alphonsus

Hello all, Can anybody give me any information about this set? I asume it takes two 6-pin decoders, has directional lighting and takes the standard Dapol lighting bars (in the centre two carriages, at least) but I can't find any details on it anywhere. Best wishes, A

Hi, long time no visit - modelling has had to take a back seat for a while Before I get trigger-happy on eBay and then discover they aren't suitable, can anyone tell me the dimensions of each of the products in the (discontinued?) Lyddle End Retaining Walls product range. I think I've established each section is 88mm wide, but there are 4 different levels with transition slopes to match. Knowing the height of each level would be incredibly useful, but the Google has not been generous with information. Best wishes, Paul

Yes, it is. Pure H2O doesn't really conduct electricity at all. It is dissolved salts (of which table salt is only one) that make water (and hence water-based glues) conduct. Tap water has varying amounts of dissolved salts in it - harder water has more (this being why it's harder). Being conductive means more charge available, particularly when the croc-clip is connected to the glue, which completes a circuit.

Thinking about it, every loco I have has come from eBay. Some were listed as 'new' or 'new - other', some as 'used'. I've only had one issue, a Dapol class 153 with the bogie springs problem. I've tried stretching them, but given up and accepted I'll have to get some official spares. It's a backup unit I want to renumber once I've learnt how, so no great loss for what I paid for it. It can sit on the inspection pit in the 'yard' until working properly.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I think I'll investigate using an audio file as the random element.

Hi, I will have a row of terraced houses and want to simulate TVs using LEDs (cool white or RGB). I know there are products designed to simulate fireboxes, campfires and similar but I've not seen anything suitable to simulate a TV. Before I start mucking around with Arduino scripts (PWM pins, random intervals, random brightness, all x10 houses), is anyone aware of an existing product? Google isn't being helpful... Yours hopefully... Alph

I agree. I've put together a small fleet of Northern Rail liveried N gauge 153 and 156s but am drawing the line at 97 quid for a dummy 153 when you consider I paid 78 for a Settle-Carlisle liveried 156, 60 for a dummy 156, 90 for a full 153 and 140 for a full 156, all in excellent condition - I got lucky on that aspect. I'd like to run an occasional 153/156 triple without tying up the motorised 153 to do so, as occasionally seen on my home line of the Cumbrian Coast Line, but not enough to pay nearly 100 quid for it. Some people are wanting silly money!

That looks most impressive for such a tiny package. Worth investing in. Shall have to see if there's a UK supplier before mucking around with importing one. Thanks for the pointer

That's very impressive work, ITG. Could you tell me which Alpha switches you used, please? The array of gear on the DCC Concepts site is a bit bewildering! I was thinking of using momentary (so (ON)-OFF-(ON)) SPDT 3A switches whose bodies are 13mm long and 6 mm wide. I'm hoping (based on other forum discussions) that that current rating will be sufficient to shift points using a CDU as although briefly higher, the current falls quickly and will be low by the time the contacts separate, which is the real limiting factor in the switch design. The rubber switch covers have a diameter of about 14mm so that dictates the pitch between turnouts on the diagram (in the grey section, for example). Based on that, the diagram scales to about 36cm wide. 3mm LEDs to indicate the point is set to a siding can go on the siding, still thinking about where to mount the through line LED, unless I use dual colour LEDs. However I might not be able to source the colour combinations I want. The diagram shows (crudely) where the switches would go. The black circles represent the switch covers and the switches themselves are enclosed within that shape (apart from 0.5mm projections at the corners). I could reduce the amount of whitespace and shorten the length of the sidings which would bring the panel down to the size of a sheet of A4 paper.

Wheel-reinventing is my forte In my defence, daytime TV isn't fantastic and the dog's not a great conversationalist so I need something to occupy my mind, and thought experiments are cheaper than devising new timetables that require new locos... I'm liking the £10 decoder price point, far more justifiable for lighting a rake of coaches than something twice the price, but I also like the idea of using an Arduino for the job as I've played with them in the past. I suspect I'll go down the decoder route since the amount of space available inside an n-gauge coach ain't high and shoehorning in an Arduino, rectifier, plus a stay-alive circuit with capacitor large enough for the Arduino as well isn't likely. DCC control of model domestic and street lighting using an Arduino with a permanent power connection is another matter though... Thanks all for your thoughts!

