AndrewC

1 hour ago, Nigelcliffe said:

Or £0.00 if your chosen phone/tablet runs Android rather than Apple's offerings.   Even for Apple, the track diagram should be £0.00 as it can be in the browser window, but the full features of the throttle may require purchasing an App.     

- Nigel

 

I was thinking more along the lines of all in one app. Yes you can use the browser for free. Engine driver for Android is free as is WiThrottle lite. The £5.99 for the full version though is well worth it. I've played with Engine Driver, Z21, and WiThrottle. My preference is for the latter as it is smart enough to pick up the loco information from Decoder Pro, so your mapped functions are all there. It is also the easiest for consisting locos. 

For Freemo meets my module has an iPad available for the conductor/switcher while the driver uses what ever throttle he/she wants. More interesting than finger poking the track. Another Freemo modeller uses a touch screen laptop running JMRI for switching. 

No doubt others will be along shortly to add to the confusion useful comments but....

It really depends on what you are after. Want to be driver and signalman? If you have access to a laptop, you can use JMRI (free) to create a mimic display which in turn can be operated from the laptop, or with the addition of a cheap router (who doesn't have an old one kicking about these days after upgrading their broadband) you can, for a massive sum of £5.99 get your layout diagram to display on a smart phone or tablet. (WiThrottle) This would let you keep your existing DCC investment for little outlay. JMRI also lets you write macros for some automation. I use routes so that if I want a train from staging 1 to main track 1, I just select point 101, et voila the route is set. With a bit of simple scripting this can become similar to an entry exit function where you click one track then another in order to set the route. 

If you want to go whole automation hog then Z21 or ECoS with iTrain would be the way to go. That gives you wireless throttles if you want, along with full blown automation. That would be Mr Morrison's specialist subject. 

A couple of other points. (pun intended) 

1: are the points wired in parallel or series? If they are always going to be thrown in pairs, then wire them in series. That's why the Peco motors isolate each coil. 

2: yes more oomph from the power supply. You may have enough voltage but do you have sufficient current. 12v with a 2a output is better than 19v with a 0.5a output. 

3: how stiff are the motors and the point spring? When I used to use solenoid motors, I found that a bit of light oil on the moving parts of the motor as well as backing off the point spring to reduce the tension worked well. Have you tried throwing 2 points from the unit on your bench? If that works it is likely the points themselves are too stiff. 

As in the pic below a screwdriver is used to increase the distance between the tie bar and the spring retention clip. This reduces the force needed to throw the point but at the same time retaining the spring's function to keep the point blades pushed against the rails. 

Oops. Missed this. 

Happy anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Baz.

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

The nights are fair drawing in.....

 

 

 

 

 

(PS - Yes, I know....)

Blocked!

17 minutes ago, pgcroc said:

Never mind whisky/whiskey!😳

 

A trendy London pub is selling what is believed to be Britain's most expensive beer - at an eye-watering £80.15 a pint.

The pricey beverage, which is served at a boozer in Brixton, south London, is an American import. 

The Craft Beer Co chain has shipped over Reforged 20th Anniversary Ale at £105 per 750 ml bottle, which is around 1.3 pints, from an 'artisanal' microbrewery in San Diego, California.

Craft Beer Co is hardly trendy anymore. 😃

Alesmith do some amazing beers but I wasn't impressed with their Reforged series. (No I didn't pay anything close to that amount.) That is still not even close to the most expensive UK beer. Brewdog's End of history was £220 for a 33cl bottle at 51%abv. Their Sink the Bismark was around £60 for a 33cl making that roughly £115 for a pint. 

https://railroomelectronics.co.uk/Modules/Shuttle-Module/Product-88499.aspx 

Good moaning from the boring borough. 

My you lot have been busy over the past 2 days. Still playing catch up. 

A belated Happy Anniversary to Tony and Aditi. Here is to many more. 

A grand weekend visiting the offspring in Carlisle was had. First Father's Day in 4 years that we've been together. I must have done something to appease the traffic gods as both the trip up and home were painless and quick. Our spare small Kamado bbq was delivered and they've taken to it already. Pulled pork on Saturday and pizzas yesterday. 

Another week of pushing ones and zeros about. Enjoy the day. 

Moaning all from the boring borough. It is already quite toasty. Today I shall mostly be puttering about. First on the agenda is trying to discover why the shed air con isn't doing its job properly. The compressor is running, the fan is fanning, but the air is anything but conditioned. Online suggestions say first to look at the warm air vent hose to make sure it isn't blocked and feeding the warm air back through the unit.

