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Can I have brakes?


swiftbeam
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Hi,

 

O Gauge.

 

I know very little about DCC sound decoders, thus far I Have:-

ESU Biffo in an 08 Shunter

ESU Biffo in a 42 Warship

Zimo YouChoos in an 8750 Pannier Tank.

 

I'm using a Sig-na Trak system inc the hand held units as well. The hand held units have 5 function buttons F0-F1-F2-F3-F4.

 

The 8750 has active braking on the F2 button and works really well.

The 08 is slow enough to stop under control anyway.

The Warship has it's brakes on F5 that can only be controlled off the main driving page as the hand held units on my Sig-na Trak only has up to F4 on them.

 

The problem I have is that the Warship is almost uncontrollable as it will coast for meters once the throttle is cut from anything other than a VERY slow crawl and brakes can only be accessed if running off the main page. So basically I can't run the Warship off a hand held unit.

 

Is there anyway to reduce the coasting affect on the 42 and strengthen the F5 brake if I run it off the main page?

 

Thanks.

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My next follow up was going to be asking about how good is the Digitrains sound on their Zimo decoders as I can't find sound samples on their site.

 

How good do people consider the YouChoos diesel sounds with the F2 brake button?

 

I'm trying to workout if I should sell off the ESU sound decoders and move over to Zimo sounds?

 

 

Edited by swiftbeam
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21 minutes ago, charliepetty said:

Why dump all your ESU decoders?

 

Charlie

 

Because I get paperwork in the pack showing me all CV's and friendly help and advice each time I need it with the Zimo retailers. I also get braking on F2 as standard, so I can run more than one loco at a time with manual brakes available on all hand units.

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3 hours ago, swiftbeam said:

Is there anyway to reduce the coasting affect on the 42 and strengthen the F5 brake if I run it off the main page?

 

I think you should be able to swap some of the functions on your ESU decoders around using Function mapping, so you could reassign the brake function to, for example, F2 if that's what you have on the Zimo decoder.  That would of course mean moving another function to F5.  Unfortunately, I can't tell you how to do that, although it is explained in the manuals on the ESU website.  Basically, there is a series of CVs that define what each function button does, so you'd be swapping the values contained in the relevant CVs.

 

I'm assuming that the coasting could be reduced by changing the deceleration CV (CV4), although presumably the current figure is optimised for the sound file.

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Thanks,

 

Yes, Digitrains Have offered to swap CV's about for me for a small fee, so that maybe my best bet?

 

Does anybody know why the engine rev's drop and pic up again on my ESU 42 sound decoder when the loco is asked to move off from a standstill?  All the 42's on Youtube that are filmed in real life simply increase in rev's as they pull away and do not drop down.

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42 minutes ago, swiftbeam said:

I have found Digitrains to give a GREAT service, but they don't do a 42 Warship, only YouChoos. Some people say the YouChoos diesels are not very good, but it will take me £220 to find out for myself :-( What does the Digitrains 08 sound like?

 

Thanks

Hi. If you search YouTube for Digitrains 08 you'll find several vids of their 08 as well as many more of their sound installations.

 

Hope this helps.

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One niggle I have with Digitrains is that the website is confusing and I haven't been able to find anywhere that system packages (decoder, speakers, sound file and sometimes a replacement PCB) are suggested for particular locos.  That said, Jeremy is very helpful and quick to respond if you send him an email with your requirements.

 

John

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Hi,

 

You should have 2 options.

Adjust the (CV4) coasting value so it brakes instead of coasts. I am not familiar with your control system. Can you read CVs as well as write them? If so, see what you are fiddling with before you change it.

This would not allow separate coasting & braking. I guess you don't want to do this....& neither would I.

The other option is to swap functions over. I have never done this but I remember seeing Biff give out a list of CVs you can change to swap 2 over with each other.

I believe a Lokprogrammer can do it & probably also JMRI. I have both but have never tried doing with either of them.

 

In short, don't give up. The decoder & its project are both capable of doing what you want.

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11 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

I am not familiar with your control system. Can you read CVs as well as write them?

 

 

The OP is using this system (I have one) which has all the options for programming CV's so he can read before he changes anything.

IMG_6415.jpg

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Yep, thats the one guys, I've been reading and changing CV's all evening. 

 

Now it runs better, it has confirmed I'm not a fan of the way the throttle sounds relative to the acceleration. 

 

I'm going to buy a Zimo project in the hope it sounds better.

 

Thanks.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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On 21/09/2020 at 16:43, swiftbeam said:

I have found Digitrains to give a GREAT service, but they don't do a 42 Warship, only YouChoos. Some people say the YouChoos diesels are not very good, but it will take me £220 to find out for myself :-( What does the Digitrains 08 sound like?

 

Thanks

I have got several diesels with Youchoos Zimo decoders and find them really very good, every bit as good as a few Loksound decoders I have in Locos, I like the consistency of the braking and CVs using a “one make” solution, Inthink the biggest difference between any sound file is the speakers used, I tend to try several different types before final fitment.

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Since writing this thread boxbrownie, I have moved fully over to Zimo decoders from YouChoos and Digitrains. I very much like these businesses and found them to have all the products I need and they are very happy to help me. They are actually going above and beyond to help me in my early days of DCC.  

 

I do rather like the Zimo F2 braking, so all locos can be run off my Sig-NaTrak hand controllers with only five functions (sound, brakes, whistles all the important stuff). As you say, the Digitrains 08 sounds great, as does the YouChoos 8750, but not yet managed to get the 42 fired up to hear her. 