Probably not the clearest of topic titles, but I couldn't think of anything better. Many (most?) layouts have some form of panel showing the track layout for mounting point control switches and possibly indicator LEDs. I tried creating one in Microsoft Visio, which is a pretty good all-round technical drawing application, but it just didn't want to produce a suitable diagram. I wasn't satisfied with the exported images from AnyRail either, as I wanted a more Harry Beck style diagram. Enter https://metromapmaker.com/... My AnyRail design became this and then this after a little tweaking (in Paint, of all things!). Rather recommended, and yes, I've just noticed the crossovers at the top and bottom of the diagram are the wrong way around!

Excellent, thanks. PIC programming will have to wait until September and the reopening of the school's tech dept.

As per first line of OP: "a thought experiment [to] enable dummy loco directional lighting on a DCC layout without using a decoder". I'd appreciate a link to the design you mention as finding it in your 4k+ posts might take a while. Best wishes, Alph

Thanks for the input, people. I think I'll use the cheaper Dapol decoders in the dummy cars as they only have to handle directional lighting and Zimo MX617Ns in the powered units.

I was thinking more for the dummy cars in a multi-car set (e.g. a Class 156) as a true decoder is only needed in the motorised car.

Ignore this post - thought I'd found something relevant on the site, but it's for DC, not DCC, powered track:

As a thought experiment rather than anything serious, I'm designing a circuit that could be plugged into a 6-pin decoder socket and enable dummy loco directional lighting on a DCC layout without using a decoder. It'll probably never reach fruition as the cost of the components may well exceed the price of a cheap and nasty decoder. I'm thinking a socket to wired decoder adaptor, a rectifier chip, two latching reed switches and (omitted from diagram) a capacitor, resistor and optional protection diode for anti-flicker. The reed switches would be attached to pins 5 (forwards lighting) and 6 (reverse) and would have to be mounted far enough apart that a magnet could operate one without affecting the other. An optional development would be a lighting bar connection. I've assumed that on a Class 153 (as an example) when 'forwards' is selected, pin 5 (white, but light grey in the circuit diagram) goes live and is connected to one set of white LEDs and the corresponding red LEDs at the other end of the loco. Likewise pin 6 (dirty yellow for clarity) is connected to the alternate LEDs at each end. Given the LEDs are hard-wired to the track when in DC mode, I assume their directionality comes from each pair (one front set, one back set) being connected with opposite polarity to the other. There are things to establish before a working circuit could be built, much of which I could no doubt get from DCC reference material, e.g. whether the decoder has resistors on pins 5 and 6 and if so, what their values are, or whether the loco has current limiting resistors built into it. I'm surprised nothing of the sort has been manufactured already but maybe my googling skills just haven't found it yet.

Hi Nigelcliffe, The Zimo chip has a lower current capacity (0.8/1.0A max) than the Dapol one (1.0/1.5A max). Could that be a problem if either were pulling a dummy 156? Best wishes, Paul

Hi, Having just acquired a Dapol ND-114D Class 153 Northern Rail and the matching ND-112A Class 156 (they're exquisite, BTW, from someone who has ridden on them regularly), I now need to fit decoders to them. The Imperium4 decoder would seem like a logical choice, but the instruction sheets provided don't mention it on the approved/tested decoders list. I'm guessing it was a more recent release and therefore wouldn't be, but I can't find any references online to compatibility. Can anyone advise, please?

Thanks Nile, just getting used to this forum and didn't have notification set!

What do you use for the stones in the walls? They look great.

What about Copydex? Latex, water and a small amount of ammonia, according to wikipedia. Not sure what the ammonia might do though.

You don't even need mines. Water + chalk rock + time = eventual big hole. 1988, Norwich, not many yards from the RC cathedral on Earlham Road... Actually another source suggests it might have been a mine. Odd place though: top of a hill...

It's yellow for identification: it's the cover for a Fire Hydrant (hence FH). There will be a concrete marker with metal plate in the vicinity with numbers on it. The numbers indicate the distance from the marker to the hydrant cover and the water pressure available (or something like that). Sometimes the plate is attached to a wall instead. Image from google so no idea who owns the copyright...

An oxymoron, I know... My upcoming layout is being built on a coffee table for space reasons and for the giggles of doing so. I want the controller (a Hornby Select at this stage, but will be upgraded to an Elite when funds justify it) to be permanently attached to the track and the table, but I want it to be able to fold away when not in use. I've thought about a pull-down tray like you see on some computer desks but I'd like to know what other people have done as well before committing (assuming I can find one). Oh, and there's going to be a control panel for the points to do the same thing with. Not sure if probe and stud or switch-driven yet, but either way about 20 !! points. Fortunately my local model shop has a healthy supply of peco motors and micro-switches for £4 a set. All thoughts appreciated!