TheKeg

The colours seem to be as follows - red - black - gold - silver That would mean 2 ohm? Ive never seen, coils with colour coded bands before, but if that’s all they are then I will try that solution.

Hello to everyone, I was just wondering if anyone could help me identify what value these resistors are? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

fair play, I was just going off the product being listed under NCE on a retailers website. None of us are infallible. The main point is, such a product is available.

Hi there, Thats a very impressive looking track plan. If your happy with NCE, but need more power, then you could always add the NCE Powerpro base station or booster to your system. That would give you 5 amps for your layout. This isn’t a very cheap option though, I believe the booster is about £180. NCE have released a WiFi board just recently which allows control of your layout through your powercab with a phone or tablet. https://www.digitrains.co.uk/shop-by-brand/nce/nce-cab-bus-wifi-interface.html There are plenty of other systems that could be suitable. The ROCO Z21 is very popular, and certainly fulfils your desire to operate with a phone or tablet. We use an ESU ECoS, and have done so for 10+ years. This would definitely fall into the bracket of a high end system. With the addition of a small WiFi router, plugged straight into the back, and an appropriate app, tether free control is very nice. We’ve been using this setup for many years on multiple exhibition layouts, and it’s been supremely reliable. The apps for the ECoS are: TouchCab (Apple devices only. Compatible with ESU ECoS and Lenz systems) ECoS Cab (Apple, Android and Windows. Only compatible with ECoS) I hope this helps a little bit, and I’m sure there will be others with suggestions also. Regards, Simon

I would try and deal with a U.K. based retailer. Then if there are any problems with the decoders you buy it’s a lot easier to get support. Digitrains, Costal Dcc, etc there’s plenty of good retailers out there.

I have never used the Gaugemaster dcc30 decoders but I was under the impression they already had a CDU built in. There certainly looks to be capacitors on them in the picture I looked at. If that is the case, it seems odd that it’s not firing the peco motors correctly. I would always go for decoders with CDU built in. I have used the digitrax ds52 extensively, and they have always been reliable. There’s lots of choice out there though.

We’ve been using the Tam Valley frog juicers on three of our exhibition layouts, for the last seven years, in a variety of gauges. We have yet to have a failure on any of them (touch wood :-) ). We have also never seen any evidence of arcing, and any damage caused by arcing, on any of our track and stock. We have also used the gauge-master ones as well, and so far have had no issues with them either. in the past, we used all kinds of switches for controlling frog polarity and unfortunately at some point they have all failed; usually during an exhibition. Since changing to frog juicers we have had no problems with operation and reliability of our frog polarity control. The other bonus on the dual frog juicers is they can be used to control the polarity on return loops and turntables. I believe two outputs on the hex frog juicer can also be paired to perform this task. I for one would always thoroughly recommend them to anyone for any type of dcc controlled layout, but each to their own.

Hi there, To check your ECoS is connected and working on the network, open up your web browser on your Mac and enter the ECoS i.p. address into the address bar, then hit enter. This should bring up your ECoS page in your web browser. If this happens, it is confirmation that your ECoS is on your network and can communicate with other things. With regard to JMRI, unfortunately I can’t help you with that as I have never used it with ECoS. I have always used TouchCab for wireless control and an app called Mocha VNC to mirror to ECoS display on an iPad. This also allows me to operate the ECoS from my iPad. I hope my ramblings may be some use to you.

That does indeed change the situation. https://jamestrainparts.com/2018/04/02/improving-kato-unitrack-ho-points-for-dcc-operation/ This is quite a useful guide for modifying the HO points for better DCC use.

These are the screws that are used to configure the point. Kato points are designed to be sealed units, so under normal circumstances there should be no reason to take the bottom plate off completely.

Hi, your track plan should work fine. Just to clarify, the red and black wires on Kato points drive the in built point motors. If you want to change them with dcc, you can connect the two wires from the point to a suitable accessory decoder (one capable of driving two wire point motors). I have used the digitrax ds52 in the past for this, and they have worked very well. With regards to connecting your track to your dcc system, this can be made very simple. If you configure each of your points to constantly pass power all the time (this is done by altering one of the small screws on the bottom of each point) then the two wires from your dcc system should power every part of the track all of the time. This is one of the benefits of the Kato track system for dcc users.

We have used a few systems over the years. Started with ZTC 511, moved to NCE powecab after that and still have it, but only really use it for testing at home, and one of our layouts. Our main control system now is an ESU ECoS, with the great Touchcab app on various Apple devices for easy 'walk about' operation. We use the ECoS on four of our six exhibition layouts, and I can't see us changing to anything else to be honest. Keg

Thoroughly enjoyed the truly excellent show, as I always do. All credit to Perth club for what really is a stand out example of how a model railway exhibition should be organised and run. The whole weekend was a pleasure, and the exhibitors' dinner on the Saturday night was fantastic. I am very much looking forward to next years show already! Keg

I must disagree that the posts mentioned, were in any way sensational. As someone who spent all three days at the show, I can only endorse all of the views regarding the extremely unpleasant conditions in the marquees. I do think that this could have been helped by following the example set by the organisers of the marquee at Rothley station, just up the line. There, they opened up every second or third wall panel at the top, and dropped them down to half way. This allowed some air to circulate through the tent. How's that suggestion for 'keeping it realistic'? Apart from the atmospheric conditions, the show itself was good, with a very good selection of traders and layouts. Keg