LDT Littfinski Daten Technik M-DEC-MM-F Operation Instruction

Littfinski DatenTechnik (LDT)

Operating Instruction

4-fold decoder for motor

driven turnouts

with external power supply possibility

from the Digital-Professional-Series !

M-DEC-MM-F Part-No.: 410512

Suitable for the Märklin-Motorola-Format:

(e.g. Märklin-Digital∼ [ Control Unit, Central Station 1

and 2], Intellibox, EasyControl, ECoS, KeyCom-MM,

DiCoStation EDiTS, EDiTS pro and others)

For the digital control of :

⇒ Up to four turnout motor drives.

(e.g. drives from Fulgurex, Pilz or Hoffmann/Conrad)

⇒ Motor current per output up to 1A.

This product is not a toy! Not suitable for children under 14 years of age!
The kit contains small parts, which should be kept away from children under 3!
Improper use will imply danger of injuring due to sharp edges and tips! Please
store this instruction carefully.

CE Part-No.:
24 00 04
red point

>> finished module <<

Introduction/Safety instruction:

You have purchased the 4-fold decoder M-DEC-MM for motor
driven turnouts for your model railway as a kit or as finished
module. The M-DEC-MM is a high quality product that is
supplied from the Digital-Professional-Series of Littfinski
DatenTechnik (LDT).

We wish you having a good time using this product.
The decoder M-DEC of the Digital-Professional-Series can be

easily installed and used on your digital railway.
The colored dot on the receiver device indicates to which

digital system the decoder can be adapted.
In case the receiver device is marked blue the M-DEC will be

suitable for the DCC Data format, used for instance at the
systems of Arnold-Digital, Intellibox, Lenz-Digital Plus,

Roco-Digital, TWIN-CENTER, Digitrax, LGB-Digital, Zimo,
Märklin-Digital=, EasyControl, KeyCom-DC, ECoS and
DiCoStation.

In case the receiver device is marked red the decoder is
suitable for Märklin-Digital~ respectively for Märklin-Motorola
layouts.

The finished module comes with 24 month warranty.

• Please read the following instructions carefully. Warranty will
expire due to damages caused by disregarding the operating
instructions. LDT will also be not liable for any consequential
damages caused by improper use or installation.

Connecting the decoder to your digital
model railway layout:

• Attention: Before starting any installation work switch off

the supply voltage to the digital installation by
disconnect all transformer power plugs of the main
supply.

The decoder receives the digital information via the clamp
KL2. Connect the clamp with a rail or even better connect the

clamp directly to the command station or to a booster
assuring supply of digital information free from any
interference.

Pay attention to the mark at clamp KL2. The color markings
'Black/Schwarz' and 'Red/Rot' next to the clamp are used for
Arnold-Digital (old) and Märklin-Digital= .

Other systems uses the letters 'J' and 'K'.
If you use the decoder with Märklin Digital~ components or

with Intellibox you have to connect the digital wires to 'red/rot'
and 'brown/braun'.

The decoder receives the power supply via the two poles
clamp KL1. Voltage in the range of 12 to 18V~ is acceptable
(alternate current output of a model railway transformer) or

15...24 V= (direct current from a switched mode power supply).
If you do not want to supply power to the decoder M-DEC from

an external transformer you can connect the clamp KL1 to
KL2 with two wires. In this case the decoder will get the power
supply complete from the digital system.

Programming the decoder address:

To program the decoder address a motor driven turnout has to
be connected to the output 1 (clamp KL9)of the decoder.

• Switch on the power supply of your model railway.

• Depress the programming key S1. Do not touch the

integrated circuits of the pc-board because any electrostatic
discharge can destroy the IC`s.

• The turnout drive connected to output 1 will now move a
little every 1.5 seconds. This indicates that the decoder is in
the programming mode.

• Is the motor not moving it is possible that the motor drive
contains directional diodes. In this case switch off the power
supply and turn around the two connection wires on output

1. After switching power on the turnout drive should move of
a 1.5 second interval.

• Depress now one key of the key group to be assigned to the
decoder. For programming the decoder address you can
also release a turnout switch signal via a personal
computer.

Remarks: The decoder addresses for magnet accessories
are combined in groups of four. The address 1 to 4 build
the first group. The address 5 to 8 build the second group
etc. Each M-DEC decoder can be assigned to any of these
groups. Which turnout of a group will be activated for the
addressing does not matter.

• If the decoder has recognized the assignment correctly the
connected turnout will move a little faster. Afterwards the
movement slows down to the initial 1,5 seconds again.
In case the decoder will not recognize the address it could
be that the two digital information connections (clamp 2) are
wrong connected. For testing this, switch the power supply
off, exchange the connection on KL2 and start addressing
again.

