mfx: Most(ly) Frustrating eXperience

mfx is Märklin’s latest and greatest digital protocol. With mfx, locos register automatically with the digital controller and automatically negotiate a unique address for the loco.

I disabled mfx in my digital controller.

What’s wrong with mfx?

Maybe the problem is the way I operate my layout. I have sidings where I park trains. I cut off the power to these sidings. Not all locos are on the layout, some are in showcases.

A loco moved from the showcase to the layout would in most cases register again with the controller even though it was already registered. And even though the loco was already registered, it would not run until the registration process was through. So the senseless automatic re-registration blocked me from using the loco – for about one minute. Boring, but bearable.

It was even worse with the sidings: when the power for a siding was restored, then in most cases all mfx locos on those sidings would register again. They would register in an order determined by I don’t know what – and this would sometimes block me from using the loco I wanted to run for 10 or more minutes. Frustrating if it happens again and again.

Once it happened that the automatic registration for a siding got stuck in a deadlock: the mfx symbol was flashing, but no loco would ever finish registration. I turned power off for the siding again, then moved the locos one by one to the main track where they would perform the senseless automatic re-registration. Now that was very frustrating.

Once I had a loco that had been parked on the main track for a long time (where it was able to “speak” with the digital controller as I do not switch off the main track) that I could not get moving. Of course if was at the most distant spot on the layout. I gave her a push and yet another push, but she would not work. Finally I took her to the test track where she registered with the test controller and worked fine. Back on the main track she would now re-register and work fine. That was very frustrating, too.

Another problem I have had several times: locos that do not register automatically. And without automatic registration, mfx locos will not run at all. This was a problem when I only had one mfx controller. Now, when a loco ignores one controller and hibernates instead of registering automatically, I just try another mfx controller – and yet another mfx controller until she will finally register. So this behaviour is no longer as frustrating as it was, but it’s still somewhat frustrating.

Digital locos shall function in a predictable and reliable way

Not long after that most frustrating mfx experience, I decided to disable mfx in the controller. While some mfx decoders support up to four MM addresses to access up to 16 functions, I decided to use at maximum two addresses per loco which does allow access to functions f0 through f8. With some locos I rearranged the functions to have the most interesting functions on f0 through f8 and less interesting functions on f9 through f15. Neither my CS1 reloaded (99% ECoS compatible) nor a CS2 support moving mfx functions to other keys, so you manually have to add the function to a free slot – and then do the same for the other function. Would be nice to have a function that allows sorting functions keys.

So far I’m happy with the mfx-free operation of the layout. With mfx, I was using 28 speed steps for all mfx locos. Now I run them with MM protocol with 28 speed steps (ESU mfx decoders) or 27 speed steps (Märklin mfx decoders).

Neither ECoS nor CS2 allow conversion of a record of an mfx loco to another protocol, so I have to re-register all mfx locos manually with all their function symbols. This is boring, but with an ECoS it can be done rather quickly and efficiently – and I only have to do it once.

Now I can quickly and efficiently select the loco I want to run (thanks to the efficient user interface of the ECoS) and the loco will run immediately – predictable and reliable as I wanted to have it.

Am I the only mfx sceptic?

No, I’m not alone. Some Märklin fans even replace the mfx decoders with DCC decoders.

People at Teppichbahning event typically disable mfx in their controllers. Teppichbahning refers to large, temporary layouts on the floor – typically several persons bring their tracks and their controllers to build a really huge floor layout. mfx is a show stopper for such events: the loco will stop when it passes from one controller to another to register automatically. DCC and MM locos can move from one controller to the other without stopping, so Teppichbahner uses those protocols and disable mfx.

Do I say mfx is bad?

No. mfx is not good for me and I disabled it. I know that many people are happy with mfx. That’s fine by me. But I have more fun without mfx.

Many people still use controllers that do not support mfx – the trusty old CU 6021, the Intellibox, the Viessmann Commander or other controllers. So I’m not the only one having fun without mfx.

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