dale159

Another day out in the garage. I soon sorted out the reversed section switches on the middle board plus the inner 2 roads around the corner on the left hand board. Although there are still a few dead sections and track joints which need attention as well as I'm yet to work out why the points don't work. Another item which raised its head when I went to test the scissor crossing was a lack of power to the relays - I then discovered that this was because I had forgotten to connect the supply to the transformer - whooooops! Also something which needs investigating is the Hornby transformer I'm using for the track supply, certain loco's predominantly Heljan run at barely a snails pace but it's not just Heljan items I've had such problems with. Wonder what picture the felllows at General Electric had on the wall when they designed the 70! Another oversight from the original build was what to do with the cable from anything plugged into the socket on the back wall The solution - a small hook found in the box of screws - sorted! Dale

So today I've been tidying up a few last little jobs that needed doing before I could put the layout back together for a test. I have bought and installed the 2 CDUs required and wired in the 2 din sockets 3 transformers - left for points, middle for 12 volts DC and right for track feeds And then the layout was reassembled followed by a bit of P-way work to the 2 damaged tracks and tweaking a few rail ends on the corners Then the moment of truth Using a handheld controller borrowed from the local club which happened to utilise the same pattern din plug. Well the control panel lights up nicely, but there are one or two teething problems which need to be ironed out, chief among which is the fact I've managed to mix up the nine sections on the middle board - well the middle track is OK! I know exactly where I've gone wrong there so this will actually be quite easy to rectify. The other major hiccup currently is that none of the points work despite lighting up the panel, not quite sure what's up there but I've had a multimeter on the transformer so I know that's working, and the track needs a damn good clean. A few things to be keeping me busy tomorrow then. Dale

Further to my earlier post, here is a simplified diagram of what I've got so far for the scissors So what remains to be connected are the straight ahead LEDs, I'd like the 4 of them to operate as 1. As designed the points detection board has 16 outputs which work as 8 pairs, the scissors uses 4. The LEDs are fed by a common 12v supply from the detector unit, each pair of LEDs earth to the detector unit which turns each input on or off as per the inputs from the switches. What I need to work out is a way off suppressing all 4 straight ahead LEDs when either outputs 1 or 4 are set to 0 volts on the detector unit. As explained in this thread when I laid the track due to the way the scissors is wired I cannot throw both crossovers simultaneously and it is interlocked to prevent this. I think the answer to the problem may lie in the use of some transistors, but I don't really know much about them. Anyone electrically minded able to assist? Dale

I've been getting stuck right in to the control panel wiring over the last 2 days. First up I fitted the two din sockets for the handheld controllers - one on each side of the panel. I have also installed a 4 way extension lead at the bottom of the board, after a slight oversight Soon rectified. And so the job as it stands tonight.. Still to be connected are; Din sockets 2 more CDU's - which I need to buy 12 volt supply to all the point detection boards and out to all the relays and the scissor crossings Source a suitable transformer for the track supply, thinking of using a Hornby one I have in stock for this. And one more small headache with the point detector boards and the scissor crossings - I need to somehow interlock the straight ahead LEDs, they are fed by 2 different outputs on the detector board, the LEDs have a common 12 volt supply and each terminal on the detector board is an earth which is switched on to 0 volts when the LEDs are to be illuminated - think I've made that simple enough. Hopefully something as simple as a diode or 2 will do the job but its just a case of where to put them but I fear something more complicated will be required. Dale

You've hit the nail square on the head Dale

That's a bit strange, can anybody clarify when the price actually went up, as can't see any mention of it being made on here. To my mind it still doesn't add up right as the update Charlie has cited as the reason for the cancellation happened 4 months before my order was placed. Yet my transaction was accepted presumably on the updated security software. Also I find it quite disgusting the manner in which the cancellation email didn't mention that the price had gone up and they will not honour the old price as they did with the 144s as pointed out in my previous post in this thread, why is it different this time? I would urge Charlie in the name of good customer relations and the excellent customer service that the Realtrack website boasts about to demonstrate this, swallow your pride and please honour the previous agreement, not just for me but anyone else who is in the same situation, it can't just be me - please speak up if this has happened you too. Dale

Managed to find this from the original 144/143 thread started by Andy Y http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/16446-realtrack-models-announce-class-143-and-class-144/page-18 Dale

Managed to find this from the original 144/143 thread started by Andy Y http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/16446-realtrack-models-announce-class-143-and-class-144/page-18 Dale

