Junctionmad

While there is definitely some difference in illumination , in many cases it’s irelevant ( mimics etc ) for example for blue , red, green and yellow I use 1k8 on 5V. Works fine

Or use a CDU design that doesn’t pass the activation current through the switch ! There are several published designs where a transistor switches the output of the CDU and the switch simply switches the transistor. This removes the arcing and high current pulses from the switch

Or use a CDU design that doesn’t pass the activation current through the switch !

It’s such a corner case it’s around the corner in real life electronics with similar leds , one resistor will “ work” Yes it has certain specific drawbacks but in practice it actually works. Yes it’s not a Recommended approach but for leds from the same family operating well into their safe current zone it will work and no I’m not recommending it

I have done this also , here Les the fusion 360 cad , I just finished the software

If you look at the characteristic curves of leds the VF rises with current , Hence your sceanario will not occur

My experience is I don’t rely on the peco wires and i solder on my own I would always recommend bonding the switch blades to the stock rail and switching the frog as the optimum approach, but as has been said the points will work out of the box also.

If you points and signals are electrically operates then , other then having a particular interest , there no advantage in building mechanical interlocking in our case we have a bicolour led at each lever , red locked , green unlocked , red flashing , lever out of position simple and easier to understand

I presume this is a 2x1 braced with ply baseboard.

Modern PC low voltage psus are actually quite complex , as any perusal of their schematics will testify

I don’t know what you’d think of our big O gauge DCC layout with 2x10 A and 2x8A switchers feeding it !!

Other then the consumption of wire there is no other drawback to a low voltage ring main , however twice the number of connectors etc give opportunities for poor installation and hence unexpected resistances if you size your wire right , you don’t get any issues with voltage drop anyways and wire is expensive , ring mains are essentially simply doubling the conductor area ( the ring main has largely been replaced by radials )

At the cost of those levers , using them for dummy operations is a rather expensive peccadillo. as a builder of a 72 lever frame , my view is dont bother with dummy levers unless you have a penchant for absolute fidelity and mechanical interlocking , there are tablets you can take that help this condition include levers to make your layout work as required , a model railway will never be a facsimile of a real railway. if the frame is large , evaluate the operator workload. ( especially if you add bells and what not. )

At £20 a decoder for a basic but high quality brand from Zimo and controller solutions from £150 up , why not buy 1 loco next year and convert the remainder

Obviously not on a mac with iCloud then , you poor thing , not only are my bookmarks backed up , they automatically transfer across all my devices ( 7)

When I designed the big O gauge now at 20 baseboards , it was always intended to be an exhibition layout. I was determined to ensure that past mistakes weren’t repeated and that the goal of a complex but reliable layout could be conceived. This extended to running reliability etc. Yes this needs a bigger budget and a careful and controlled process with one person in charge of that process , even if many people contribute to the work The result is a layout that can be erected and basically operational within 1 hour. And to date the record for dismantling and truck on the road ( we use a full size commercial truck ) is 40 mins. At a recent 3 day show. Beside track cleaning it ran faultlessly for the period result no stress , huge fun. it can be done, electricity isn’t voodoo

We have a very electrically complex layout , using MERG Cbus , etc , one disconnected wire in 6 exhibitions , its not the complexity that causes unreliability , it’s the poor standard of typical electrical installs that causes the issues

Don’t use mains twin and earth , it’s like wrestling with a snake buy a few metres of decent stranded cable

They are not acceptable terminations for 230-240VAC systems , US wiring code is about at 1950 compared to European standards , they are not specifically banned but difficult to make compatible with most European safety codes they can of course be used on low voltage systems

Since a wagon turntable is unlikely to be motorised , surely just wire up the track using dropper wire , you could still do 90 degree turns etc once you return the the normal direction via the reverse route.

The GM500 will work with the PM10 point motor , but if using the additional decoder board as in the PM10D , you will have to break into the three wires from the decoder board to the actual solenoid and attach the GM500 as per its instruction manual

I would recommend the book Model Railway Signalling by the renowned C. J. freezer , it’s available 2nd hand online I Aimed at the railway modeller , it cover the compromises that arise in MRs around signaling

unfortunately too many boosters are created on the basis of being “ added” to the existing dcc output ( be it a booster or command station/booster ) , ie by running another dcc feed bus. this is problematic where you already have multiple baseboards and an installed dcc buss Most boosters simply typically duplicate the rating of the existing command station , this isn’t any use of you can’t easily add additional dcc buses additional busses are no use equally if you can’t easily identify seperate track zones so that the current can be split , you may find you simply need more current in all track sections. hence there is a dearth of big boosters , the merg One is the only one I know of that capability there are three types of booster interface (a) proprietary , ie loconet , Zimo can , Z21 can etc (b) CDE ( command data , error ) this is a logic level interface to the booster devised by Lenz , it’s a simple dcc interface with short circuit feedback (c) direct dcc connection , a few boosters support simply connecting to the output of the command station directly , ie the dcc track output while you can use those boosters (C) in parallel with the command station ,but feeding shortage dcc busses , it’s also useful to completely supplant the command station with the new booster. This is the easiest upgrade ASSUMING your bus wiring is rated fir the new booster note that in (C) short circuits are handled in the new booster and status is not fed back to the original command station , which it is in (A) and (B) If you are using Railcom ( C) may not be a wise choice as typically the cutout is not propagated by the booster

Not difficult to build at all , all big chunky components. Lots of help on the merg forum you need to add a suitable power supply 16-18v dc. Many low cost switched mode units available on eBay

+1 , Re chocolate blocks. That’s exactly what happens. Over time the wire then loosens and causes intermittent connection issues.