mikeg

John I am sure that the units are hard wired but I may be wrong as it’s a long time since I had the body of mine but there may be a socket under the main PCB I didn’t move it. I had a quick look at mine and think it’s most likely to be the circuit between the coaches as I have had to put some glue on one of mine at sometime to secure the wires. At the moment I do not have anywhere to run mine but will shortly when I get the track to lay on my circular test track that I made during lockdown to erect in front of my garage. Regards Mike

Will I have a set and both driving cars are chipped so although I have not had your problem I think it’s one of the chips that I suspect is getting false signals due to momentary shorts, I have had locos that have had this problem due to faulty pickups that were loose and caused the short. I hope you find the fault. I wonder if the connection between the driving car and the next coach might also be the problem if the plug and socket is damaged? Regards Mike

You really do need a dropper to every piece of track for DCC, as although at first rail joiners work they have a tendency to loose contact and it becomes very frustrating especially with sound. On my first DCC layout I had been running DC on it successfully for about 5 years, with only 3/4 connections to the layout but within weeks I was getting dead spots and the one sound loco would stop chuffing but still carry on running, the only thing that cured the problems was to install a dropper to each piece of track. Since then and three layouts later I rarely have trouble and when I do it’s either dirty track or wheels but it’s not often as I have found that DCC requires less frequent cleaning than DC did!, Regards Mike

I have not had the problem you have, but I don’t use the point motor switching I have installed frog juicers I found them more reliable than switches! I wonder if your problem stems from the diamond crossing between the two points, we had a lot of problems at our club with a similar layout and I think it was solved with a 6 pole rotary switch to change all the frog polarities at the same time manually. Just a thought? Regards Mike

Check CV29 it maybe set for DC I can’t remember the setting but if it’s set for DC you can often get the scolded cat effect. I have changed all the Gaugemaster chips for Zimo as they give better running. Regards Mike

Sue I think that only the IR is working within the shed, hence the outdoor working if you’re in it, I would be inclined to check the radio signal by turning the IR off. I am not sure how your system works but I think that you can have one system only working? Regards Mike

Have you tried it on DC? You may find it will run OKAY without doing anything. If it doesn’t just join red to orange then black to grey it’s that simple. Regards Mike

I think that you have to use POM rather than a programming track, I’ve had this problem and was told that you had to use POM and it worked. Regards Mike

I second PVA from Wicks my 5l container lasted about 10 years, I have about half a pint left in a half litre jam jar and I use it for any modelling job from sticking paper to ballasting I usually add a drop of washing up liquid to most jobs to make it spread. Regards Mike

Tony I think that the locos are drawing more than 0.5amps that’s the limit of TTS chips I had the same problem with a friends loco that I hardwired for him. Regards Mike

Adrian, I think that the purple wires go to a speaker for sound, I bought mine with DCC sounds already installed and it is very good, you have to drive the loco as would be full size to get the best experience from the sound chip. Regards Mike

Tom they are in fact timber frame with an asbestos lining in the ones shown in your picture, some had timber slates angled at 45 degrees up from the outside. I think but not sure that some were replaced with angle frames and sheet steel slats I think in the late 150’s but it might just have been on the SR sheds? hope this helps regards mike

I think that this might be the gears locking up, if they have a split gear you can now get replacement ones from I think the company that does scale wheel sets, sorry but I can’t remember the name. regards mike

I have used the Elink and had a similar issue with locking up, I think that it is prone to mains voltage drops and in the end I stopped using it. I have now been using a Z21 and have had no problems other than needing a booster for the points, which I think is partly due to the size of wire used, it has appears to have a high resistance when used with chocblock type connections but okay if soldered. I think that the Z21 gives you full control of the system and has the best control of the CV’s of any unit that I have tried and programming is easy. I have a lot of sound fitted locos and have full control of all 28 functions, which are easy to access using WiFi together with any accessories all on either tablet, IPad or mobile phone. I think that it’s very good value for money and there is good internet access to the manuals and backup if needed. regards mike