OK, I agree and accept that an extra £10, well £20 in my case as I had 2 on order, isn't going to bankrupt me however it is the principle which has annoyed me more than the actual monetary part of it. Here's the confirmation email I received when I placed my pre order placed on 9th June 2014 Obviously I have had to blank out my personal details from this but as far as I was concerned this represented an agreement to pay £230.81 when the item was in stock and available for dispatch which I knew was some time off. No mention that the price may increase if the cost of manufacture goes up. No deposit had been requested so none was paid - that's how most pre orders work isn't it? And here is the email I got from Charlie last night Again no mention that the price had gone up just directed to the realtrack site to find it for myself. Perhaps an email from Charlie saying "we're sorry but the price will be going up due to increased cost of production" I would have been fine with that, but instead your pre order has been deleted please re order though our website if still interested. One other thing - Charlie says the software update occurred 'over 12 months ago' - well I only placed my order in June and by my maths that's only 8 months ago. Surely I can't be the only one who thinks this is wrong? Dale

I have just been and found the confirmation email from when I placed to order, it does not have a link to terms and conditions on it also the Realtrack site terms and conditions page does not make any mention anything like that. Also as stated in my previous post the similar situation with the 144s was honoured so why not the 143? Dale

Has anyone received the same email from Charlie as I did yesterday regarding my class 143 pre order? It says that due to a security software update carried out by Sagepay older pre orders can no longer be processed and anyone who still wants a 143 is directed to the Realtrack site to re - place their order. However, the price has now increased from £110 to £120 per unit. I questioned Charlie about this and his response was that the production costs had gone up and to order at the new price if you still want one. Can someone in the know say whether or not Realtrack are legally obliged to honour the original amount of any order's which are affected like mine. I believe that the same was true with the 144s when they where subject to a price increase from £100 to £110, those who pre ordered at £100 paid £100. Dale

Has anyone received the same email from Charlie as I did yesterday regarding my class 143 pre order? It says that due to a security software update carried out by Sagepay older pre orders can no longer be processed and anyone who still wants a 143 is directed to the Realtrack site to re - place their order. However, the price has now increased from £110 to £120 per unit. I questioned Charlie about this and his response was that the production costs had gone up and to order at the new price if you still want one. Can someone in the know say whether or not Realtrack are legally obliged to honour the original amount of any order's which are affected like mine. I believe that the same was true with the 144s when they where subject to a price increase from £100 to £110, those who pre ordered at £100 paid £100. Dale

I have been slowly chipping away at small but important jobs over the weekend. All the point indicator LEDs are now in place and wired in with 3 separate common positives, one for each detector board, And the detector boards have been mounted on pieces of 12mm MDF and glue gunned to the underside of the panel. Next the job of working out which pink and purple wires control which points, routing them into the correct switch on the panel and sorting out its LEDs - getting there - honest! Dale

Another productive afternoon in the garage today. The pair of Scissor interlock boards have been glued into place And wired in. Next I started on the point LEDs, starting with those for the scissor crossings. All temporarily powered by a 9v battery and some jump leads at this stage. Straight ahead Facing crossover Trailing crossover And another gory close up of my dodgy soldering. On my point indicator boards all the LEDs are on a common positive feed. 16 LEDs down, only another 80 to go! Dale

A couple of hours out in the garage this morning before I go to work later. I have now connected up the remaining wires from the board joint to the control panel Overview of the job so far. Now I have to join up the point wires within the control panel and associated LEDs. I have now taken delivery of the other 2 point detection indicator boards I needed. Given that I will be using 3 of these boards I have split the point wiring so that each of these boards will have its own CDU, probably a bit overkill but I think it will simplify things in the event of a problem. I also need a 12 volt supply for the relays and point detection boards separate from the track controller. 11 days off work coming up in a few weeks time, so fingers crossed for a test run before then! Dale

A bit more steady progress on the electrics Having moved out of the warmth of my room and back out into the garage. Underneath the control panel I have joined all the sections of copper tape together with some thicker gauge red and black wire Starting on the left hand side of the board I have connected all the track and point feeds up to the breakout boards Then moving over to the right hand side I have completed all of the track feeds and started on the point feeds with the three for the scissor crossing. So only about 25 wires remaining to connect up between board joint and breakout, but I still have to link the point feeds back to their switches within the control panel before we can have a test run. I have just ordered the other 2 required point detection indicator boards too so they will need to be integrated at the same time. Dale

