NickC

Rotating points is even easier if you hold the pencil on the point and use a finger to do the rotating. The finger doesn't have to be near the point, so making it much easier to see what's going on :-)

If that is the case (which I agree it most likely is), then I'm even more surprised a development house isn't using a modern agile development process which would result in new versions every couple of week.

I must admit I'm quite surprised how slowly the various issues are being fixed in the new App. Unless they only have a single part-time developer (which would be worrying) I would expect to see a new version at least every couple of weeks, each version fixing a series of bugs and/or adding new functionality. From the correspondence I have had back after reporting bugs it would appear they are receiving a high volume of bug reports and/or improvement requests/suggestions.

Using the App, I can program on the main using 'Manual' but using 'Loco (POM)' is erratic. It sometimes sees some, but not all, of my Zimo decoders and occasionally sees some of my Lenz decoders, but never sees my TCS decoders. So yes, I guess it's another defect in the new App.

Yes budget in price, not in performance

If you think that then I’m curious to know which decoders you use or would recommend? Either you had one with very old firmware (and unlike most other decoder, Zimo firmware can be updated) or you didn’t read the documentation. Pretty much everything about the decoder is tuneable if you so desire. You just need to read and digest the documentation. It supports ABC far better than Lenz, is tuneable for coreless motors and in the latest firmware supports a new brake function.

If you are referring to the Zimo MX600R as a 'budget decoder' without tune-ability, I think you'll find you're very wrong! It's a top class decoder, runs perfectly with most locos straight out of the box and is unbelievably tune-able if you want to play around with a myriad of CVs (and the documentation is reasonable if you read through it a few times) In my opinion they beat the pants of Lenz decoders, both Standard and Silver (and I have both Zimo and Lenz decoders so I am talking from experience, not theory)

Did you need to remove the keeper plate to tweak the pickups? or can it be done without any disassembly?

Zimo MX600R fits no problem

And yes I think you can do what you want with pretty much any of their decoders. The following is taken from their decoder guide Button Control of the Motor Explanation and Usage: For certain operations (controlling a smoke unit, turntable, drawbridges, etc.) one might want to use a TCS decoder and control said functionality with nothing more than a button press. For this type of operation included in every TCS motor decoder is a feature known as “Button Control of the Motor Circuit”. This allows the motor speed to be defined in a CV and then with a simple button press the motor circuit will be powered at the voltage defined by the user. Button Control of the Motor has two forms: Automatic (direction of motor spin determined by the direction command sent to the decoder) or Manual (direction of motor spin determined by which button is pressed). Automatic Button Control of Motor: To enable Automatic button control add a value of 68 to whatever value is found in CV 61. By default CV 61 has a value of 1 so simply program a value of 69 into CV 61. Now when button 0 is pressed the motor will run at full speed in the direction identified on the handheld. To remap the button used visit the Function Remapping section of this manual. Manual Button Control of Motor: To enable Manual button control add a value of 64 to whatever value is found in CV 61. Once this is completed the de- coder will spin it’s motor in the forward direction when button 2 is enabled and in reverse when button 3 is enabled. (NOTE: Manual Button Control of Motor is hard coded and cannot be mapped to other buttons) In both cases to set the speed/voltage of the motor adjust the value of CV 133 (values ranging from 0-128 which cor- respond to the 128 speed steps).

Try http://www.coastaldcc.co.uk, they sell TCS decoders.

There do not appear to be any Zimo dealers around here, so I need to find a person or club that has a Zimo decoder programmer and is based in west Devon or east Cornwall who might be willing to let me borrow or use their programmer. Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks

I presume you just used the maintenance app to change the IP address of the Z21 and ignored all the dire warnings that are presented regarding support and then changed the IP address in the apps settings? Why they couldn’t have given the Z21 a name and then used name resolution rather than a fixed IP address I don’t know. The Z21 could then have used dhcp and connected to any network

I’ve only installed v1.0.4 on my iPad Mini 4 so far (iOS 11.2.6) and on that it works fine. I’ve not yet installed it on my iPad 2. If it is as wet tomorrow as predicted I may have time to give that a go and I’ll let you know...

