Crosland

At least one very well known supplier still calls stuff 12V that is far from it. Then wash their hands of the problem when a customer buys such stuff and uses it to destroy sensitive electronics.

That makes no sense Are you certain its 12V DC input?

The effect is dependent upon both the voltage and the capacitance. The difference is that the energy stored in the CDU increases with the square of the voltage whereas it increases linearly with capacitance. Switching from 12V DC to 16V AC (~22V peak when rectified) is almost a doubling of the voltage so almost a squaring of the energy stored in the CDU. The caps should be rated at least 35V to guard against the AC supply being a bit higher when not loaded.

Seeing as you are already familiar with Linux I don't think a Pi would present any barriers. The biggest issue is the lower performance, compared to a modern desktop.

Yes, the SBOOST has a current limit, just as the SPROG itself does. It might help to explain how you are intending to connect them to layout, to what effect. Are you trying to split it into power districts? Do you have a SPROG II that is underpowered for the layout, or, ... JMRI running on a PC or raspberry Pi will run the "WiThrottle Server" which allows you to use WiThrottle or EngineDriver apps on mobile phones or tablets. A R-Pi can be a complete standalone solution, creating it's own WiFi access point, whereas a PC will, generally, involve your home router/WiFi. Andrew Crosland www.sprog-dcc.co.uk

Sorry. I was sure the UK had adopted the same limit.

The limit for the supplier collecting that VAT is actually €150. At todays exchange rate (at the time of writing) that's about £128.50. Suppliers may, of course, use a less favourable exchange rate to cover their bank or payment processor's fees. The limit is €150 as that is the EU duty free limit. Above that anything imported into the EU will be assessed for both duty and VAT. There is no mechanism for pre-payment of duty. See Nick C reply below.

Don't be too disheartened. Remember Bill runs a business. There are people who share their models. A different scale, but the 2mm society have an .stl file exchange for members.

A few years ago the Raithby 4F was the basis of the association chassis workshop. A supplementary etch was supplied to fix issues with the tender. Is this etch supplied with the kits from the association shop? I git he impression they had to be procured separately by the organiser(s).

Almost certainly they use supercaps which are 0.47F NOT 0.47uF. Six in series gives 0.078F or 78,000uF. The resistors are, indeed, for charge balancing and also help discharge the caps when not in use.

Why do you expect the LED to stay on for longer? Maybe the motor is running for a fraction of a second. After that the stay alive is drained and nothing will work.

Remember that VAT is payable in the destination country. It's not UK VAT that is being collected by eBay and Royal Mail probably don't care. The code is for the new EU IOSS system. It is up to customs in the recipient country to use the code to validate the status of the shipment. What's not clear to me is what happens if import duty is payable on an item. Model Railways do not attract import duty but eBay obviously sells much more. If you opt out of the GSP and simply take the parcel to your local PO then you will need to fill in, and attach, a CN22, just as you always did for exports outside the EU before Brexit. The issue eBay are tying to help with is that the CN22 has no where to put an IOSS number. It's designed for declaring the goods for assessment when they reach the destination country. So eBay charge the VAT (and pass it on to the EU) and then the recipient may have to pay VAT again if the parcel is caught in the net. This is all down to new EU regulations that were coming anyway, regardless of Brexit. Believe it or not, eBay are actually trying to be helpful by pre-clearing your parcels to the EU. Tying it to the much-loathed GSP, by default, seems like an own goal to me.

How much??? For a firmware upgrade? What did the original product cost?

Who are you calling a Snowflakes? eBay or John? If the latter then an apology is in order. You need to actually read what eBay are saying to users So, the thing you need to do to retain the status quo is opt out od the GSP ASAP after 1st July. It has everything to do with the GSP.

In that case, the decoder is not storing the function settings and the command station is not periodically repeating the state of the functions. The DCC specs are a bit poor on this. F13 and above are explicitly not required to be repeated. Decoders are not required, but are recommended, to save the state of these functions. For F12 and below the spec is silent on whether function packets should be repeated by the command station. Only basic speed and direction packets are required to be regularly repeated. Some system do repeat the function settings, others may not. Similarly there is no required behaviour for decoders.

Are you sure it's not the command station remembering (or not) the settings for a particular address?

A common mis-conception. Look at any standard silicon diode data sheet and you will see that the forward voltage is nearer 1V at the maximum rated current. E.g. https://www.vishay.com/docs/88503/1n4001.pdf for the common 1N400x series or https://www.vishay.com/docs/88516/1n5400.pdf for the iN540x 3A diode.

No, you are correct in UK terminology. Breeze blocks were made from cinders from power stations, sometimes known as "breeze". They could have the two square(ish) holes or be solid. If the ones you are modelling are made from terracotta then they become known as pot blocks in some places.

For £300 after 6 months and repeated broken promises I would be looking at money claim online (small claims court) https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

Oops There is no ground in DCC! Only A and B, or J and K, or whatever you want to call them.

That rules out any difference in addressing between DCC++ and SPROG I think there may be some confusion here. There are two sorts pf programming: Service mode which allows reading and writing the decoder, and usually involves a programming track, and on-the-main, or ops-mode, where you can only write to the decoder (with SPROG hardware). If you are trying to read locos on the main layout then you must remove all other DCC decoders, whether loco or accessory. Try connecting the SPROG to a short length of track, set the JMRI preferences to SPROG mode (not command station) and try reading locos that way. I don't know if the DCC concepts accessory decoder support service mode. If they do, then they will certainly interfere with reading a loco. You would need to connect them on at a time to program them in service mode. Alternatively, they probably have a "learn" button to allow capturing an address whilst connected to the layout.

I bought a new boomerang. I still can't get rid of the old one.

You can fit any brand of decoder - I would always recommend Zimo - you need to buy one with the correct plug for the socket in the loco. Google suggests you want an 8-pin decoder for that loco. You can add sound and the Cl 59 sounds are available, but at about 5x the cost of a basic decoder (£100+) https://www.roads-and-rails.co.uk/products/loksound-5-decoder-for-class-59 There may be other suppliers (sound is not my area).

That's not necessarily true. Using a relay for reversing has nothing to do with short detection, which will always be electronic. The MERG reverser, for example has electronic detection and switching (isolation) to cut the track power and uses a relay only for the changeover switch. I would be surprised if there are not commercial units operating on a similar principle. The problem with relay switching (if problem it really is) is the switching time of the relay compared to an electronic reversing switch. It is alleged to cause stuttering in sound locos, but a decent stay-alive would fix that.

You can use an AC ammeter in the supply feed, in that case.