Penlan Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I have been asked to check why a Vitrains 37 isn't working in a DC condition - no chip fitted. There is/are no blanking pin(s) either. The young lad bought it in good faith as working !! Can somebody tell me what the blanking Pin(s) do, please. Looking at Bromsgrove Models web page, http://www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/vitrains37dccinstr.htm though it's not clear, it seems some of the pins are connected. I now know which is Pin 1. Any help much appreciated. Yes I wondered if this was a DC or DCC topic, hopefully I've plumped for the right one. As I'm EM guage, pre WW1 and deep into DC control, this is well outside my area, but as they say .." ..... he's into railways, ask him to look at it....". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cromptonnut Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Is it a bog standard 8 or 21 pin connection? If so, any "blanking plate" should fit the job. It's a universal fitting so any manufacturer's ones will do. Here's the 8 pin wiring http://www.dccwiki.com/8_Pin_DCC_Plug If it is the 8 pin, Bachmann's 36-057 is fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Vitrains locos come with just a couple of little jumpers rather than a blanking plug like everyone else uses. If these are missing or in the wrong place, the loco won't run. As far as I know, they are all 8 pin and any 8 pin plug will do the job. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penlan Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 Many thanks, now borrowed an 8 pin blanking plug. I will try it out this evening when I get home, Cromptonnut - the link, that's useful to know what all the pins do, thank you. Everything's so obvious, when you know, but ........ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I have been asked to check why a Vitrains 37 isn't working in a DC condition - no chip fitted. There is/are no blanking pin(s) either. The young lad bought it in good faith as working !! Can somebody tell me what the blanking Pin(s) do, please. The blanking plug for an 8 pin socket connects pins 1,2 and 8 together and Pins 4,5 and 6 together. Pins 2 and 6 only need to be connected if you want the head and tail lighting to work. If there are no lights fitted you only need to connect pins 1 and 8 and pins 4 and 5. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penlan Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 Hallo, what happened to the other posts that were on here.... ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Huw Griffiths Posted February 20, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 20, 2014 I can't say about anyone else, but I know that I quickly deleted my own post in this thread. I think you might have been on this site at the time. The reason I did this was that, once I'd entered my post, I checked through the thread again - and found that, whilst I'd been working out what to say, "smokebox" had already covered everything of real value from it in post #5 - and he'd said it a lot better than I had. Just for information, apart from some waffle, I believe I my post included the following: A list of 8 pin DCC connections (copied from elsewhere - but readily available). Comments about 8 pin DCC sockets closely resembling modified DIL (dual in line) IC (integrated circuit) sockets - 2 lines of connectors, with 0.1 inch between individual connections in either line. The main difference is that, while the lines of connectors in DIL sockets are 0.2 inch apart, in DCC sockets the lines are 0.1 inch apart.This point is actually of rather more relevance to me than it would be to you - as, for some time, I've been thinking of using a cheap OO or HO chassis to form the basis of a freelance On30 railmotor. (Some members of this site have actually seen some of my computer-drawn plans for the bodywork - and I can assure you that these drawings were nothing special ... .)I've got an electrical engineering / instrumentation background - so I'm aware of the benefits of making any such build easy to faultfind. Homebrew DCC connectors would offer an easy way to isolate motor, lights etc on - and adapting commercially available turned pin DIL sockets would offer me an easy way of adding these connections. They would, of course, also offer a way of converting such a build to digital control at a later date - but I doubt if I'd be in any rush to do this. Reference to a page on the Bromsgrove Models site - http://www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/vitrains37dccinstr.htm - and mention of a picture with a thumbnail on this page - http://www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/images/v2069dccinstall2.jpg. The picture shows the same pin connections as the Bachmann 36-057 blanking plugs. Comments about the differences between the Bachmann and ViTrains blanking connectors. The Bachmann item consists of a small piece of FR4 (basically fibreglass / resin) printed circuit board, with wires sticking out on one side - the ViTrains version uses bits of solid wire held together by tiny bits of brass shim. The actual electrical connections are the same for both - but most people would be likely to find the Bachmann version easier to work with. At the time, I thought that leaving my post in place would have served no useful purpose. My apologies for any confusion caused. Regards, Huw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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