John ks

RCBO's on this side of the other pond I tend to agree with 34C If it trips with the pump plugged in & nothing else then the pump is the most likely problem With nothing plugged into any of the outlets push the test button on the GFI, if it trips then it is probably ok If it doesn't trip then i would replace the GFI John

Another very unhappy customer Got the email from rails 1/2hour ago, Rails still shows the order as pending? John

If you mean the blue arrow it should get a feed from dropper 3 (black connection ( highlighted rail to show where that dropper feeds)) provided you are happy to rely on fishplates insulated fishplates show in white You could eliminate 2 points by running all 4 tracks to the turntable. provided the turntable is suitable John

What 40110andyb said but in pictures See drawing dropper 13 & 14 The black side of feed 4 is necessary, the red side is not necessary but as JimFin said The above modified drawing shows the minimum number of droppers need to make the layout work But as Gavin says John

Should be OK provided you follow all safety requirements John

Resetting the thermal overload. Pushing down on the copper contact near the top (marked FUSE) might reset it Resistors R4 R5 R6 are missing , the pieces with the red arrows point to what is left of one of them & i have put the pieces back where I think they came from. Resistors R4 R5 R6 were 3 resistors in parallel. By paralleling resistors you can get a low resistance that will handle more power than a single resistor Say you need a 0.33ohm 3watt resistor then three 1ohm 1 watt resistors will work The transistors Q3 & Q4 (yellow circles) look like they are cooked As i said previously Do the following at your own risk reconnect the pot reset the overload solder a piece of wire or a big blob of solder across R4 R5 or R6 (where the grey rectangle is) You may also need to remove Q3 & Q4 connect AC to the input terminals & give it a go (measure the output voltage with a meter before you run a loco) I don't think the circuit in the controller will work with a DC supply Maybe. the output of the charger may only give 6V or 12V which will run your locos at 1/2 or full speed John

Not sure what is available in the UK In Oz insulated roof panels are available & are quite often used to make patio roofs They consist of a 2 layers of steel or aluminium with a foam type insulation between them, bottom layer is usually flat & top layer is corrugated They are self supporting & can span several meters Hope this is helpful John

Just had a look in my cannon printer & there is a strip similar to what you described So as I said John

I have a theory that could be completely wrong but As the print head moves from left to right it prints a band on pixels (my guess is at least 60 high) On the return trip from right to left it prints the next band of pixels (pic might help to show my meaning) the toothed belt that moves the print head back & forth goes around a couple of pulleys, if one of these pulleys is used to sense the position of the head & the belt has jumped a tooth then this could explain the printout John

If I am reading the outputs on the Hornby controller correctly then it has 2 outputs 1 0-12VDC to control trains 2 16vAC for accessory's eg point motors If you are using Lights/ signals that need a DC input then you will need a rectifier between the accessory output & the device Looking at the controller it shows a 16VAC input, this suggests that there is a separate Plug pack (wallwart, power supply etc, a rose by any other name------------ ) for the controller If this is the case then why connect your CDU to the controller when it can be connected directly to the plug pack(the output of the plug pack should be 16VAC Some form of overload protection between the plugpack & first terminal strip would be advisable (1Amp fuse etc) John

If you alter Dagworth's circuit as below then The value of R2 will affect the brightness of the White LED & R3 will affect the red LED John

Cliff if I understand the circuit properly then connecting DC to the AC input wont work For anybody interested this is the circuit (assuming I have made no mistakes) The power transistors symbols for Q1 & Q2 are not completely correct, suspect 1 is PNP & other is NPN, not sure of Emitter or collector of Q2 Transistors Q3 &Q4 are SMD,s &as such the best I can do is show a representation on them John

If you are planning to use the pot as a speed controller then I don't think it will last very long The pot is probably 5k or 10k & is unsuitable to directly power a loco Looking at the circuit the thermal overload (see drawing) looks to be open there are 3 resistors R4, R5, & R6 that seem to be missing. see drawing These resistors are in series with the transistor output & may be part of an overcurrent protection This controller looks like it uses split dc power In forward the voltage goes from 0v to (+)12V & for reverse it goes from 0v to (-)12v Do the following at your own risk You could power up the controller with the overload reset & measure voltages Brown to blue 12VAC (this could be 18V depending on your power supply) Blue to red 12v dc positive Blue to black 12v dc negative red to black 24v dc positive if you get voltage reading similar the above then the power part of your controller should be OK & you can try the following remembering Do the following at your own risk Solder a wire across R4 (or R5 or R6) reconnect the pot, make sure the overload is reset & power up 1 of 2 things may happen 1 it will work 2 More of the magic smoke will escape & it wont work John

Here's my 2 cents worth for the crankpins Hopefully the drawing will explain better than words First is a dome with a thin Hex section Second is a dome with a Hex section Third is similar to the second but the 6 flats for the Hex don't join but should provide enough flat for a spanner to grip When stationary it should look fine When moving the head of the crankpin will turn with the wheel but will it be all that noticeable? John

