NCE Powercab newer versions

[birdseyecircus]

My NCE powercab that was bought around 2002 is starting to have issues with some buttons having to be pressed hard to get a response.

I am thinking of getting a new one and wondered if there are any changes in the newer versions as regards software/ functions?

 

Paul

[Ray H]

There was an IC upgrade to version 1.65 several years back that, if nothing else, I believe allows you to have six locos on the recall stack.

 

You can also get a new membrane which should resolve all your button issues and the thumb wheel can also be replaced reasonably easily.

 

I know both can be bought direct from NCE but there's a chance you might be able to order one from a retailer over here to save carriage/tax.

[Mallard60022]

35 minutes ago, Ray H said:

There was an IC upgrade to version 1.65 several years back that, if nothing else, I believe allows you to have six locos on the recall stack.

 

You can also get a new membrane which should resolve all your button issues and the thumb wheel can also be replaced reasonably easily.

 

I know both can be bought direct from NCE but there's a chance you might be able to order one from a retailer over here to save carriage/tax.

Thanks, that's helpful to me too Ray.

Digitrains of Lincoln will have a look at it for you Paul. Costs of course.

[birdseyecircus]

Thanks for the info Ray.

 

Paul

[Alcanman]

I recently bought a new NCE Powercab to replace my 14 year old one which was suffering the same sort of problems as yours.

 

Got mine from TMC (The Model Centre) and very happy with it. No difference apart from the ability to stack 6 locos in recall.

 

[PhilH]

This might be worth a try.. sorry it’s a screenshot but it wouldn’t let me copy a link

 

 

[beejack]

Lastest firmware version is 1.65B. and can be had for around £30 from either Coastal DCC (out of stock) or Digitrains.

 

It appears the mabrane and thumbwheel encoder are only available from coastal dcc in this country  unless someone else knows differently but only the encoder is in stock at the moment.

 

 

[Gilbert]

4 hours ago, Mallard60022 said:

Thanks, that's helpful to me too Ray.

Digitrains of Lincoln will have a look at it for you Paul. Costs of course.

I'm a regular customer at Digitrains but I recently bought a new membrane from Coastal DCC - however a good clean may actually sort out the button issue.

Chris H

[Ray H]

I managed to effect a repair on one PowerCab (having not thought of using IPA etc) by overlaying small squares of the adhesive copper tape on the underside of the (then) poorly keys. It still seems to be working.

 

I also picked up a few rotary encoders from RS a while ago. I know it took me a while to work out how to make the replacement but it turned out to be quite easy in the end (but I can't remember now how I did it 😗)

[Derekl]

3 hours ago, beejack said:

Lastest firmware version is 1.65B. and can be had for around £30 from either Coastal DCC (out of stock) or Digitrains

How can you tell from the handset  (or elsewhere) what firmware version you have?

[woodenhead]

12 minutes ago, Derekl said:

How can you tell from the handset  (or elsewhere) what firmware version you have?

When you turn it on, the firmware version is shown on the screen for a couple of seconds.

[PhilH]

**UPDATE**

 

I thought as I posted the cleaning advice above I’d at least give it a go myself as I had been suffering with sticky/ non functioning buttons often having to resort to a blunt pointy thing to get a successful button push. 
 

I set to with some ipa, cotton buds and soapy water and a deal of scepticism. BUT….it was 100% successful, as it says in the blurb it is now like new.

 

Thanks to the op for the thread. I too was thinking of spending money on the thing to get it to work properly, so reading this thread made me search out possible solutions. It took literally five minutes and, as stated, would appear to be 100% successful.

Edited May 28, 2023 by PhilH

[F-UnitMad]

3 hours ago, Ray H said:

I also picked up a few rotary encoders from RS a while ago. I know it took me a while to work out how to make the replacement but it turned out to be quite easy in the end

Me too - RS Components for the rotary encoders. 👍 cheaper than on ebay & worth getting a few to spread the postage cost & have spares.

Replacement of the original is just a bit of careful soldering work.

[birdseyecircus]

On 28/05/2023 at 21:31, PhilH said:

**UPDATE**

 

I thought as I posted the cleaning advice above I’d at least give it a go myself as I had been suffering with sticky/ non functioning buttons often having to resort to a blunt pointy thing to get a successful button push. 
 

I set to with some ipa, cotton buds and soapy water and a deal of scepticism. BUT….it was 100% successful, as it says in the blurb it is now like new.

 

Thanks to the op for the thread. I too was thinking of spending money on the thing to get it to work properly, so reading this thread made me search out possible solutions. It took literally five minutes and, as stated, would appear to be 100% successful.

That's good to hear. I will try later in the week.

 

Paul

[rogerdee]

I too started to have this problem with my hand set cleaned it as said then it worked perfectly. It also works well for your faulty TV remote and other things 

 

[Pete the Elaner]

On 28/05/2023 at 10:54, Alcanman said:

I recently bought a new NCE Powercab to replace my 14 year old one which was suffering the same sort of problems as yours.

 

Got mine from TMC (The Model Centre) and very happy with it. No difference apart from the ability to stack 6 locos in recall.

 

 

There was an earlier update to v1.28B I think, c2006. It was also recall stack related. The maximum was still 2, but when adding a new loco to the stack, it reset all functions to zero. v1.28B changed this & added a feature called 'Set Loco Refresh' which could then be set to zero (default is 1). Setting it to zero simply took control of the loco/train without resetting anything.

The omission of this was considered by users as a fault but the side effect of it (why it was not there in the first place) was that when set to zero, higher functions eg F14-25 could be using all sound channels, which blocked them when another was selected, making the decoder appear faulty or at least 'doing strange things'.

This feature was never available on the PowerPro.

[ELTEL]

There is a YouTube video available from Coastal Digital which shows you how to dismantle and clean the membrane in the handset.

 

It’s a job I need to do on my own NCE handset.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Terry 

[geoffers]

Also tried PhilH's screenshot advice above as was suffering similar issues. Success!!!! Thank you for the heads up.