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pygmalion

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Everything posted by pygmalion

  1. OK, I have stored everything in one file. Still, it is highly unlikely that I will use anything else but turnouts because I don't have a permanent layout. I even designed turnout decoders in a way that they are attached to individual turnouts, so that this turnout can be used at different places in different layouts. I have just tested this today as can be seen in this video As seen on my smartphone, turnouts were automatically recognised by Engine Driver. Thanks for the help and best regards Marko
  2. Thanks, Nigel, for the answer. I still don't get few things. So I store ALL table content and panels, and not ONLY turnout table? If I understand, when I open DecoderPro, I have to load that table. But where? If I use import decoder file, I get error. Best regards Marko
  3. Thanks, I have added turnout in PanelPro. But I guess I have to save that and somehow tell DecoderPro/Engine Drive to use it. I am a bit confused and manual for DecoderPro/PanelPro is massive. Is there somewhere just short instructions how to do that?
  4. Hello, I am using PiSPROG One DecoderPro for years and so far I didn't have any problem. Recently, however, I decided to control turnouts too. I was looking into DecoderPro manual and there it is explained that turnouts must be added into turnout table, which is accessed from the Tools menu. However, there is no Tools menu in my DecoderPro!! Maybe this has something to do that I am using SPROG system or maybe because my DecoderPro is on Linux ARM operating system. I can manually control turnout by using Actions/Turnout control, but this is cumbersome and furthermore Engine Driver on the smartphone also does not show any turnouts. Please can you help me how to define turnouts in DecoderPro and/or control turnouts directly from Engine Driver? Best regards Marko
  5. Stay Alives do not work with 860014 (and probably the entire PanGu series). On the other hand, Stay Alives work with 870014 (and probably the entire KungFu series). Both are true for the LaisDCC brand as well as for the homemade Stay Alives. I contacted the guys at LaisDCC, and while they did not explicitly admit that 860014 does not work with Stay Alives, they could not tell me how to fix the problem. I was able to negotiate some sort of decoder swap (it was marketed as Stay Alive compliant + I am a regular customer + I did several web publications using their decoders). Stay Alive issues aside, both the 860014 and 870014 work fine for me, even with old, really lousy Mehanotehnika motors (all of which I will be replacing with nice Mitsumi motors now). Too bad the 860014s have this problem, because now I have a lot of work to do to replace them in all locomotives... From a brighter perspective, maybe this means that LaisDCC decoders are not copies. After all, the supposed originals all work with Stay Alives. They also sell small Stay Alives, the size of which is impressively small. So in this situation I will continue to use them.
  6. I see, Nigel. I'm a total newbie, two years ago started playing with old Mehanotehnika locomotives my dad gave me over 30 years ago. Since the locomotives themselves are not a great value (you can usually get them on EBay for $10 - $20), I decided to go with cheap decoders. LaisDCC were included in JMRI Pro Decoder and even have their manufacturer's number, so I thought it was all legit. Now, after digitizing more than 10 locomotives, I'm stuck - it doesn't make sense in terms of time and cost to switch to Zimo, no matter how much I'd like to. So, yeah, I'm SORRY, but I can't help. For anyone concerned, I edited the JMRI file and changed CV182 to 2 (default was 0), but that didn't help. So I'm back to square one. Marko
  7. Upon further research on @Nigelcliffe's suggestion, I found that TCS decoders require CV182 = 2 when stay-alives are used. This is mentioned in the document by Bruce Petrarca, which curiously was shared as document http://laisdcc.com/Stayin_Alive_laisdcc.pdf (no longer available on the internet, but could be found again by Internet Archive). So there is a teensy bit of hope that I can still get this to work. The whole issue is also mentioned in another discussion on this very forum, but remains unresolved. But the problem is that I can't access CV182 with JMRI Decoder Pro! Any suggestions on this alley?
  8. Well... I've never heard of Zimo, and they're practically my neighbours (250km/150miles from where I live). Yes, they are about twice as expensive, but now I'm sorry. I've already f***** up myself, as my entire locomotive fleet is already equipped with LaisDCCs.
  9. I have made two more tests: Test 4: I reduced the input voltage of the DCC system to 10V and found that LaisDCC decoder works perfectly at these low voltages. Test 5: Using five 1F 2.7V capacitors with low ESR, I created another stay-alive (effective capacitance 0.2F, but too large to measure with my multimeter). After turning off the power, it took a few dozen seconds for the voltage to drop below 10V. However, the motor and LED stopped immediately. Conclusion: either some setting in my LaisDCC decoder is wrong or LaisDCC has some trick to prevent the use of DIY stay-alives. This would actually make them smarter than other decoder manufacturers :/
  10. My motor is the Mitsumi M24N-1 and I even measured its electrical characteristics (you can find them published here). So without load, the motor consumes something on the order of 15mA, while LED consumes something on the order of 10mA. So theoretically LED should glow for at least 0.4s and the motor should work for at least 0.2s ( giving 20mA for the motor with load, I have my loco on my DIY test bench). I think this should both be visible. Test 1: To see what's going on, I also measured the voltage at the stay-alive using a multimeter. It takes about a second for the voltage to drop below 10V (it seems that only the decoder itself is drawing current). Test 2: I also charged the stay-alive and connected it to the same resistor-LED combination I use in my locomotives, and LED glowed for a few seconds... Test 3: I also opened the decoder and saw that the stay-alive wires are mounted directly behind the diode rectifier - exactly where you should expect them. I would assume that LaisDCC decoders would not support stay-alive unless LaisDCC sold their own stay-alives. And as @Art Dent pointed found out, their stay-alives are just capacitors plus a charging resistor. I guess @Art Dent forgot to mention the diode, which I also properly used. So maybe LaisDCC does use some trick to force folks to buy their stay-alives? It would be very useful if @Art Dent could post the picture of the LaisDCC stay-alives, this might help solve the mystery.
