Lais Stay Alive Help

[Sir TophamHatt]

Bought a lais chip and stay alive unit.

Connected them and the loco moves. However the stay alive seems to be ignored.

 

Currently the motor is on a rolling road and the rear pickup is manually placed on the rail to make the circuit.

 

However when I take the pick up off, the motor must stops dead.

 

It was advertised as remaining power between 6 and 20 seconds, dependant on certain factors, but I'm only testing on speed step 1 at the moment.

 

Do I have to tell the chip it has a stay alive attached?

[Torper]

I wonder if you bought the Lais Stay Alive Lite (Part No. 860007) which is wrongly stated in some adverts to power a loco for between 6 and 20 seconds. In fact the Lite will probably only manage a fraction of a second. It would have cost you about £3 or so.  If you want the full 6 to 20 second one you should get the Lais Stay Alive Pro (Part No. 860009), currently available from Ali Express, and possibly other retailers, for $11.  Please don't take this post as a recommendation for that unit as I haven't tried it but there doesn't seem to be any reason why it wouldn't work.

 

DT

Edited August 10, 2018 by Torper

[Sir TophamHatt]

Will be sending mine back.

Don't see the point in stay alive for less than a second. Shame

[Crosland]

Why do you need more than a second?

 

If your pickup/running problems are that bad, a stay alive is not the solution.

 

As for 6 - 20 seconds, that in the same league as "my razor has more blades than yours", unless you are trying to emulate the Lenz party trick and run on paper covered track.

[shibushe]

Just mention that my experience of this decoder has not been positive, because of that I would not buy another.

For another few pounds you can get a Zimo.

[Vonzack]

Had a similar experience to the OP with a 6 pin Lais and a Stay Alive unit, not sure of which model it was now, but no evidence of any stay alive once the loco wasn't picking up and this was with a Dapol DVT, so no motor draw. The chips themselves work fine, I use them for DVT's and dummy loco's.

 

Cheers, Mark.

[Sir TophamHatt]

Just mention that my experience of this decoder has not been positive, because of that I would not buy another.

For another few pounds you can get a Zimo.

Yeah, I would have had a Zimo or Lenz but the Lais come with the connectors for Stay Alive and I didn't want to risk messing up a chip for the first try.

 

There are a few dead spots (despite having every piece wired), mainly points but as I'm starting a new layout then hopefully it'll be a lot more reliable. But it does lead me to think the pickups are the main problem.

Some are really old locos so fairly hard to get new pickups into, so I thought a Stay Alive might be a simple way round.

Edited August 15, 2018 by Sir TophamHatt

[imt]

Yeah, I would have had a Zimo or Lenz but the Lais come with the connectors for Stay Alive and I didn't want to risk messing up a chip for the first try.

 

If it helps for the future, lots of suppliers now provide pre-wired "stay alive" wires.  DCC-Concepts and Hattons own to name but 2. I have used them both cos I didn't fancy trying to solder things onto chips!  You pays your money .............

[lambretta]

as these are a copy of tcs decoders this may be a clue  page 17 on manual gives instructions for enabling stay alive https://tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Technical_Info/Tech_Manuals/Comprehensive%20Programming%20Guide.pdf

[melmerby]

as these are a copy of tcs decoders this may be a clue  page 17 on manual gives instructions for enabling stay alive https://tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Technical_Info/Tech_Manuals/Comprehensive%20Programming%20Guide.pdf

An illegal copy IIRC and buying them is the equivalent of pirated music!

 

Keith

[lambretta]

wouldnt be surprised if they havent changed just enough to stay legal 

[slngshotx]

An illegal copy IIRC and buying them is the equivalent of pirated music!

 

Keith

Are these definitely a copy? I've done a little digging and I've read enough to convince myself that they are unauthorized TCS clones, so won't buy any more. Which is a shame since they are better than both the zimo and hattons I've tried.

 

I didn't find any official statement on the TCS website, which seems a little strange, even if it was vague legalese warning about unofficial decoder's.

[Sir TophamHatt]

Yeah, I read about copies but thought lais had come out with their own version now?

The decoder is okay, not brill but okay.

As I say, the stay alive connections were the draw - not even sure if any of the usual Lenz or Zimo decoders I usually buy have places on the decoder to wire a stay alive.

 

Didn't particularly find anything on page 17, but page 3 did suggest looking at CV 182. I predict it'll be defaultly at number 2, which is what I need anyway.

Luckily the seller refunded the stay alive no problem.

 

Did think about buying the 2m stay alive but it's quite a lot considering the loco I've been testing with only cost £25.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Sir TophamHatt

[DCB]

Sounds like you have track issues, and it sound like shorts not open circuits.  Peco Dead frog points are notorious for shorts at the frog if used without isolators at the frog as wheeltreads  bridge +ve and -ve rails.   A two wheel pick up test mule is useful for identifying pick up issues.  Remember the wheels pick up power on the "Gauge Corner" not flat across the top of the rails so dont just wipe the tops clean the inside edges of the rail.  Generally if you use a heavy enough loco with a flywheel and only 4 wheels taking the weight pick up problems just disappear! 

[melmerby]

As I say, the stay alive connections were the draw - not even sure if any of the usual Lenz or Zimo decoders I usually buy have places on the decoder to wire a stay alive.

 

 

Only the Lenz Gold + has stay alive (officially) whether you could fit it to others I don't know.

 

Keith

[Nigelcliffe]

Only the Lenz Gold + has stay alive (officially) whether you could fit it to others I don't know.

 

Keith

 

Anything Zimo make, or have made for at least the last 10 years, can be fitted with stay-alive, the various methods are described in the Zimo manuals, they differ between models as to exactly what is needed.  Many need wires soldering onto the decoder to connect the stay-alive, though a few of the newer connection socket standards include the stay-alive in the connector.

 

With Lenz, the Gold's have official contact points for the Lenz Power-1 module (quite bulky, but very long run time).  Others can be done, but not documented how, so down to how well you can decipher small electronic devices.