Crosland

Followed by a Horned Viper and a length of Twisted Flax. Sorry, I'll get my coat...

I am a bit concerned by the conflict between leaving it plugged in to charge the battery and fitting a bog standard coin cell, let alone a lithium cell to replace a rechargeable battery.

Ouch! 20%! We were initially quoted 80% increase in cost to manufacture SPROGs due to ongoing pandemic effects (and component hoarding and profiteering) but were able to get that down to appx. 20%. We have kept retail price increases to appx. 7%, for the time being.

The spec is a bit lacking in information. Why would you want an amplifier for LEDs?

I can't disagree with anything Nigel has written

With a SPROG, the computer is the command station or system, so the limitations are set mainly by the software you use. With JMRI you can program decoders, run trains, control points, signals and other accessories, create "Glass panels", etc.,... We don't have SPROG specific throttles but you can use WiThrottle or EngineDriver apps on 'phones or tablets. We don't (yet) have feedback but the beauty of JMRI is that you are not tied to one manufacturer. You can have multiple hardware connections so you can create a feedback system using Loconet, Xpressnet, CBUS, etc.,... I'm not saying it's perfect, and I hope this isn't too much self-promotion, but I wanted to address the comment.

Did you plug it into a different USB port on the computer? That can cause a different COM port to be assigned.

That's normal if you are using the SPROG as a service mode programmer, i.e., with a programming track. Again, that's OK for programmer mode.

When wired directly to the tracks or via pickups? Fast diodes such as UF4001 or schottky diodes (inherently fast) might help, but shouldn't make a lot of difference for a single instance. (The problem is a normal diode looks like a short circuit for a very short time each time the polarity reverses. A fast diode recovers much faster). Try reducing the cap value or placing a small resistor (start at, say, 100 ohm) between the diode bridge and the cap to reduce the charging current.

I had a case where the seller was clearly trying to do some kind of drop shipping but hadn't realised that the pandemic was creating havoc with supplies and there was no way they could get the items that I had ordered. I should have known better than to assume they had them in stock. The refunded quickly but never really acknowledge the real of issue with advertising stuff you do not have available and then pretending it will be delivered rather than just cancelling the order.

What voltage do you get across the cap? Unlike the DCC input you can measure this with an ordinary DVM (it's a quick and dirty way to measure track voltage if you allow for the diode voltage drop.

Once the power is on you are good to go, or should be. The throttle setting is immaterial. DCC is always full voltage, the throttle setting(s) alter the waveform and thus the data. Can you post a circuit diagram?

Remember you need to manually turn on the track power with a SPROG in programmer mode, when not programming. I think a few are speaking above their pay grade DCC is AC and is (nominally) square wave. That's not altered by the fact the pulse vary. DCC is not PWM, that's the output from the decoder. Each DCC pulse is 50% mark/space ratio, so not PWM, which implies variable M/S ratio. DCC is actually frequency modulated where only one cycle of one of two frequencies represents the data bit. SPROG 3s can be purchased (in the IK at least) with either 12V or 15V power supplies. The 12V works just fine for the smaller scales where you do not need TGV speeds. To get DC from the tracks you should really (as already stated) use high speed diodes. A bridge or two will be OK but you may run into problems if they proliferate. As DCC is a square wave you need only a small smoothing capacitor (nothing like 1000s uF you would find in a traditional rectifier circuit). Large capacitors will cause problems due to the inrush current when the power is turned on. The module shown earlier in the post has fat too big a cap for my liking. Again, it will be OK if you only have one or two of these.

Not necessarily, the idea of a bus wire is that it runs around the layout and keeps the droppers (which can be much thinner than the bus) as short as possible. If your layout is small and you use thicker droppers then it will be fine, but you may end up with more of a rats nest of wiring. I am not going to try and define "small" or "thicker"

For me, at least 50W, temperature controlled. For soldering brass kits, track, rather than electronics, you need to be able to keep pumping the heat in (the workpiece acts like a heatsink) ang get it up to temp quickly. Lingering with an underpowered iron is more likely to cause damage/frustration than a beast of an iron.

You could if it is poorly designed. E.g. with a transistor current limit that does not cut off when discharged may stress the transistor if the switch remains closed longer than anticipated by the designer. I have seen such designs.

Somewhere like Farnell will sell you IPA. It has to be sent by courier which does push up the cost a little unless you spend enough for free shipping. They operate/ship worldwide but I don't know what their particular terms might be for Ireland.

It does look like the SPROG is seeing an overload. Please see my previous post for questions/suggestions.

Unfortunately, you can't, you would need an oscilloscope to catch it. Do you see anything on the SPROGs track power LED? If the inrush is too great then the SPROG may see it as a short and turn the power off. The LED would flash quickly and it will then try again. I've never come across a situation where turning the track power on/off a number of times helps, although it could be stay-alives gradually charging up. Are any locos fitted with stay alives? Any sound locos? If removing the locos does not help then the issue is with the accessories. The DR4018 should not be a problem if it has it's own supply. Are the DCC concepts modules driving solenoids? Do they have built in CDUs? These may be drawing excess current at startup. Can you disconnect them and repeat the test? I Know there have been issues with multiple DCC concepots modules (but I don't recall which ones) and the advice seems to be to switch them on in sequence a few at a time. Andrew Crosland sprog-dcc.co.uk

You have to remember that a doubling of the screen pixel count does not give a "doubling" of quality, i.e., the minimum feature size is not half the original, but nearer 70%.

There's no way the Elegoo cure station is worth £65.00. It's not even worth £42.50. I paid £55 late last year, I would not buy another. The turntable is a small solar powered one (I was surprised when I unpacked it and it started turning with no power!), about £5 on ebay. UV LEDs are easy to get hold of. Power supply for the LEDs, £5 max. The buttons do not have any "debounce" and it's very difficult to set the time accurately, making it frustrating to use. The case is nicely built, that's only kind thing I can say.

It's also completely pointless. If someone has intercepted AGs e-mail they have all the details.

You may well have a problem if you start ballasting and weathering the track. Once you have droppers soldered to the rails, drop them through small holes drilled from the top and subsequent connections can be screw terminals or wago style, no need for soldering under the baseboard. On such a small layout you could run a simple "spine" bus down the middle of the baseboard and connect the droppers to that.

The dust from those things is nasty and you don't want it getting into any loco mechanism.

And you can only list three items for £1 fee.