• Leave the programming mode by depressing the
programming key S1 again. The decoder address is now
permanently stored but it can be changed at any time by
repeating the programming as described above.

• If you depress the first key of the programmed group of keys
or you send a switch signal for this turnout from a PC the
addressed turnout drive should move into the called
direction until end stop.

Please attend to the following:

• All 4 decoder outputs can supply a motor current of 1
Ampere. As the moving time of the drives is only some

seconds the tracking time of the decoder output is adjusted
to 10 seconds. This indicates that the respective output will
be switched off from power 10 second after the end of the
switch command. This assures that a defect end switch
will not destroy a drive with continuous current.

• The motors of turnout drives can create considerable

electromagnetic interference. Normally the decoder M­DEC will not be influenced by this interference. In case the
decoder will be influenced please check the turnout motor
installation cables. Those cables should not wrap or cross

the decoder closely. Install the cables that way that they go
straight away from the clamps of the decoder. If limited
space requires a bad installation layout and the function of
the decoder will be disturbed please push about 5 ferrous
pearls onto each motor cable.
These ferrous pearls are available at electronic shops or at
LDT with the order code `FP`.
Another possibility is to solder an interference capacitor
(between 1nF and 10nF) across each motor. Fulgurex
drives need this capacitor in any case.

Sample connections:

Spannungsversorgung

12 ... 18V~
15 ... 24V=

Conrad

M-DEC

Hoffmann

1
2

The above draft provides an example how to connect the
different drives directly to the M-DEC without any additional
circuitry.
Further application and circuit examples can be found in the
Internet on our Web-Site (www.ldt-infocenter.com) at the
section downloads/sample connections.

Digitalinformationen
(von Steuereinheit oder Booster)

Pilz/Tillig

4

Fulgurex

3

Accessory:

For the assembly of the M -DEC below your layout base plate
we offer an assembly set under the order code MON-SET. For
the assembled kits and the finished modules we offer from
version 2.0 a suitable case under the order code LDT-01.

Trouble shooting:

What to do if something is not working as described above?
If you have purchased the decoder as a kit please check
carefully all parts and soldered joints.

Here some possible functional errors and possible solutions:

1. During programming of the decoder addresses the motor
moves within 1.5 seconds, but does not confirm the
programming with faster movement by pressing any key.

• Change cable connections at KL2.

• Interfered digital information at KL2 respectively lost of

voltage at the tracks or at the installation!
Connect the decoder directly with cables to the digital
control unit or to the booster instead to the tracks. Increase
the cable diameter for long distances.

• Eventually the clamps have been tightened to strong and
therefore the clamps got loose at the soldering to the pc
board. Check the soldering connection of the clamps at
the lower side of the pc-board and re-solder them if
required.

• For kits: Is IC5 correct inserted into the socket? Has
resistor R6 actually 220 kOhm or has this resistor been
mixed-up with the 18kOhm resistor R5?

2. The programming of the decoder address functions as

described, nevertheless the connected turnouts will not be
activated.

• Interfered digital information on KL2 respectively larger
lost of voltage at the tracks or the installation result to

unsafe data transfer! Connect the decoder directly to the
command station or the booster. Increase the cable
diameter of long distance connection cables.

• For the kit: Is IC4 correct inserted into the socket?

3. The drive moves not until the end switch but stops after a

short movement. The decoder shows not any reaction after
some commands.

• This can happen especially by Fulgurex-drives without
interference capacitor. Solving: solder an interference
capacitor (1nF) directly to the motor connection clamps.

Further Products from our Digital-Professional-

Series:

S-DEC-4
4-fold turnout decoder for four magnet accessories with free

programmable decoder addresses and possible separate power
supply.

SA-DEC-4
4-fold switch decoder with 4 bistable relays for switching up

to 4A each. With free programmable decoder addresses.

LS-DEC
Lightsignal-Decoder for up to four LED-equipped signals.
Signal aspects will be switched as real by up- and down
dimming and will be switched directly via decoder addresses.

All components can be purchased as easy to assemble
complete kits, as finished modules or as ready finished
modules in a case.

Littfinski DatenTechnik (LDT)

D-25492 Heist/Germany

Phone: [phone] / 977 381

Fax: [phone] / 977 382

Internet: http://www.ldt-infocenter.com

Subject to technical changes and errors.  06/2014 by LDT

Arnold, Märklin, Lenz, Digitrax, Roco and Zimo are registered trade marks.

Made in Europe by

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