  11. For a test, I turned off motor (but leaving LED on) and then disconnected power. Since motor was not working, I expected to see LED on for long enough to see that stay alive is working. Is there any other way to test stay alive function? I think 4400uF should be enough to get something visible. Maybe it is not exactly 4400uF but it is definitely more than 440uF. My multimeter measures 3.9mF. There are two 2200uF 25V electrolytic capacitors in parallel, so ERS should be small.
  12. OK folks, I have finally reached stay-alive experiments. I made 4400uF stay-alive (2x2200uF) for my 860014 LaisDCC decoder with black and blue stay-alive wires. I also forgot to turn off DC (CV29 = 38) so the decoder was just acting all crazy. After I turned off DC (CV29 = 34), the decoder works normally, but the effect of stay-alive is ZERO. After the line loses power, the motor and/or LED stop immediately. I know that the motor should only work for a fraction of a second, but I expected LED to work for at least a second. I checked my stay-alive against LED and LED is kept on for a few seconds. I measured the voltage on the stay-alive while it was mounted on the decoder, and the voltage slowly drops after I turn off the power, but LED stops immediately. Now I'm am clueless. Either I damaged LaisDCC somehow by providing stay-alive with DC turned on, or the decoder is just a piece of junk. Does anyone have any ideas on this?
  13. This confuses me even more. If decoder makes sure that the motor is never provided more than 12V, it is only important that supply voltage is more than 12V. 12V or 14V should make no difference (apart from the diminutive drop of voltage due to controller and decoder electronics). If supply voltage is increased from, say, 13V to 14V, that should make no difference, as I understand that.
  14. Thank you for your information about marketing gimmick. I suspected so, but it is easier when I have first-hand confirmation. I will try using five (not four) pieces of this capacitor in series (I have realized that for the previous one minimum order is 12000 pieces...): https://www.digikey.si/product-detail/en/illinois-capacitor/DGH105Q2R7/1572-1758-ND/7387508 I will let you know the result. I think 5 x 2.7 = 13.5 is enough for my use, after all I am powering my DCC controller with 12V. But even if I powered my controller with 14V, I could still shield my capacitors with 12V Zener in parallel, wouldn't I? Now, one digression question: Is there a reason to power DCC controller with more than 12V, say 14V? I am using Pi-SPROG One and I was reluctant to use more than 12V, because more than 12V is not safe for locomotive motors. Producer of the Pi-SPROG told me it is OK to use more than 12V, as far as DCC controller is concerned.
  15. The only other interesting thing that I could find is this one: https://www.digikey.si/product-detail/en/illinois-capacitor/105DER2R5SFN/105DER2R5SFN-ND/5410532 If you put five in series, you get 5A top current and 200mF capacity, which corresponds to 8s @ 300mA. The problem is the size of the whole pack, approx. 8mm x 14mm x 40mm. Minimum order: 12 pieces for 4 EUR (without P&P).
  16. Too bad I didn't read this informative topic before I bought cheap supercapacitors... I am using LaisDCC decoders and if I understand right the question whether one can assemble his own stay alive module remains unanswered. LaisDCC claims that "(...) this decoder only support our own brand LaisDcc 860007 Stay Alive kits (...)". Is this real or just a retail trick? LaisDCC is pretty shadowy DCC producer and despite his products work fine it is next to impossible to get relevant characteristics and information. Also, I just can't understand what is stay alive module, if not a capacitor with the support resistor-diode circuit. What do you think? Anyways, I did some research and found out this supercapacitor with a reasonable price and fairly low ESR (equivalent series resistance): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-20pcs-0-47F-3-6V-ELNA-DBS-Series-13-5X7-5mm-3-6V0-47uF-Low/32966714946.html Assuming four capacitors are put into series, that is 3V and 25 Ohm ESR per capacitor, this capacitors should give current of about 120 mA. And with huge capacity of about 120mF, it would provide that current for hefty 12s. By the way, typical value for ESR for classical capacitors is only 0.1Ohm, theoretically giving currents up to 120A! I searched also standard electronic providers, but couldn't find anything better; if reasonably cheap, supercapacitors have the ESR of about 20 Ohms or more. So in the end there are only two choices: using supercapacitors with 50 times capacity and limited output current or classical capacitors with practically unlimited output current and 1/50 capacity. I didn't find anything in between. But in the end, how much time does one really need for a stay alive module? Modest locomotive speed is in order of few centimeters per second, which means that classical 2.2mF capacitor could provide 300mA for about 0.1s, corresponding to few millimeters mode. Isn't that enough?
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