John ks

If it was mine i would remove the 3 capacitors on the motor, they are there for RFI suppression I've got a HST that would run erratically when i installed a Hornby TTS sound decoder Running on Digitrax When i removed the RFI capacitors it ran fine On the mother board are 2 components which i am fairly sure are Inductors (marked J1 & J2) & would also be part of the RFI suppression & i suspect that capacitors C3 & C4 are also RFI suppression If I had one of these locos then i could trace the motor circuit & would know if J1, J2, C3 & C4 were RFI components & could be removed If J1 & J2 are inductors & were removed then they would have to be replaced with jumpers John

After reading your post i have edited my previous post to reflect this new information John

Mine is still outstanding & i did bother Keith with 2 email I hope Keith wont mind me posting these replies The first one I wanted to change my postal address & the reply included "Unfortunately, the GT3's have been sent out now and we can't change the delivery address." Dated 22 March The second email "There is a chance our fulfilment warehouse made an error and missed you off the delivery schedule. If that is the case, I can send you your GT3 from my residence once I get the excess stock. We are trying to sort out everyone's orders as quick and as efficient as possible, so please be patient with us, we are working hard to make everyone happy." Dated April 1 Hope this helps anyone still waiting for theirs John

That photo looks like the APT-E to me John

After reading Ben Adler's future post in which he says " the C C terminals are for a seperately developed hand held extra controller that does provide cab control and are not for any other purpose." I have changed this post to reflect this new (to me) information I Have never seen one of these but looking at some images in google there is one image of the front panel with 2 transformers connected to it This suggests to me that this twin controller could work with common rail return Looking at the back terminals I think the + & - terminals are uncontrolled controlled DC out The x & x terminals are AC out & the C & C terminals are Controller out (I think, not commons)See Ben Adlers post If you have a multi-meter check the output at all the terminals The drawing shows what voltages i would expect to find at the terminals The 12V DC terminals could show as high as 20V but any voltage between 12V & 20V should be OK The voltage on these terminals (12V DC) should vary from 0V to 12V (with load) in line with the knob position The nominal AC voltage is 16V AC but could range between 12 & 18V AC & be OK If I am correct in assuming that the a,b & c,d (renamed from c for ease of ID) terminals are the controller outputs If all of the above is correct then connecting b & d together & to the common rail should work If I am correct in assuming that the C1 + , - & C2 + , - terminals are the controller outputs And if all of the above is correct then connecting C1 - & C2 + together & to the common rail should work Any where that the a train crosses from one controller to the other there should be an IRJ (shown as a gap in the image) As i said earlier my knowledge of this controller is from an image on goggle & some guesswork so connecting this controller as common rail is done at your risk John Edited to reflect new information from Ben Adler's post (about 3 posts in the future)

2 things first you got it sorted second Thanks for letting us know what the problem was. its a bit disappointing when a thread ends with "sorted"(or just ends ) & with no explanation on how it was sorted When i get an email showing mine is on the way & it arrives I will know to look out for this problem when i go to fit a decoder John

It sounds like there may be an internal short in the loco/tender wiring possibly between the Motor (orange) to the RH rail pickup (red) or the motor (grey) to the LH rail pickup (black) The blanking plug joins the Motor (orange) to the Rh rail pickup (red) & the motor (grey) to the LH rail pickup (black) Test the resistance (with the blanking plug & decoder removed ) between the motor & rail connections. There should not be a low resistance on any of these tests (M+ to Rail+ & M- to Rail- you could also do M+ to Rail- & M- to Rail+) My guess for the most likely places for this sort of short to happen would be the mother board in the tender or the connecting plug/socket between loco & tender Do these tests from the tender If the test fails with the loco, tender uncoupled then the short is in the tender If the test passes with the loco, tender uncoupled then the short is in the loco I have had this problem with at least one loco where a badly installed pick up wire was touching a motor connection The loco worked OK on DC but destroyed a decoder on DCC If you don't feel comfortable doing these tests then it might be time to contact KR to make a warranty claim John

Your correct, I think i took the quote from David's Quote in your post so it came out as your quote Sorry for any confusion My answer was related to both quotes John

Looking at the coupling on the power car I can see no electrical connection in that coupling That would suggest that you would need 1 decoder for each DT & 1 for each powered power car So a 2+1+2 would require 3 decoders & a 2+2+2 would require 4 decoders (If both power cars are powered)(adding extra Articulated coaches to make a 6+2+6 for example shouldn't require extra decoders) This was brought up early in this chat but I don't recall an answer from Hornby I have 2 original APT-P's one is a 2+1+2 & has 3 decoders & the other is a 2+2+5 & has 4 decoders John

Maico I would think the " One-piece Machined switch blades " explains it all One piece, = the rail is one piece from the frog to end of the switch blade & like the bullhead points the switch rail flexes rather than having a pivot. Machined switchblades,= the switch blades are machined to shape from solid rail rather than being flat metal that is stamped & folded to shape( like most existing Peco points) Top marks to Peco for improving these points Will this be the way that all Peco points will be improved in the future? One problem i can see is with code100 & above rail is if it is flexible enough to be able to eliminate the pivot on the switch blade John

XChris Thanks for the info I did know about the 73/9 & have shown an expression of interest I didn't realise that the 73/9's were used on all 3 trains north of Glasgow I did a bit more research & found the Highlander split portions on RevolutioN's site I have changed the image to reflect what i now believe to be correct Looks like i need 3 Cl 73/9's John