Another day spent looking at the underside of the control panel After overcoming an early technical issue, I noticed that the ratchet mechanism was starting to come apart last week but today it finally gave up. The remaining 6 breakout boards were glued up side down to the inside of the board and I started by connecting up the central 9 isolating sections. Then I made up the 6 ribbon cables to join them all up. I've now run out of things I work on in the warm confines of my bedroom so for my next day off on Wednesday I will have to brave the garage referencing what goes where from the rest of the upturned layout. Dale

Another day spent looking at the underside of the control panel After overcoming an early technical issue, I noticed that the ratchet mechanism was starting to come apart last week but today it finally gave up. The remaining 6 breakout boards were glued up side down to the inside of the board and I started by connecting up the central 9 isolating sections. Then I made up the 6 ribbon cables to join them all up. I've now run out of things I work on in the warm confines of my bedroom so for my next day off on Wednesday I will have to brave the garage referencing what goes where from the rest of the upturned layout. Dale

After about 5 hours of work on and off I've barely scratched the surface A quick rummage through the garage produced a solution to securing the boards Nearly 3 hours later the central section had been to connected up Overview of the job having just stuck the outer 4 boards down Then started over on the left hand side All in all there is probably about a 40 or so hours work to get all the connections in place. Dale

My breakout boards have arrived from China this week and today I have a day off to do something with them. Only slight problem with them now is they don't have any screw holes to fix them down and they are a bit deeper than the three inch timber I used on the control panel so unless they are somehow secured really well then they could be vulnerable to getting knocked off especially if the panel is away from the layout. I have a roll of double-sided carpet tape to hand but I'm not convinced that's going to be substantial enough - time for some head scratching! Hopefully a further update later today depending on progress Dale

Did you try it on DC or DCC? I'll be honest and say that I didn't notice that as from looking at my two pictures I think that I had the corridor sides of the CEP coaches inside the layout so I couldn't see into the compartments. I don't own a CEP so the two coaches I used were borrowed. Am I right in thinking that the CEP doesn't have directional lights on its roller blinds? Whereas the thumper does, could be something to do with that perhaps. Another thought - would the orientation of the CEP coach have an effect on that? I assume it goes a certain way around when it is used in a CEP? Dale

There is a certain art to parting these modern Bachmann units, I find the best method is to hold the model upside down and pull with my fingers and thumbs as close to the NEM pockets as possible after the unit has been coupled and uncoupled a few times it should start to slacken and become easier, also I leave the drawbar in whichever pocket it stays in as their is usually room in the box for it to go like that. I notice that the latest releases seem to be supplied with 2 drawbars as breaking one at some point is almost inevitable. Dale

For anyone wishing to extend their 2H to a 3H I can confirm having tried it, that electrically speaking a centre car from a 4CEP unit is perfect for such an application With the TS coach, the Thumper's trailer car directional lights still worked correctly through the CEP coach Or the TC Also it has been demonstrated elsewhere on this site that putting a Replica Mk1 suburban body on the CEP chassis is relativity straightforward. It's almost unfortunate that Bachmann's own Mk1 suburban is the 57ft version with 9 compartments as opposed to the 64ft 10 compartment coach required for the Thumper. Dale

Thanks Mike, I will do that when I make the repair and on subsequent joints around the layout. Dale

So then, now that we are into the new year its time for some more modelling. I haven't made as much progress as I'd hoped on the electrics side as I wasn't certain of what I wanted to do but things should pick up shortly after a bit of a Eureka moment. I have now made a start on the underside of the control panel, which in hindsight I could have done months ago but I never gave it a thought, also I have now added 2 support braces underneath. Unfortunately while the fiddle yard has been its dismantled state over the Christmas period 2 of the tracks ends have become damaged, these have now been removed for replacement when the layout goes back together, but nothing that will hinder the electrical work. My previous plan for connecting the control panel to the layout was via 25 way ribbon cables, but I wasn't happy with the thin wires supporting the weight of the d plugs an nor was I happy with the thin wires running to the chocolate blocks on the main board as they would have the potential to get pulled out, and from my experience gained from the other uses of ribbon cable they are quite fiddly to work with. And so for my Eureka moment, I discovered what is called a breakout board, basically a 25 way d plug on a board with a screw terminal for each pin http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171581436606?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181610140135?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT On that basis 6 males and 6 females were duly ordered about half an hour ago, so whenever they turn up I will be able to make some progress. Dale