JM2015

I would like to thank everyone for their help with the Lenz decoder issue, as Patrick from Accurascale says it’s a firmware issue, I don’t have any Lenz equipment so the decoder will be going into a Bachmann loco at some point. Happy days😀😀

Hi Keith, I never anticipated this amount headaches with one decoder..... I must admit I do not fully understand all of the CV Values and what they all do, I would say I have basic knowledge of them and I understand how some of them work. I do have jmri and decoder pro, but I would say I am ok with the basic functions but I haven't done any mapping to a decoder yet. I have looked at accurscale's web site tonight and seen the lokpilot decoder listed but it's out of stock right now. I can't thank you and everyone enough for helping me with this problem, I still haven't solved it because of shift work, so hopefully Sunday might be a good day as I can play around properly with the settings, I will keep you all posted and thank you all so much. Jonathan.

Hi SRman, It's so good to know that it's not just me who has these weird happenings with Decoders.......🙂 Thank you for your reply also, Jonathan.

Hi Melmerby, That's some great information you have provided, and I am looking forward to having a play around with those CV numbers and shall get back to you probably tomorrow with some results hopefully 🙂 Thank you very much, Jonathan

Hi RFS, Than you so much for your information about the functions of this decoder!🙂 Jonathan.

Hi Beejack, Thank you for the info on the Lokpilot 5 decoder🙂 Jonathan.

Hi melmerby, Thank you for your very informative answer, when I posted the question I had to go to work so couldn't reply straight away, i shall try adjusting a cv tonight, but it it will be tomorrow early evening before I will be able to answer again because of work! thanks, Jonathan

Hi Robinofloxey, yes I have tried three different decoders in Ballymoss, one being a Gaugemaster 21 pin, and two Bachmann sound decoders, one from a class 37 and the other a class 47, and Ballymoss moves and has sound with the Bachmann decoders, but when I put the Lenz in either a 37 or 47 it works but will not work with Ballymoss. so I am at a bit of a loss to be honest.

Hi Iain, No I wasn't aware of the difference between the two 21 pin decoders, thank for your answer.

This Lenz silver decoder will work in both a Bachmann class 37 & 47, an older version of a Gaugemaster 21 pin decoder will work in the class 55. Last night I reprogramed the Lenz silver decoder to a random address of 4444 and tried it in three different locomotives, and it worked in all three ( being Bachmann, 2, 37's 1, 47, plus the Bachmann sound chips work in the 55 and it moves ) I then put the Lenz back in the 55 and the head code and the Tail light lit up, I could have both domino lights on at either end, and only one set of tail lights would work ( this was going through the function buttons f1-f28 ) and it did not move at all. My system is a Digitrax DCS210+ with a DT602 handset. Has anyone else come across this problem or is it just this chip is not compatible with the Lovely Deltic from accurscale? Thank you, Jonathan.

Hello imt, Thank you for confirmation that every thing is running ok from my earlier post. I do have several different types of chips, DCC Concepts zen and nano, Gaugemaster omni, Bachmann 21 pin, and finally Zimo mx600r which I prefer to all the others for slow running.i do have some sound fitted locos class 58 from Heljan, Bachmann class 37, Bachmann class 47 and a few more, the sound loco's were already fitted its only my other stock that Was DCC Ready which I have fitted Chips to, hope this makes sense! Jonathan.

Thank you Nigelciffe, This all makes sense now, I was trying to understand my system but wasn't sure how it all worked and I was getting confused with different ways of doing things. once again thank you for the clarification on all this. Jonathan.

Hello BromsMods, and imt, sorry for any confusion in my last post yesterday. With six locomotives on the track and nothing running plus the six signals from Train Tech and 11 colbolt IP digital point motors my PowerCab is reading .19amp and thats before anything moves. Single point moves show .31amp on the PowerCab. Double point moves go up .42amp. One Hornby class 31 running is between.26 .28 .29amps on speed 014. Because I did not have a program track I programmed the signals once they were on the track via accy, and I if I had a loco on there that might of interfered with the Chips? I added 7th train tech signal with the class 31 still on speed 14 the PowerCab is between .28-.31amps. I hope this helps and makes sense and apologies to everyone for any confusion I my have caused. Jonathan.