After that it is time to load up the Landy for the trip to the northern wastelands of Carlisle. We haven't seen the offspring for a few months so this will be a good visit. With the price of diesel, if it wasn't for the full load of cargo, we'd be on the train. I'm looking at about £200 for the round trip to cover the cost of the dino-p*ss . On the subject of vehicles the dealership where I bought the Landy keeps pestering me about trading it in as there is a massive shortage of used vehicles in their stock. Trouble is, if I want to replace it with the newest hybrid model, there is a 40 week, yes 40 week wait time to get one built. No doubt mostly down to the shortage of chips for all the onboard electronics. <sigh> 

Must dash, SWMBO is working from home today and wants another latte. Time to fire up the Sage. 

Enjoy your weekend. 

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Was this  a full size Sainsbury or one of the Sainsbury Local branches? I can’t imagine that any  the big Sainsbury round here would cope. The very small Sainsbury local has three self serve and two cashier tills. Well it did before Covid, I haven’t been in since Spring 2020. 

This is the massive full sized one in Charlton that replaced the Telly Tubby branch a few years ago. Opens at 7. 8:30 on a Monday morning, zero cashiers. 

11 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

On a similar vein I seem to recall, this is going a few years back, that some american medico/tech company came up with the bright idea of patenting a certain gene- in affect saying that anyone who wanted to use it, can't remember why, would have to pay them. Someone more knowledgeable may be able to expand on this, but still quite worrying when you think about it.

See also Monsanto corp and their control over the patents for genetically altered crops. Despite their assurances that the plants can't propagate with other "normal" varieties, it is happening. When it does, Monsanto goes in and tries to sue the farmer for using their patented seeds without a licence or permission. 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Over the years, I have read stories in the British press about fine old buildings being allowed to deteriorate to the point where they have to be torn down, simply because the owner could not afford to jump through the very expensive (and frequently self-contradictory) hoops put in place by the local planning department and bodies like Heritage England.

 

On the other side of the coin, developers use deterioration as a quick(ish) method for being able to bypass listings and other protections. A couple of "accidental" discrete holes in roofs, give it a year or so, et voila, a condemned structure that has to be knocked down. This is similar to the ruse of stripping out a recently profitable pub and then claiming it is now unsustainable as a pub due to the costs involved in restoring it. It also makes it nearly impossible for a section 4 (asset of community value) to find a group to take over the pub. Poison pill or salted earth methodology. Then again, some just knock things down and hope the cost of the fine is less than the cost of waiting/going through hoops was. That has backfired a couple of times now with councils ordering the complete rebuilding. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlton_Tavern,_Kilburn 

9 minutes ago, Andymsa said:

A dcs100 is definitely capable of programming a ESU chip for HO/OO scale, but I would recommend using the ESU programmer as it’s very easy to use, have you actually checked the affected chips on a decoder tester. This certainly sounds like the chips have gone awol 

As he has mentioned they are Tsunami and Economi decoders. These are notorious for not playing nice with Digitrax (and some other older system's) programming tracks. 

4 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

Andrew

Thanks for your answer and interest in my problem.

 

Please be aware that I am not a DCC expert and whilst I have heard of the term JMRI i have no idea what it is. I have tried PG and PD programming modes ( I assume that means paged and direct) .  AFIK the chips are either TSunami or Econami sound chips. I don't have a Lok programmer or a PR3 but no doubt I can gain access to one.

For those you definitely need a more powerful programming track. I'd recommend the PR3 or PR4 if you can borrow one, and use direct byte for programming. I had the same issue with early Rapido locos which had Tsunami decoders. 

FYI. JMRI is a suite of free applications for use with DCC systems. It allows you to hook up your system to a computer and it really makes decoder programming a simple task since just about every possible decoder has a definition file that lets you just set the address, build a speed curve or acceleration rate, etc etc. 

13 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Captain Cynical is MOST unhappy - the ER thread has been bereft of doggy photos for quite some time. No Ben, no Pebbles, no Rolo, no Poppy, no Sydney....... 😠

 

And when Captain Cynical is unhappy, he shares the unhappiness around - painfully!

 

Therefore, unless @TheQ, @simontaylor484, @Kelly , @Erichill16(and others) post doggy photos within the next 24 hours, ER will be in a world of hurt.

 

You have been notified!

 

Captain Cynical

 

NOTE Cat photos are NOT an acceptable substitute and may only be posted if the cat in the photo is accompanied by a dog!

 

I always thought he was barking. 

Oh come on, someone was going to say it eventually. 

What type of decoder? Some need more oomph than the programming track output of the DCS is capable of. EG: Loksound and Tsunami all need more. I use either the Lok programmer, or a PR3 with external power to get around this. Also check the type of programming you are doing. (paged, phys, or direct) Digitrax defaults to paged mode, but a number of decoders only respond to direct byte. Check with you manual to see how to change this if not using JMRI.