SquiddlyDiddly

Yes cables and connections are all correct. Yes I believe the controller is at fault and was hoping to get confirmation somehow on here so that I know I must save up for another one. Sorry if I haven't replied before but I don't look at the forums very often and I can never remember which forum I last commented on. Sorry about that.

There is a Model Railway Club in Macclesfield but I am not a member. I keep seeing posts with ideas for help and as I will not complete my house renovation until 2025 I have time on my side in respect of resolving my problem. I dare not start a model railway while I have 3 bedrooms to completely strip put in new electrics and Central Heating and redecorate and then furnish.

8 pin Hornby and 21 pin Bachmann Loco's

I moved into this area 3 years ago and only now have been trying to get familiar with DCC. I don't know anyone with a model railway and I don't think there is a model railway shop relatively close by.

What a pity Phil Bullock. I have tested continuity and the track wire is absolutely fine.. Andy

I live in Prestbury near Macclesfield Cheshire. BTW I haven't tested the track power cable yet. I will try tonight..........I hope.

I will once again test the continuity of the track power cable today.

I am not using a track clip. I have soldered the track wires to the rails. If I remove everything DCC and connect a DC controller to the DCC track wires soldered to the track a DC locomotive runs perfectly. So that proved the solder connections are OK in my book. I have tested the power panel using NEC instructions and that passes as working. The handset seems to operate perfectly in allowing me to enter commands. I have done a factory reset with no problem. I have tried other procedures and although nothing returns a communication from the decoder in the locomotive, the procedures all go as the manual says they should. The only thing I haven't done is remove decoders from 5 locomotives and reseat them. In my limited understanding, I would not expect them all to be mounted incorrectly. I know at least one locomotive was set to 3 and tested to be working and at least one other is brand new and should be at 3. BTW I do use '3' and not '03' or '003' as one previous response suggested might be the problem. As I only have this one metre piece of track to use for DCC, I have not specified to the controller if it is a Program Track or a Main Layout Track. Nothing in the manual explaining the Quick Start Guide seems to say I should have specified the track type. Is that correct? I am on another forum and someone on there is asking me to send photos of the display from my handset. I have compared my display to those in the manual in sending the message and they are identical. The only difference is that the display does not change as there is no response. I have tried to read a CV and I get the response "Cannot Read CV".

In reply and to the reply above. I have three locomotives that I am / was assured were set/reset to 3. The others I have assumed were at 3 but of course I might be wrong. I just bought a loco and asked the seller to reset to 3 which he said he did. This locomotive doesn't respond to any command and doesn't return a CV when requested. I think the controller might be at fault. I bought it a couple of years ago and didn't keep the receipt so I was hoping that I could be assured it was a controller problem so I could buy another. Not sure I would go for NCE next time.

I have a DCC Problem. I have tried to explain the situation on more than one Model Railway Forum and all I get are standard basic responses straight out of the "Troubleshooting Manual", totally ignoring what I have written in my post. I appreciate people are trying to help but so far it hasn't helped. This is my first experience with DCC, although I got my DC first train set way back in 1960. I do not have a Model Railway Layout at present as I moved house 3 years ago (downsized) and am undertaking a 5 year project to completely renovate the house I have moved into. I am also having to sell a lot of my collected locos and rolling stock in order to help fund my renovations. So to sell the loco's I have set up a test track on a piece of floorboard to ensure they run properly before I sell them. On the same floorboard I have a second track. This track is for me to acclimatise myself with DCC concepts. As it is only a single track, it is in effect my program track. I purchased a new NCE Powercab starter system for me to use. I followed the relatively simple instructions for connecting wiring to the track and then setting up the NCE controller to operate the system.And then I followed the also simple instructions to test a DCC fitted locomotive on the track...........and that is where my problem started. Nothing happened, the locomotive did not move. Having worked on DC model railways all my life off and on, I knew at that poit that I needed to test other locomotives, re-test the connections and ensure that the wiring was in fact connected to the track properly. In brief I tested a number of locomotives -Factory fitted Decoder, DCC ready with Decoder fitted, DCC ready with a different decoder fitted. Ran a DCC ready on my DC track, then fitted a decoder and tried to run it. I tried Hornby 8 pin deoders and Bachmann with 211 pin decoders. Everything produced the same result - no movement, no lights and no sound. I even turned off the DCC, connected my DC conroller to the DCC wring and track and ran a DC locomotive perfectly on the same track. I next tried to read a CV from all my loco options and the result was the same for all locomotives - "Cannot Read CV". So my thoughts then turned to whether the Powercab controller was the problem. OK it showed that it was sending messages - but did they actially talk to the decoder? When asking to read a CV, did the controller actually send the message it was asking or was it that it could not receive the response. By accident, I got a partial answer to this. I had two class 08 diesels on the shelf, both green livery but one was DC and one was DCC fitted. I put the DC loco on the track by mistake and connected the Powercab to the power, and...........the controller "buzzed". So that told me that the Powercab was at least getting a connection to the track.

Thanks for the info Ray. Andy

Can somebody help? I need to know the size of the screw thread of the brass top bearing on the upright Wrenn / Dublo metal chassis that holds the armature.. I have one with a cross thread and am hoping to ream it out with the correct sized tap but I don't know the size. I know it is not metric so it will be whitworth or BA I suppose. Any help would be appreciated. Andy