Good Afternoon Everyone, First of all I like to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread of mine, certainly wasn't expecting so many ideas and tips, all of which are very welcome. Also I do have a NCE Auto Switch on its way so I can at least Isolate a section of track to program a locomotive without having to take all the locomotives off ! The Next part I am not so sure about, The six Signals I did have on the track caused interference with the power cab for programming for chips resulting in the code 255 on the Power Cab. Thank you also to RAF Rob for IMT their latest information about Boosters. As the Power Cab can't handle the signals and the points and programming all at the same time ( not necessarily all at the same as that is almost impossible ) I need to have a booster for the signals, now if thats going to happen do I then need a separate power supply for lighting or would the system Rob recommended do the trick? The reason for asking is I want to put lighting in the engine shed and possibly have lights for the station at some stage, so would the SB5 booster from NCE be ok for the job or would be plug and or something similar. Don't worry this is not going to happen overnight its just something I would like to do in the future. The main thing here is to get the signals running and not interfering with the PowerCab, when I commissioned the layout to be built I did not think that I would decide that I would like lights and colour signals, these were thought after the layout had been built, thats my poor planning... Once Again thank you to you all. Jonathan.

Hello WIMorrison, Thank you for your input to this thread, I liken the sound of your idea, is it possible to use a booster to boost a NCE Power Cab as you describe?

Dave, I have just seen a post for Lyddrail from 2016 and it looks fantastic, my layout is not ready yet but I am working on it, station partly finished Engine shed built another one to build , one peco inspection pit added and another one to follow so I am getting there slowly.... who knows it might be ready by 2019.......

It would seem that I have the upgraded power supply, just looking at you earlier post Phil. This might sound silly but what is a accessory bus and how does fit into a layout that has already been wired? I have just been looking under my layout: points are DCC cobalts with Yellow Blue & Green wires coming out of them, Track feed black and red,and then a orange wire going all the way around the layout is that a bus feed or similar, I really don't know anything about wiring. I should say that my layout was built for me by a very Nice Man called Stephen Reed from Modular Layouts who done all the work for me for which I have no bones with at all, its just me not understanding everything straight away.

Hi Phill, The adapter says the following: Input AC100-240v@1.5A 50/60Hz Output DC 13.8V @ 1.8A So the next question is do I need a upgraded power supply or is more simple than that? Questions question questions.....

Phil I have just checked the power cab and it is version 1.65 B 15 volts via a mains adapter can't tell any more than that. Jonathan.

Nigelcliffe, thank you for that information, I did not realise until today that the signals were blocking the power cab from sending its own signals to the locomotive, I just assumed everything would work without interference how wrong was i....

Phil, to be honest I don't know if I have a upgraded power supply or not. I have 11 cobalt point motors from DCC Concepts and then the 6 Train Tech signals which are now off the track. I think I better have a look at the power cab and see what it tells me.....

Dave, I have solved the the problem of 255 via help from you and io who you recommended in a earlier post. Bear with me for a little while, my layout is 10ft long by 3ft wide with one continuous circle and a passing loop and a siding at the front of the layout. As it goes round the back has four sidings three off a three way point which all work well. The problem turned out be the Six Train Tech DCC signals I had on the layout as I think they were drawing to much power from the power cab combined with 4 locos on the track not all running only two at most and thats only for a short time. I Took off all six signals placed a locomotive on the track, read the chip and it read correctly. For example; Dapol class 73 6039 MF 65 DEC 035 Bachmann class 03 D2016 with sound MF 151 DEC 255 Bachmann class 101 5117 No sound MF141 DEC 081 Heljan class 58 030 with sound MF 151 DEC 255 Bachmann class 66 135 No sound MF 000 DEC 037 Hornby class 31 5512 No sound MF048 DEC 133 So as you can see I can now read the chips correctly, so I thinking I need a separate power supply for the Train Tech signals as it is too much for the power cab to handle? I hope this information is useful to our fellow Modellers. Jonathan.

HI Dave, Yes please that would be great thank you send me you details and I will pay you via PayPal. I was having car issues yesterday thats why its taken so long to reply sorry. Thank you, Jonathan.

Dave, thanks for your help and time with all of this, I shall keep a note of these cv's, and will also get the extra unit to program the track separately, I can not see where you have attached the MS Word grid you use? Thanks again. Jonathan.