JayDee

Hi Spikey, Apparently the problems are specific only to the SL-E99 . The SL-E199 is supposed to be fine due the the quite different geometry. Think I'd better first try the SL-E99 seeing as how I have already bought them, on go from there. But won't ballast them until they have had a lot of testing.

I had planned to install three PECO SL-E99 symmetrical 3 way turnouts on a new layout. I have already purchased them. I have searched the RM Web forum and am now aware of some of the issues with the PECO SL-E99 symmetrical turnout as regards radius differences left to right, there could be some height difference and pinning required to get all sections of the turnout "flat", the fact that the two sections need the point motors to be operated sequentially, and some complexity in getting the frog wiring correct. I think I can handle that. But I have just seem on another forum the comment that the Code 100 SL-E99 is “very prone to frog-tip shorts and create a lot of frustration”. If it’s true, then that’s not so easy to handle if there is a frog -tip shorting problem is endemic in the design of the turnout. Is anyone experiencing frog-tip shorting” issues on the SL-E99? If it is a known problem then I guess I can still change to the Code 75 asymmetric SL-E199 for these particular turnouts, but would prefer not to as the rest of the fiddle yard track is all Code 100 (and already purchased) and I would have to add 4 x Code 75/100 converter sections for each turnout.

I have had flickering with DCConcepts decoder but only when dimmed. Was OK at 100% intensity. I needed to reduce the brightness so I ended up running them at 100% but added extra resistance in series with the LED's to drop the current.

I had tried adjusting CV113 but it made no difference. I still could not get any noticeable stay alive effect from the ESU 74679 Powerpack module on the micro V4. Maybe it's faulty. I got better results using my home made 6600uF stay alive. Guess I should go back and investigate this further.

Not very far actually. With sound and lights on, only about 1 full revolution of the driving wheels. Not as far as I would like, but it all helps. I had previously tried one of the little ESU 54679 PowerPak modules on the loco but it didn't seemed to do anything at all for me. It just stuttered and stopped pretty well immediately. I was going to go back and look at it again later because ESU claim wonderful things about it. THE ESU V4 micro shuts down at 8V whilst there is still some usable charge left in the caps. I have been told that some other decoders continue to function at lower voltages but I haven't tested any. I did hope that I would get a longer distance of travel with 6600uF, but seems that's it. I would be interested to hear what success other people have had with stay-alives on ESU V4 micro. I still think I can do better - just not sure what or how L

Yes, I am the guilty one. I did have the coupling rods off some time ago and never noticed they had a top and bottom or knew the reason for it. Thank you!

Just thought I would like to post this upgrade I recently did on my little red and yellow Hornby 0-6-0 shunter. I have had this loco for a while, which I converted as soon as I got the loco, to DCC and sound using a ESU V4 micro. I loved the look of loco and it seemed just what I needed, but was never happy with it because it would forever falter over insulfrog points or the slightest track problem. Also, even from day one the Hornby X8259 CLASS J94 0-6-0 motor was problematic on DCC and I had to change all the ESU motor running parameters considerably to get it to work at all. 18 months on the motor failed completely. I was reluctant to buy another same cheap throw away motor. I wanted to really get this loco working well, and reliably, which it had never done. So…….. The motor : Did some research and I saw this Dapol N gauge motor mentioned on another forum as being very similar in dimensions. And with 5 pole skewed armature. https://www.dccsupplies.com/item-p-106474/supercreep-5-pole-motor-for-Dapol-steam-tender-driven.htm Just brilliant!. I removed and installed the worm gear from the Hornby motor, on to the new Dapol motor, needed to trim just a little plastic off the Hornby motor holder, and it fitted perfectly. It runs beautifully on the standard ESU default motor settings. So much better than the Hornby motor ever was. So… got this far, now how can I improve it further. The other main issue with it (probably common to most 0-6-0 or 0-4-0 locos) is voltage pick up from the track. The good thing about this Hornby loco is that even though it is a small shunter, there is heaps of spare space inside it. I have installed 6600uF of home made stay alive (3 x 2200uf RS Components + diode and 100ohm resistor). It works really well over short track discontinuities.. It’s not a 2 second stay alive using more expensive super caps solutions technology, but has really helped a lot. I have some of the new latest DCC Concepts super Stay Alive’s on order, and they look fantastic from their videos, and am keen to try them, but I think available space could be a problem on many locos including this one. Guess it’s all a compromise. But with both the motor upgrade and the home made stay alive, this loco is now performing so well….. quite a transformation!