If i have done my research correctly then the lower half of the image shows the current contents of each pack & the formation of each of the 4 trains. Not sure if i got the correct 2 coaches from pack 2 in the Highlander formation I had a quick look through the 27 pages & the only formation information I found was for the Lowlander & Highlander Trains which only shows the Class 92 & 16 coaches from London (top half of image, if I recall correctly the contents pack 2 was changed earlier to refelect the current formation of the Fort William train) What i would like to know is what locos would be correct for each of the 3 trains north of Glasgow John

Rob Should you have a resistor between the PB Sw & the bases of the solenoid transistors John

Hi Rob I am retired electrician who has dabbled in electronics from a hobby standpoint. Looking at the modification to the circuit it looks like it may/could/should work but to be honest its getting a little above my pay grade Build it on your bread board & test it to see if it works as designed ( tests could include short press, long press, double press of PB Sw) Hope this helps John

I suspect that when you push the point control PB One coil is energised & the point changes The PL13 switch changes The relay changes which connects the other coil & the point changes back This repeats until the CDU is discharged or you release the PB Sw If this is the case then give the PB Sw a quick tap. If this works it would tend to confirm my suspicion I am not sure how to fix it if this is the problem I have added an image of your PDF so the next person doesn't have to download it John

If the 2 reverse loops are connected as shown then the only problems I see is the crossing which would have to be an insulfrog Depending on which way the 2 ARU's (auto reversing units) are, the phasing(DCC for polarity) of the rails can be as shown In the top example a wheel can bridge between the red & black rails, causing a short (blue circle) in the lower example a wheel can bridge between the red & black rails, causing a short ( green circle) the easy fix is to paint the top of the rails(where the short occurs) with fingernail polish ( I use clear)The polish will need to be renewed as it wears away. As Pete said above or the train has to be limited to the length of the part of the loop between the insulated joiners John

Working backwards 9V drop across 40 ohms gives a current draw of 225mA If you have 10 LEDs in parallel fed by the 40 ohm resistor then each LED will draw 22.5mA 22.5mA would seem ok for Each LED Now a reasons why i think it is a bad idea to have all those LEDs in parallel If the LEDs are not perfectly matched the one or more will draw more than 22.5mA Assuming 22.5mA is the rating of the LEDs then the LEDs drawing more than 22.5mA may fail prematurely When one fails then the current to the remaining LEDs will increase causing another one to fail & you could get a cascading effect taking out all the remaining LEDs I tend to agree with ikcdab & the following is meant to complement ikcdab's post The current rating of a LED is given to get the maximum brightness from that LED If you drive a LED at its maximum rating then you get the shortest lifespan Most times on a model railway you don't need the LED at maximum brightness You might be surprised how bright a LED is with 1K resistor If its too bright then larger value resistor can be used I have used 4K7 (or was it 47K,memory isn't the best ) resistors on a HST marker lights & they were bright enough With the price of resistors you can afford to have a selection on hand & use trial & error to get the resistor value that gives the best brightness for your needs. Start with 1K or 10K to see which is best for each application If you need bright LEDs then you will need to do some calculations to get the best value & I would tend to use one resistor per LED Hope this helps John

If you like working with images then following pic should be self explanatory John

Paul these few pics are the last of the ones i've got Hope these help John

Here is a couple from the ERM Oct 17 I have a couple more if you are interested John

Gordon you are correct, I have corrected the original post Fortunately the ones i got wrong (black & grey) were already soldered to the board Thanks for pointing that out John

Yes I've added some colours to the pads EDIT Gordon s pointed out the colours were wrong I had the black & grey mixed. the revised pic shows the correct colours & the NRMA guide for reference While the colours look to be reversed you have to remember that the NRMA is shown from the top of the plug & the circuit board is shown from the underside End EDIT The wire(colour) soldered to the pad should correspond to the colour of the wire from the decoder Regarding the 4 pin decoder I'm sorry but i cant help with that one On the side with the red & black wires are 4 diodes that make up the bridge rectifier If you can work out which is the DC side of the rectifier then the positive goes to the blue wire That was what i was hoping to tell from the pictures but they aren't clear enough to tell John

Under the small circuit board (remove 2 screws indicated by the grey arrows) there should pads that the 8 pin socket is soldered to This would be the best place to solder the wires to the lights The blue, white & yellow arrows point approximately to the location of the solder pads If you are not sure then take a picture of the underside of the circuit board & I or someone else will show where to connect the wires The advantage of connecting to the bottom of the circuit board is if you need to replace the decoder then the replacement just plugs in Short answer Yes Longer answer If you were to use a LED with series resistor (10K or more) then the likely hood of damage the decoder is less With good closeups of both sides of the 4 pin decoder it might be possible to determine which pad is the blue wire John

Here are some pics from the last day of the Electric Rail Museum that might be relevant to this topic & the last few posts Kit You may remember me, we had a chat next to The APT power car (probably the only Aussie there at the time) Talking to Kit was the highlight of that visit John

This may not be what you are looking for I am assuming that the 3 way switch is Top position for Siding, middle position is for Passing Loop & bottom position is for Main Line & the second switch (R3 & R4) sets the xover to straight or crossing over I have completely rewired it so that the relays only control the frogs Power to the siding is controlled by point 2 Power to the stub is controlled by point 3 Stub 2 is controlled by a switch as per your original plan If you need the passing loop to be isolatable then an IRJ at the red star & the optional feed to the passing loop needs a switch (blue star) The mail line is always powered John