keep this up to date. The Z21 signal is not recognised by the MRC Prodigy and therefore the Gaugemaster badged one as well. I will keep the Z21 for the G Scale show layout but get a handset system for the MRC in garden use. Big shame but if I run anything with two plus motors and want smoke, the Z21 cannot cope.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Here's the manual, such as it is..

http://www.jimsmodeltrains.com/assets/userGuides/MRC_1521.pdf

if you are hooking the track outputs of your DCC system, you use pins 3 & 4.... and these must be connected..

If you are hooking up the 5 volt "logic" level DCC (not boosted) you need to ADDITIONALLY connect pins 1 and 2

you can see that pins 5, 6, 7, 8 are duplicates of 1,2,3,4 ...

So, the connection depends on what "outputs" your Z21 has..

Greg

 

[Chris Wright]

OK tests all done and the Z21 will not talk to the MRC 8 amp booster so I sourced a badged MRC Advanced (Gaugemaster in the UK) and it works perfectly. So for less than £200 I have a full DCC 8amp system. I will use the Z21 to program them and re-asdign function addresses and for the Z Gauge show layout. Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Is the unit you got the MRC MRC0001521 or the UK equivalent? It seems to have a part number of DCC49.

The mrc unit looks like this:

and the Gaugemaster looks like this:

 

[Chris Wright]

MRC one from USA

 

[Greg Elmassian]

So maybe some firmware is different between the two... they look similar, but there are differences.

Greg