Hi Mersey507003,, Thank you so much for your informative reply. It's really appreciated.!. I have tracked down an X9108 motor and placed it on order with a supplier. I also had a look at the related You Tube links and it certainly looks like an improvement. Pity about no flywheel, but seeing as I am using DCC I may look at using a Stay Alive or ESU Power pack to overcome slow speed "hiccups" over insulfrog points. I have pretty much converted over to electrofrog but there are some legacy tight radius sections with turnouts where I can't really change them. However, one point to note is that even the X9108 is now also "discontinued - no longer in production - no longer available" according to Hornby's web site. Same as many other of their motors. But they don't offer any alternate replacement. ........ Again, hopefully I'm "sorted" for at least this Hornby Loco. Many thanks.

I have a 3 year old Hornby Duke of Gloucester that needs a new motor. It is a X6595 (motor with worm gear and flywheel). Hornby have said it is no longer available and I cannot find any resellers with stock. Can anyone suggest a suitable replacement? I am prepared to do some mods to the D of G chassis and fit the worm gear and flywheel off the old motor, but the motor needs to be pretty much the same size i.e it still needs to fit inside the body of the loco. The Flying Scotsman X6331 motor looks the same motor but with the flywheel and worm gear on the opposite ends of the shaft. But same story here "no longer in production and no stock available". Pretty shameful really. Ideally I'd like to find a better quality motor.

That's a very valid point. Hadn't considered that. One of my failed micro V4 decoders in a small Class F diesel shunter, which is the one I was intending to attempt a repair on - the other is a Duke of Gloucester steam.

That does make a lot of sense. Never considered that solution ! A basic motor only decoder is quite cheap. But I have a space issue, at least on one of the two locos which is why I had to use Micro V4 Loksound decoder. Thinking about it further, I may be able to replace the conventional bulky speaker with a sugar cube speaker and save enough space to add a little motor only decoder. And it will probably sound better as well. I seem to be moving more and more to sugar cube style speakers these days. Many thanks athorley.

I’ve had two ESU Lokspound micro V4.0 decoders fail in the last couple of months. They were purchased around 3 years ago I believe, so now out of warranty. They’ve been working fine ‘till recently. It is only the motor drive section that has failed in each. Same in both decoders. But sound and lights etc are still operating fine. I reloaded the code in to the decoders, but still the same. I’m in Australia so it’s not really viable to ship them back to ESU for them to repair (assuming they are even interested) and then ship back to me. Since everything else on the decoders is working, I am thinking that it is most likely just the SMD motor driver transistors/mosfets that have failed. From what I can see from an inspection of the PCB these are most likely the WDFN6 2x2mm SMD packages close to the end of the PCB where the wires attach. Until I can remove them and test them, I’m not sure if each package is a dual Mosfet or dual transistor. I haven’t yet been able to track down the exact part from the printed code on the package (these SMD codes are often quite elusive to identify from), but both styles seem readily available from Farnell/Mouser/RS/Digikey, and I suspect quite “generic”. I doubt ESU will tell me the correct part to use, but I haven't yet asked, and who knows, I could be wrong. . Has anyone else successfully repaired this section of a Loksound micro V4? The cost of the parts is trivial, but you do need suitable hot air rework equipment to replace these very small SMD components, which I fortunately I do have. Got nothing to lose and a lot to gain if it works.

I've been trying to contact Kernow Model Shop for a few days days but am getting no reply to my on line web inquiry. Can someone please send me their email address. I am wanting to email them a computer generated parts list for track, from my CAD program, so that I can get a quote from them. There's no email address that I can see on their web site, and I'm overseas and phoning them is awkward and expensive.

Ha Ha! I love it.

I too, get sluggish, or sometimes no response from my Samsung Android tablet and I have to keeping hitting the screen command to get it to do anything. Eventually it gets there. Other times it seems to works fine - for a while. Particularly when trying to operate points, it can be really tiresome. It really takes the shine off the z21 when you can't rely on the controls. But I don't have an Apple phone or tablet to compare it with. Is this a ROCO Android app design problem (in which case presumably it should be fixable by ROCO) , or is it something inherent in the Android operating system, in which case maybe ROCO should maybe be advising people that using the Android app may result in unreliable operation of the z21? Does anyone in RMweb world use a z21 with Android tablet with a reasonable extensive set up of points and locos (e.g greater than say 30 points and 12 locos) that is operating 100% reliably and consistently? I'm now wondering that maybe the problem gets worse with the complexity of the layout - just a thought JayDee