Sam, I use both iPad and android sometimes at the same time and don’t have any problems, I am still using the original app as I don’t like the new ones, tried but the colours are all wrong for my liking. The android phone cost £35 and the iPad £65 second hand with basic functionality but does all that I need, the phone has no SIM cards and just basic memory but has 4 layout and over 50 locos. The iPad has two layouts and I think 45 locos divided into steam and diesel all with sound, I still have some locos that I don’t think I want to put sounds in as I doubt that I would use it. I have had ROCO multi mouse, Gaugemaster P2 with wireless, Hornby on computer (N) and the Z21, all mainly O gauge but I have test track 13ft long with N, OO & O gauges in my workshop and can use the Hornby & Gaugemaster units on all tracks plus programming. Unusual for any problems but I do sometimes and RMWEB usually sorts them out. regards mike

Peter you’re best off using plastic 20mm cable trunking without the cover and support from your layout facia with lightweight angle Ali or plastic which several modellers have used, a search for lightweight lighting should find several items of interest. Regards mike

I think that both Digitrains and Coastal DCC have them, you maybe able to get one from Gaugemaster but when I asked about 15 months ago they were not in stock only the 4 socket ones. regards mike

YES I have used one for about 10/12 years and the club I belonged to used one for a 40*20ft 4 track layout with out a booster and at times there were 4 locos running but not Heljan large diesels, so you will not have any problem with your layout. regards mike

The white box is the z21 and I think that the Z21 app is different, I seem to remember that it works slightly differently as I downloaded the z21 and my Z21 would not work. I was given the ROCO internet page by an RMweb member at the time but don’t have a record, I think that someone should be able to help now that you have given the details! regards mike

Adrian tried to answer your message but not able to, have you an email address you could send via a message? regards mike

Adrian, you have several choices but I think that if you fit a Zimo MX600 decoder you will find you have very good control from a crawl to full power. The loco draws very little current so almost all of the 600 family of chips can be used. These decoders have many CVs that enable you to fine tune to suit your driving and layout, if you go this route do download manuals from the Zimo website it’s in fairly easy to understand English. Best choice of decoders on the market. I have about 25 locos fitted with Zimo chips about 15 with sound and I have never been disappointed in the performance of the locos from 0-4-0 to a 2-10-0 9F steam and diesels from a class 05 to a Deltic. Hope this helps you make your choice! regards mike

The Prodigy is more than capable, I have used one on a 40x20ft O gauge layout running 4 locos, the track voltage should be 18/19v as standard. I think that the problem is the use of lighting cable, I used this for the connecting wire from the bus wires and had to replace most of the long runs I used solid mains cable. The points as Robert has said are best supplied with a reduced voltage, I have used 9v and they are more reliable. I was advised by DCC Consepts to use a resistance when using the main DCC bus as the supply. I think that your track might be affected by damp air from the scenery as it looks very dull, I use the end grain of a piece of 50*25 softwood about 50mm long to clean my track as it doesn’t scratch the top of the rails. regards mike

I use an iPad and a cheap (£35) android phone and have found that the best way to back up either is via Bluetooth to an iPad mini then by email to my laptop, I know that it’s a bit long winded but as it works every time about twice a year for the last 4 years I think it’s not much trouble! I also have an old iPad that I bought second hand for £60 and as it shows both loco controls and points side by side it’s the one I use most. regards mike

I have my Z21 set at 14v and am running O gauge locos with no problem, I have installed a booster set at 12v for points and accessories due to some of the points not working using the track power which I think was due to the power of having several sound equipped locos, upto 6/8 at anytime plus 4/5 non sound as well. I originally set my Z21 at 18v and used resisters on the point feeds which was recommended by Richard at DCC concepts but changed to the system above following recommendations on this forum about two years ago. I now have reliable running and point controls. regards mike

Norman, when I did my class 31 several years ago I was told that they were there to stop switch on inrush current from the DCC system, and that I should provide a new resister for each of the LEDs which I thought I had but I missed the cab lights and as I had left the loco on the layout when I switched the power on there was a bright flash from the cab. The newer locos might have been changed as I know that the class 60 is wired opposite to most of the other locos for the LEDs! I was going by what I had been told and thought it applied to all the Heljan fleet. regards mike