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Kernow MRC announce 4-TC


Andy Y
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The tiny wires in the couplings are very fragile.  One of mine got damaged which gave me a dead short. It would be worth having a quick look at those little wires particularly if there's any uncoupling between tests.  You could see if the short goes away if each coupling is released or even check if it's in an individual coach.  We isolated my fault to a particular coach and coupling that way.  I then manipulated the bent wire back to the shape and place it should be, and now leave the unit permanently coupled.  It travels in a long thin home made plywood box that looks much more like it should have a snooker cue in it.

 

Steve

 

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28 minutes ago, Craig1989 said:

We cleaned the rails and used both the merg and nce system on the layout and test track 

 

All 4 coaches in the TC pick up from all wheels and there are 4-way conductive couplings between the coaches. That means you are picking up off 16 axles so the lights should not flicker at all, unless the track power is being interrupted somehow by a transient short. 

 

Edited by RFS
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I have tried to replicate this situation with my unit but cannot.  The lighting remains on without flickering.  There may be another issue in play here or it might be a problem with the power-bar coupler as suggested above.  

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I've had the exact same problem with mine, and resolved it like Steve above. Turned out I had managed to bend one of the tiny wiper contacts on a coupling out of place when putting the unit together. Some very careful surgery later - it now works perfectly, but I don't uncouple it unless I absolutely have to.

Rich

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  • 1 year later...

Evening Folks, 

 

I appreciate this thread hasn't seen daylight in almost two years, however, I have a similar problem with my 4TC, in that the lights won't come on. I did have the similar issue with a bent contact on the BTK, and have reformed the contact strip as best as possible so that it's flush again, however since then, I haven't been able to get the interior lighting to work. When this happened, the unit was DC only, and even after rectifying the contact, and fitting an Imperium 21pin decoder, the saloon lights still won't come on. the marker and tail lighting on the driving ends both work in each direction though. 

 

any thoughts? 

 

Cheers,

Nathan

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14 hours ago, D3489gibson said:

Evening Folks, 

 

I appreciate this thread hasn't seen daylight in almost two years, however, I have a similar problem with my 4TC, in that the lights won't come on. I did have the similar issue with a bent contact on the BTK, and have reformed the contact strip as best as possible so that it's flush again, however since then, I haven't been able to get the interior lighting to work. When this happened, the unit was DC only, and even after rectifying the contact, and fitting an Imperium 21pin decoder, the saloon lights still won't come on. the marker and tail lighting on the driving ends both work in each direction though. 

 

any thoughts? 

 

Cheers,

Nathan

 

Hi Nathan,

 

It is my understanding that using a Bachmann  21 pin decoder, rather than any other manufacturer,  will correctly operate the interior lighting

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4 hours ago, Graham_Muz said:

 

Hi Nathan,

 

It is my understanding that using a Bachmann  21 pin decoder, rather than any other manufacturer,  will correctly operate the interior lighting

But the imperium IIRC is the recommended one. I have a 4TC plus the Kernow supplied chip but with no currently suitable layout they are still pending the matching/fitting step.

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I'm pretty sure when I bought my 4-TC, I put a 21-PIN Lenz Silver Series, as this was recommended by Greg of Kernow at an exhibition. I think the chip needs to have at least 6 aux outputs to allow full control of the lighting functions.

Edited by Geep7
Edited to remove the reference to aux outputs.....
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A 21 pin decoder with two extra outputs to the normal four function outputs is needed -  Bachmanns is the blister packed on blue card 36-557 as opposed to the white boxed ones, which is an ESU decoder (possibly Lokpilot FX v3 52621) . Other 6 function 21 pin decoders exist including the Dapol one and Gaugemasters DCC95

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2 hours ago, Geep7 said:

I'm pretty sure when I bought my 4-TC, I put a 21-PIN Lenz Silver Series, as this was recommended by Greg of Kernow at an exhibition. I think the chip needs to have at least 6 aux outputs to allow full control of the lighting functions.

 

Indeed the Lenz Silver21+ is fine for the 4TC as it has 5 functions which is what the model needs. I have it in mine and it's F5 that operates the interior lights. Zimo MX638 is also fine and is cheaper than the Lenz,

Edited by RFS
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Hi all!

So I took the unit to a friends house, and we stuck it on his programming board, set it as 416, and cycled through the lighting functions, and managed to get the lights on. Crisis averted thankfully!!! 
20220602-180244.jpg.96fab84bdcfda327929ad28db0234e2b.jpg

unit 416 on the B&WWMRC's new layout West Exchange Sidings. 


Cheers for the help,

 

Nathan.... 

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