To me it sounds like the point motors are on for too long Solenoid motors should only be powered long enough for them to operate, maybe less than 1/2 sec I had a look in the manual. Setting CV47 to 0 looks to be what is needed for twin coil point motors One test you may like to try is connect 2 LEDs to the outputs for one of the point motors (I.E. disconnect the point motor & replace it with 2 LEDs(with resistors) or 12V lamps) Operate the point & one LED should flash, Operate the point again and the other LED should flash If the LEDs flash for more than 1/2 seconds or stay on then something needs sorting & that is something I don't think I can help you with John

As far as I know most DCC sound locos will work & make sound when running on a DC track .Hornby TTS is an exception . the throttle has to be advanced to about 5V before the DCC decoder gets enough power to activate the sound & start moving BLI (broadwaylimited models) had a sound system with diesel or steam sounds that worked in time with the speed of the loco While the loco was moving switching the forward/reverse switch would sound the bell or horn if I remember correctly switch the for/rev sw rapidly from for to rev (or Rev to For if you are going in reverse) & the bell would ring switch the for/rev sw rapidly again & the bell would stop ringing switch the for/rev sw to reverse & the horn would sound switch the For/Rev sw back to forward & the horn stops Oh have I got the horn & bell back to front. Not sure it matters but you get the idea I seem to recall BLI also made a box with function buttons on it, this box went between the DC controller & the track For best results when running DCC loco on DC the controller should have a smooth out put from 0V to 12V Resistance (Triang/Hornby H&M etc) controllers work but only just sometimes PWM controllers can scramble the CV settings in decoders Hope this helps John

Here is a slight modification to your second plan By having a terminal strip between your track bus & your local sub busses a fault will be easier to locate If you have a short then disconnect a sub bus, if the short goes away then the short is in that sub bus This needs all sub busses to be insulated from each other( a bit like DC blocks) John

Tom This drawing was originally made for DCC so the extra droppers are not necessary The z1,y1 are Insulated Rail Joiners My railroad is DCC & I use a couple of Automotive bulbs for checking that there is power on the tracks & for frog polarity With DC just turn the controller to full & you have 12V DC between the rails (don't forget to make sure there are no locos on the track) The following shows 2 lamps connected from rail a - frog & rail b - frog Point to straight LH pic & point to curved RH pic With the lamps connected as below if you change the point & the lamps change then the frog if being switched If both lamps come on at half brilliance then you have a problem with the frog wiring The point started life as a Peco Electrofrog but I needed to run a 3' gauge line through it, hence the extra frog, both frogs are electrically bonded but isolated from stock & running rails.If you look closely(in the RH pic) you may be able to see the 6 gaps surrounding the frogs John

From your description & research on Gaugemasters web site Your point should be wired something like this Links x-y & x-z are cut & links "L" installed(ignore all other letters on the drawing, they were for a different post & it was to hard to remove them) Does the relay click when you operate the point? (may need to disconnect the point motor to hear the relay) If no then the wiring to the relay needs looking at If yes then are the connections for track power & frog may be wrong I've shown the frog connected to connection 4 & the track connections on 5 & 6 Connecting the frog to 1 & the track to 2 & 3 is also OK If the frog polarity is wrong then swap track wires to the relay connections 5 & 6 John

Have you considered using switches See the following posts in Electrics(non=DCC), currently at the bottom of page 2 Test track wiring help By Monkeyhead, March 3 As for plugs Banana Plugs or 1/4" mono Jacks could be suitable John

Depending on where you place rail gaps in your points 1 Gaps beyond the frog, no extra IRJs (Insulated rail Joiner) required 2 Gaps before the frog with Stock & switch rails bonded, 1 IRJ required 3 No gaps, 1 IRJ required 4 Gaps before & After the frog with Stock & switch rails bonded. No extra IRJs required 1 & 4 Siding beyond point require a feed to the red rail 2 & 3 Siding beyond the point will have both rails the same polarity when the point is set for the main line (loco won't move until point is set to siding) My preferred option is 4 John

With your defunct controller the symptoms seem to indicate a high resistance joint in the controller Could be as simple as a dry solder joint or loose joint. Depending on your skill level you could try resoldering all solder joints in the controller If you can open the controller try measuring the voltage (load & no load) in several places (eg after the rectifier) if the voltage drops significantly then the fault is before that point If it is (as you suspect) the rectifier then replacement rectifier are cheap & fairly easy to get (could be replaced with 2 diodes) The rectifier may be made of 4 diodes, these could be replaced with any 1Amp 100V or greater diode eg 1N4004 If you decide to try to repair the controller then post a couple of pictures of the circuitry & someone here may be able to spot the fault or give some clues as to where to look John

Don't like to be the bearer of bad news but the symptoms suggest a high resistance joint in the DC circuit or a faulty DC controller If you measure the volts at the DC controller terminals & they go to zero with load then the problem is in the controlled If the volts stay constant at the DC controller & drop to zero at the track then the problem is in the wiring from the controller John

A while ago when Peco bullhead was fairly new I built an extension with about 12 points The frog wire was fed through the baseboard & left dangling. If that is what you mean as insulfrog then, So far so good John

If you mean the "parts" indicated by the arrows Then it looks like someone has done a bit of surgery on yours The bottom LH image shows Damo666's part with a bit of digital butchery, now they seem to match The next bit is a guess & could be completely wrong With the surgery the done, the "part" can be installed with the springs installed as shown Without the surgery the springs would need to be installed after the "part" is mated with the buffer beam John