Crosland

There's probably also some randomness (or sod's law) as to which juicer switches first. In the worst case both juicers see the fault and switch...

Putting "stay alive" capacitors to one side, since DCC is a square wave you can use a much smaller capacitor than would be required for a traditional power supply fed with a rectified sine wave. Just a few uF is more than sufficient and cost/physical size are not really an issue.

As Dutch said. A decoder will never see more than + or - 15V. The first thing the decoder does is rectify the input to 15V (ignoring diode drops). Your 30V is also a valid figure, but this is the differential voltage or the difference between the two voltages applied to the rails or 15 - (-15) = 30V. A decoder never sees a voltage of 30V.

In that case, and assuming everything else is OK, the track voltage may be too low for the solenoids to operate reliably. That's another reason for not using the track supply, even with a CDU I would use an external supply in preference to increasing the track voltage.

It's always a bad idea to power solenoids from the track supply unless the decoder also includes a CDU.

Easy alignment (no physical connection between the TOU and the tiebar to adjust) and protection against twitching servos.

There's also the Component Application Guide in the Yearbook. Andrew

I wonder if magnets could be used in a similar way for a TOU... Might cause problems with DG and similar couplings.

Re under etched slots, I have had success on other kits with thin strips of fine wet and dry pulled back and forth through the slot. Andrew

If the customer demand is there, there is no reason why a DCC system should not have a better interface. What suits one person, will not suit everyone, however. Should it be based on a driving desk like ZTC or on a smart phone style handset? How do you actually drive more than a couple of locos anyway. You either set them going roundy-roundy chasing their own tails, in which case you may as well use DC, or you need automation, which is a completely different subject.

Probably, but I don't know which Lenz system you have. Roco use XpressNet so you can certainly use Multimaus with some Lenz systems. as Google is your friend here. Even of you can't, I didn't say compatibility was 100%, only that your assertion that you need to stick with one manufacturers hardware was wrong. ZTC and Lenz hardware will play together via XpressNet, for example. The Roco Z21 Black has XpressNet and Loconet and the data sheet clearly shows Lenz and Digitrax hardware being connected to it. It is a long time since choosing DCC meant choosing a manufacturer.

That's simply not true for DCC, and it has nothing to do with software. Decoders (loco or accessory) are interchangeable and always have been. Even the older generation layout control busses such as XpressNet, LocoNet, S88 all have cross-manufacturer support as well as lots of open source hardware. Note that these are NOT part of DCC in the same way a Bluetooth scheme will not be. Absent any agreed open standard, any Bluetooth system will only be as manufacturer independent as the manufacturer chooses to make it. The real problem with Railcom, as I see it, is that it is patented technology and my understanding is that the newer developments are not covered by the original grant of a license to the NMRA.

The request (which I think was answered 5 years ago) was for a coiled lead

The noise is probably due to the motor vibrating rather than generating enough torque to rotate and move the loco. I would increase CV2 to give more "go" at the lowest speed step. The capacitors can interfere with the Back EMF which is lowest at low speeds (assuming that decoder uses BEMF). Try removing them if CV tweaking doesn't work.

What are they powered from? Is the power doing something nasty during power up or power down? If you are powering from the DCC bus then try an isolating switch in the power feed and wait a few moments after powering up the system, before closing the switch to power the point motors.

Open out the bearing holes, so the bearings have some adjustment, then some form of alignment jig through the rods to position the bearings for soldering.

If nothing come close you could also try adding association bearings to the chassis to take up some of the slack in shorter axles. I haven't tried it...

Alternatively, buy the correct parts that are designed for joining wires of two different sizes Andrew

Thank you for the real world confirmation and refutation of the nay-sayers

OK, so at the 1C rate we can assume a flat 1.2V output discharged to 80% capacity (from Energizer NiMH application data). When boosted to 12V that still gives a constant 400mA discharge for 48 minutes, considerably more with typical loco driving characteristics. I am not talking Hornby Dublo here, it would need to be a modern model with an efficient motor.

Had a very quick reply from the Association sales officer. It has always been the intention and in future the straight rails should be posted out in suitable packaging to keep them straight. Andrew

Neither the voltage, e.g., 3V or 12V, nor the size and shape (AA v button cells), has to affect the amount of energy stored, if other things are equal. For a given battery technology, a given volume can store the same amount of energy, regardless of the battery voltage. There may be inefficiencies due to wasted space in packing multiple cylindrical cells, but other shapes are available. What really matters is how much power the motors need, i.e., how quickly the energy store is depleted. You could use a couple of 2200mAH AA NiMH cell and use a voltage boost circuit to generate whatever higher voltage you want. Discharging at the 1C rate (i.e. discharged in 1 hour, or 2200mA in this case) with a cell voltage of 1.4V at 90% efficiency (should be achievable) would give almost 1/2 Amp at 12V, for an hours running. In practice the run time will be much longer unless you run your trains flat out and never stop them.

I know I really should take this up with the society shop keeper (which I now will) but my recent order of 500mm lengths were bent to fit in a large Jiffy bag. That's how I ended up with rail being bent in the vertical plane. Next time I order I will request a postal tube, even if it costs more. Andrew

The biggest issue is when its bent in the vertical plain. It's much harder to grip and straighten that way. Andrew

No need to put them through the same quality control, either