Crosland

It's a DC voltmeter trying to read an AC voltage. It's clearly not OK otherwise the Op wouldn't have asked Adding a large capacitor after the bridge rectifier, as shown in your circuit, changes the controller from pulsed to smooth DC. This may, or may not, be what the OP wants.

Given the controller output is rectified AC, do you want the peak voltage or the RMS? To measure the peak, feed the output (before the reversing switch) through a diode into a capacitor. The cap will charge to the peak on each cycle and give a smooth reading. A few uF will be enough as the voltmeter will not take much current and will not discharge the cap very much between cycles. For a crude RMS measurement, create a peak measurement and use a couple of resistors to make a voltage divider to read 0.7 of the peak. Use Rs in the 10s of Kohm to avoid discharging the peak capacitor too much.

When a high current is interrupted by opening a switch you will get arcing that damages the contacts. The AC current ratings for a given switch will always be higher than the DC current rating. The reason is that as the AC voltage reverses polarity the current also reduces and any arcing as the contacts open is extinguished. If you are using a CDU for the solenoids then a similar effect occurs if you hold the switch until the CDU discharges, the current dies away and there will be little/no arcing as the switch opens. For DC track feeds I guess you will not be drawing much more than an Amp in any section under normal conditions. Furthermore, I guess you will not be opening section switches whilst a train is running so you do not need a high DC rating. Switches will be operated when there is little or no current flowing. For DCC I am guessing you will just set all the section switches to ON and leave them that way so, again, you do not need a high DC rating. On principle I would not buy from "Ebay/china", although you don't always know where more established retailers are sourcing their supplies. Buy cheap, buy twice!

What's the track voltage? Have you checked the decoder settings are not limiting the top speed?

COPISITEE is at least as old as PAT. Changes in brief are here https://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-matters/years/2020/81-july-2020/the-all-new-5th-edition-of-the-iet-code-of-practice-for-in-service-inspection-and-testing-of-electrical-equipment/ What stood out to me was SELV is no longer a valid method of protection for eqipment.

Every 1st class parcel in the UK has tracking information. Its less specific than a paid for tracked service but, if you enter the code from your receipt in the tracking web page you can get status such as delivered or delivery attempted and returned to depot (not the exact wording). I have found it very useful and have never found the need to pay for tracking within the UK.

The problem I have noticed is people are not using the doorbell, for fear of contracting something. If you don't hear the knock (just once) the parcel could be left outside for some time.

I would still have a hard look at the loco. A class 37 should be picking up form both bogies, and should negotiate someirregularities, unless the unevenness affects the whole length of the loco

Even a brand new item in a shop may have been opened and handled, test run, tried for size, etc, etc,... It can still be sold as "brand new" with all warranties intact. As always, it's complicated, and context is everything. What eBay say may differ to the outcome if tested in the courts.

What sort of loco? Short wheelbase? What sort of track and what's it laid on? Sounds like poor pickup over uneven track to me.

Nice. Flash drives vary a lot, with some being considerably slower than a USB3 SSDs This blog site is interesting https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2020/fastest-usb-storage-options-raspberry-pi I generally turn the Pi WiFi into an access point for direct connection of WiThrottle/Engine driver devices. You can then ditch the wired Ethernet except when you really need to surf the 'net.

I sometimes use a bolt to hold the nut in place (with lots of oil/graphite/whatever to try and keep solder out of the thread) and sometimes end up soldering everything solid A S/S bolt would probably be great for this.

It's in your RMWeb signature!

Sole trader, no. Partnership is a form of incorporation and would most likely be an LLP or Limited Liability Partnership. The website does not claim to be a limited company. Barring conspiracy theories, it looks like it is not incorporated.

Nice. I think that would pass muster from any normal viewing distance.

If you are on this forum, or if anyone knows him in the Maidenhead area, we've tried e-mail and 'phone but cannot make contact re the order that we cancelled and refunded. Please 'phone us. Andrew Crosland www.sprog-dcc.co.uk

How long is a piece of string the wire? The longer it is (remember the current has to flow out and back) the fatter the wire needs to be to reduce voltage drop. Cue the raft of replies "well it works for me with a piece of wet string"...

For receiving stuff into the EU it WILL all change in the summer when the new EU wide VAT system comes into effect.

VAT registration thresholds in a lot of EU countries are a lot lower than the UK so an EU trader is more likely to be VAT registered. Germany, for example, is €22k compared to £85k in the UK.

I've had problems with DHL. Their system wanted me to create an account on their German server (parcel was from Germany) in order to track it. No end of problems (maybe some finger trouble somewhere along the line) involving multiple use fo the forgotten password link. In the end I gave up. The last delivery from them was flawless

It's strange behaviour. The rapid flash indicates an overload. The track power will be cut for around 1/2 second. Did you move the loco in the meantime? Is it possible certain speed sets up a vibration and there's a momentary short somewhere?

Repeating what i said above, this is good as you get the benefit of the square of the voltage. Doubling the voltage gives you 4x the energy stored, and avaiulable to fire the solenoid. The MERG DCC solenoid decoder works in a similar way. Just make sure then capacitors are correctly rated!

It is correct. It is the new HMRC VAT rules now that we have left the EU. Overseas (commercial) sellers are supposed to register for UK VAT and apply it for all consignments below £135. When the sale is through a "marketplace" such as Amazon and eBay then the "marketplace" is responsible. The paperwork with the package should show that it is VAT paid. Duty and handling fees are another matter.

The same is also true of DecoderPro (JMRI), with a suitable interface for your system, or stand-alone programmer, it just takes a little longer for DP to catch up with new releases. Just to clarify, I am only referring to basic CV programming. JMRI does not cover ESU specific features such as sound loading.

About the only good thing I can say about TalkTalk is that they quite amenable to replacing routers.