Crosland

Someone is not using the correct procedure, or the EU are being arsey, and not following the rules, to cause problems for the UK post-Brexit. There has always been a way for goods being repaired to be imported into the EU with no duty or VAT payable. I used it many times myself pre-Brexit to repair goods originally sold outside the EU.

Or they join one of the schemes to collect the VAT so the goods can be delivered directly to the buyer. Just as UK sellers exporting to the EU can collect the appropriate VAT. See above, they may be part of a scheme that allows them to collect the VAT. The buyer then has no further liability. I have heard tales that it doesn't always work and items that have had the VAT and duty paid still get assessed for them on import. Alternatively they can, perfectly legally, charge whatever they want, so long as they don't claim that it's VAT. Many exporters have, for years, charged a "VAT inclusive" price for exports and used the "VAT" to offset the extra shipping costs. E.g. Sold in the UK at £24 inc. VAT with free postage. Export price still £24 but the £4 is for the extra postage cost.

Small parcel has some limited tracking from the parcel reference number. It doesn't tell you where in the system it or when it will be delivered, but it does inform of successful or failed delivery. I hade an export parcel with full tracking that showed only that my local PO had received it, for about three weeks. It was probably stuck in a pile at Langley waiting to be scanned. It is now, thankfully, on the move.

I would echo what smokebox says, and a warning... The EZ Command, with the supplied power supply, uses a stupidly high track voltage (or at least mine did) so be careful running non chipped locos on address 10, especially if they are stationary for any length of time. You can change the PSU, but it needs to be AC, not DC.

The ad-block detection is broken in Brave browser. When the site is set to unprotected and shields down the pop still appears yet I can see ads being served on the site behind the popup.

That's the big problem. What relevance do ads for Rubbermaid and Boohoo have on RMWeb? Even Farnell and Arrow must be marginal for most members. Then there are the ads that cover the whole screen on a small laptop. I don't mind disabling my ad-blocker for a site I Really want to view but this latest change has ruined RMWeb for me.

It really depends on the meter. Some on DC will give an average. See https://www.digitrax.com/tsd/KB909/track-voltage-measurement-on-dcc-layouts-with-dire/ for a way to get a reasonable measurement using a DC meter. There's no reason why that should be the case unless you have selected address 0 for an unchipped loco. Otherwise the DCC waveform is symmetrical and will measure the same either way round. DCC is true AC, by the way, it's just not a 50Hz sine wave like the mains.

Lots of drawings in Midland Record and LMS Journal but it would mean trawling through multiple issues or finding an index.

No, it uses the full DCC track voltage (a little lower than whatever power supply you use with the SPROG).

As Nigel says, it's a safety feature that power is on only when actually reading or writing CVs. You can manually turn the track on using the power control in JMRI. This is useful if you want to use a throttle to test the loco after programming, e.g., test sounds or function mapping. If you have a long enough programming track, or a rolling road, you can run the loco up and down. Andrew sprog-dcc.co.uk

It's solvable by not putting the reverse module downstream of the detection circuit. I.E. detect the section controlled by the reverser, not the input to the reverser.

They are a bit vague, lots of "likely", making it sound like the design is not actually finished yet.

At an exhibition - don't. It just annoys other exhibitors😀 What's wrong with a simple an amplifier between the sound module and the speakers? Or get your friend to redesign the module with a higher output.

They don't apply to second hand goods from private sellers, no matter what anyone says. Convincing eBay of that, however, ...

If the DCC system is supplied with, and designed to use, a transformer based supply then it will be fine. That in itself will not cause voltage spikes, who told you that? Was it someone trying to sell you their expensive brand of power supply? Such a system will contain all the smoothing and regulation it requires. The cheap EZ-Command actually requires a transformer (AC) supply. Transformers have an inherent advantage in that they don't shut down near-instantaneously (generally within 10 ms or so) like a switch mode PSU (SMPS). Using a SMPS requires a very fast overload cutout in the command station/booster (which has implications for downstream cutouts) or active current limiting (which requires very careful thermal design and management).

It's called thread drift, happens all the time on any on-line forum, unless moderated with a very heavy hand. Another reason to isolate parts of a layout is to spread the load onto different power districts. Multiple smaller boosters, rather than one big booster. The two power districts must be isolated. You can't simply connect two boosters in parallel.

You can also get enamelled wire that you can solder without scraping. Use to be used in verowire and similar prototyping tools.

Second hand sales are a bit of a grey area. It is a legal requirement that new equipment does not cause, nor is susceptible to, interference. It is not a legal requirement that you achieve this by using a capacitor. You will also see inductors (chokes) and multiple capacitors in locos.

The electrical interfaces are compatible. It's how the messages are sent that differs. There are many specs for small and large vehicles, boats, industrial networks, ... Unfortunately, due to politics and history, non of the MR implementations are compatible.

What Nigel said. Maybe even 0.1uf. Ceramic disc.

CANbus (used by Zimo and MERG) is definitely a control bus. I think you are just adding confusion by introducing the term LAN, especially when some DCC systems use the LAN connection to connect to a PC, not the layout. LAN has become synonymous with Ethernet related technologies. I would be happy to refer to Loconet as a LAN (It's a true peer-to-peer network), but not polled systems such as NCEs Cab bus or XpressNet. It's not the form of AC that many are used to, and often seem to assume is the only form of AC, but...

Track bus: Can by used to run trains and control accessories (points, signals, etc). Accessory Bus: Split off form the track bus in some way and used to control accessories. Usually done so that a short on the layout does not stop accessory control. Control bus: Used to connect things such as cabs (throttles) and control panels, e.g., NCE Cab Bus, Loconet, ExpressNet. Can be used for feedback from occupancy detectors, etc. Can also often be used in place of an accessory bus to control accessories.

Once things are part of the JMRI code base they will appear, there is no filtering or selecting for release builds. There's no considering things to be "worthy". The JMRI mantra is "code wins". Add something and, unless it breaks things, it will be included. It seems that the file was not submitted correctly, in some way, in the past. The latest entry in the JMRI source control system is "Move the files to the correct location". I'm not enough of a git expert to figure out where they were previously, which might explain what went wrong.

Does this help? https://www.dcctrainautomation.co.uk/blog/connecting-jmri-to-dr5000-via-usb-and-wifi.html It looks like you have an issue with the connection preferences.

This has been going on for a while... https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/09/ex-ebay-security-execs-imprisoned-for-stalking-journalists-who-cover-ebay/