I should just add that I did try Dibber25’s solution of loosening the coupling screws, this did not help. I am not and wasn’t willing to start taking a file to anything still under warranty though.

Thank you very much but I am quite happy with my track work. Attached is the document I sent with my 800 when I returned it for a refund. In both places the track is as perfectly flat as I can possibly measure! To be quite clear no other loco or rolling stock I own derails anywhere on my layout at any speed (except when I make a mistake such as sending it across an incorrectly switched point). The additional derailing on my incline is totally caused by the lack of available vertical movement in the couplings. So no I don’t think Hornby is within their rights to tell anybody to get stuffed because yes there is a manufacturing and/or design problem with the 800!

Well it appears I can't upgrade the firmware on the MX600R using the Z21 as the Maintenance app tries and then says a MX600 is not a supported decoder. I also can't upgrade the firmware on a MX622 either. In this case it is recognised (and CV144 is set to 0) but the upgrade fails with "error whilst sending 1st security byte". Z21 is running firmware v1.30 and Maintenance App is v1.12 build 1155

Well POM is now working. It's not 100% as occasionally the App says it can find a loco, often the one with a TCS chip. So all I have done so far is to remove the 'bus terminator' (or snubber') that I had at the end of my power bus. I installed the 'bus terminator' some time ago after reading that they were a good idea, however it appears that if you want to use Railcom with a Z21, perhaps they aren't!

Paul, I currently have 3 x Zimo MX600R and 1 x MX622N. Two of the MX600R have software version 37.1 and one has software version 36.5. The MX622N has software version 36.5. With the chips that have v37.1 I can program CV309 & CV349 and the braking function works great. With the chips that have software 36.5 when I try to program CV309 & CV349 they appear to program, but when I read them back they read as 0 and the Brake function does not work. Was the brake function added after software 36.5? and if so is it possible to update the software using a black Z21? and if so is it done on the programming track or on the main? thanks nick

Thanks, it will probably be a day or two before I can do it. I’ll let you know what I find out

I have checked and CV28 & CV29 are definitely correct. The Z21 is connected directly to the Bus which is connected directly to the track, i have no occupancy detector.s or the like as yet. I do have various point decoders connected to the bus so perhaps it is one of those that is not RailCom compatible and is stopping it working? I have a mixture of DCC Concepts Cobalt IP digital, DCC Concepts ADS-2SX, DCC Concepts Cobalt SS and one Hornby R8427 accessory decoder driving some uncouplers. I also have a Hex Frog juicer. I wonder if one of those is the problem?

Historically I have always done my decoder programming on my programming track using Hornby Railmaster and an eLink. Since I now have a Z21 (black), I though I'd try using it for CV programming instead. Has anybody tried using the new Z21 app's CV Programming on the main (POM) option? POM is something I've not tried before but since I've got some locos with Zimo & Lenz decoders, I thought I'd give it a try. So I made sure that each decoder had CV28=3 and the Railcom bit is set in CV29 and I've activated RailCom in the Z21 settings. I then go to the CV programming option in the App and chose Loco (POM). I then select a loco that is on my layout and has a Railcom enabled decoder installed. The app shows the correct Loco address, thinks about it for a moment and then reports "No locomotive found with this address". This occurs if I chose any of my locos with Railcom enabled decoders. Am I doing something wrong? Or am I missing a trick? Any help or suggestions appreciated

The IOS version of the new app has various bugs but it’s still usable. Allegedly there is a new version imminent but it hasn’t arrived yet. Some of the changes do take getting used to compared to the old app

Hopefully it will be soon. Given the time it’s taken there aught to be lots of new and improved features

Top tip when drawing layouts in the new App - Use a stylus. It is far easier to get accurate placement than using your finger which I found almost impossible. I hated the app until I got myself a stylus (£7.99 from Amazon), then drawing layouts became simple.