 

I've since bought a new Ixion Fowler and managed to get a big Rails Exclusive speaker between the frames, so she is ready for some sort of Zimo decoder at some point.

 

Edited by swiftbeam
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Hi there Mr Swiftbeam.

 

The ESU Class 42 Legomanbiffo Decoder that you had from us on the 3rd June, which you have replaced with the Zimo Decoder was promised to be returned to us for a refund, I have noticed you have asked your bank for a Refund of the £210.00 (A discounted price) but as of today you have not returned the decoder to us.  Please advise when this will be done please.   Thank you.  Charlie.

 

PPS Just in case you have lost our address, it is: DCKits, 111 Norwood Crescent, Leeds LS286NG

Edited by charliepetty
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This is such a shame as the guy is in the trade so he knows how things work!

 

The last communication I had was around 3  months or so ago with an E.Mail saying he was'nt happy and wes returning the decoder for a full refund!!  Around the same time Neil from Wheeltappers at my request contacted him and ran through the wiring up of the XL decoder in his Heljan Class 42, (This I thanked him for, he suggested things he thought had been sorted out) So I just forgot about it.

The last thing I saw on here was:

 

 

Posted September 21  (See above in this thread)

My next follow up was going to be asking about how good is the Digitrains sound on their Zimo decoders as I can't find sound samples on their site.

How good do people consider the YouChoos diesel sounds with the F2 brake button?

I'm trying to workout if I should sell off the ESU sound decoders and move over to Zimo sounds?

Edited September 21 by swiftbeam.

 

Then we have: Posted September 21

Yep, thats the one guys, I've been reading and changing CV's all evening. 

Now it runs better, it has confirmed I'm not a fan of the way the throttle sounds relative to the acceleration. 

I'm going to buy a Zimo project in the hope it sounds better.

 

Then I get a letter from the bank on the 5th October saying they are deducting £210.00 from my account as the product supplied was stated by Mr Swiftbeam  'Not as Decribed & Defective'

 

As of today, No respones on here Or on a message I PM him either. 'What should I think?????'

 

I find this a little disappointing.    Charlie

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I have written a letter too him (Special Delivery) asking for the decoder & speaker to be returned so I can refund him.  This I have been waiting for over the last three months.

 

Maybe we have here confusion or maybe something else, I normally see the good side in people but this makes me wonder.  Lets see if the item gets returned shall we first.   Charlie

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I was contacted by a mutual friend today and informed of all this forum activity about me. Having now checked in and read these posts, I can see some of my private PM's have been made public and suggestions about me having been made!

 

Yes, I was very angry about this ESU decoder for a great many reasons, none of which I'm going to explain here. Richard was offering me help in the beginning and I thought he was 'on side' and trying to help me, hence me keeping him 'in the loop'. If I had known he was going to make all my private PM's public and suggest there was something untoward going on, I'd have kept my thoughts to my self. I guess everybody here has decided their opinion about me and decided there is not two sides to this story.

 

As stated above, I do run a model railway business, two in the last 15 years, I am fully self employed in the model railway business and have thousands of happy customers right across the world. Assertions to my character made here would not be recognised by them! 

 

The simple fact of the matter is I had no idea the decoder was expected to be returned as I'd not received any communication or refund from the seller or my bank . So I assumed I was stuck with the decoder and simply bought a Zimo and moved on. Once I was told today the decoder was expected and indeed over due, I returned it via Special Delivery today JS144496467GB.

 

As has also been said above, I did seek help with the CV's as the performance of the model was not what I wanted. Notes were made of the original numbers and the CV's were put back to original once I knew the ESU was being replaced with a Zimo. All I changed was acceleration,  deceleration and brake strength.

 

I've not been able to return the speaker as it's been modified to fit over my models flywheel. Just for the record, If DC Kits decide a refund can be made, I'm more than happy to pay all his postage costs and pay for the speaker I have kept.

 

 

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On 10/10/2020 at 22:27, charliepetty said:

Then I get a letter from the bank on the 5th October saying they are deducting £210.00 from my account as the product supplied was stated by Mr Swiftbeam  'Not as Decribed & Defective'

 

 

I will contact my bank in the morning and find out exactly what has happened. Since opening the claim, my bank (or you) have told me absolutely nothing, I assumed the claim had failed, so kept the decoder, it's that simple. Maybe you should have rung me Charlie if you thought I was trying to steal from you?

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Not sure about claim8ng money back on a speaker which can't be returned .. or a non returned item..

 

Before diving head first into dcc sound Could I suggest you learn a bit more about how to set it up and use it. To get the best from the chips you need to have a multifunction controller. Unless you have good understanding of what CVs do just changing them won't always be the best approach.

 

Something like a Sprog makes it easier to programme CVs .. swapping the functions from F5 to F2 takes no time at all.. but a better handset would help

 

For my own personal use Zimos for steam ESUs for diesel works fine for me. The V5 works very well.. but you have  toundwrstand what to do with any dcc chip.

 

Baz

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Since the decoder was returned in the post this morning, Tested and fully operational, everything is now sorted out.

 

I have contacted WorldPay, who advised me of the 'Refund Request' and I await their response.

One way or the other the decoder will be refunded, the speaker was not returned so I asume it being used with the Zimo decoder.  The Bank will either refund the decoder amount or they will advise me to do the refund.   Thanks to John Campbell & Phil Parker for there assistance.

 

Charlie DCKits-Legomanbiffo

 

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