NIK

Nasa announce a robot based on a snake and called SID (Snake Inspired Device).

No news yet on whether it will be hissing and travel with a batty bat.

The Tupperware company is to close, saying the parties over.

On 20/03/2023 at 18:33, mikesndbs said:

Hi guys

 

Just received my 73 126, one of the locos I actually worked on so I was well pleased to get it.

Couple of issues.

Motor is drawing around 300mA still to run in of course.

No manual supplied so I can check things and fit detail parts.

 

No buffing bar? EH? nope, is that a spare part to fit?

 

Light are good if only they could arrange a moving roller blind lol

Hi,

I got 450ma @12V DC with one Ist batch Dapol OO 74 and 600ma @12V DC with another.

I think my Dapol Class 121 DMU was similar.

A long way from the Bachmann LMS Crab with 140ma @12V DC (the lowest current consumption loco @ 12V I've measured so far).

All tests on Gaugemaster  LT rolling road. Higher currents when switching directly from 0V to 12V.

I think all my Ist batch Dapol O 73s had wiring faults (and Lime Green 'yellow' warning ends).

Regards

Nick

Hi,

StaRFIshRail has a number of interfaces including Ethernet which I've used briefly with JMRI.

I've used StaRFIshRail with MERG CBUS via a MERG CANUSB4.

The tags are 6 x 9mm and the vertical range with the smaller of the two aerials they sell is 30mm.

Top speed is 125mph in O.

StaRFIshRail is said to have MQTT but I haven't tried that yet.

Regards

Nik

Hi,

You may need to check that your DCC command station will allow the computer software to override operators cabs. Otherwise train protection can be instantly overridden when the operator tries to raise the speed again.

Regards

Nick

Hi,

StaRFIshRail RFID should be reliable enough and works with JMRI.

Regards

Nick

'Astronaut food is to be found in aisle 10, 9, 8 , 7 ......'

Hi,

Hornby have only done the launch of HM7000, so just as there are only a few TT:120 locos announced at launch there are only a few HM7000 options at launch plus the decoders are designed to work without a DCC command station.

If Hornby stop supplying TTS decoders in the future that is unhelpful, as it would be if the stop supplying them now.

Regards

Nik

Hi,

Possibly 6.5mm birch ply top with 5mm standard ply >=6" deep uprights and 2*6.5mm vertical track ends. Uprights at least every 12 inches in X and Y.

The club layout I help with uses these and 12 years on and no sign of warping.

There is variation in the level of the baseboard tops but that is due to the accuracy the uprights were originally cut to with a jig saw.

Beggarwood Lane = a Basingstoke club OO finescale layout.

A four foot by 3 foot board could be lifted with one finger (prior to adding track, wiring and scenery).

The layout is stored in a hut that varies from sub dew point to high summer SE UK temperatures.

I don't think laser cut baseboards will improve things unless they improve the precision that wood joints align to. Laser cut baseboards tend to use MDF whose long term properties in variable humidity conditions are yet to be determined.

Regards

Nik

8 minutes ago, RFS said:

I may be wrong but I think the DCC80 is relay-based whereas the Tam Valley unit is electronic? This would then explain the sluggishness of the DCC80.

Hi,

Yes the DCC80 is relay based and I think the Tam Valley unit is electronic.

If a DCC command station has a fast current trip (such as the Bachmann Dynamis) it may trip before the frog juicer. If a loco hesitates over a frog switched by a DCC80 then either the relay is in the process of switching or it hasn't switched and the voltage on the track has collapsed due to an excess current being drawn.

Regards

Nik

Hi,

Hornby are a commercial company. They have had financial difficulties in the past, one of which resulted in 50% of the model range being removed from the catalogue.

If they think they can do better for themselves by not publishing their Bluetooth feature's protocol then that is up to them.

Maybe as Bluetooth is RF and thus can be intercepted forces them to reduce the risk of loco or layout hijacking then things get more complicated.

I've had a large club layout hijacked by a club member after we added a Wifi control option and I didn't find it pleasant.

Regards

Nik

Alfred the Great wouldn't have been so great on Bake Off.

He even got a soggy bottom hiding out in Somerset.

Alfred the Great hated the Vikings so much he used to say 'I'm so hungry I could eat a Norse'.

4 minutes ago, Pmorgancym said:

Would a recall be that hard?  Hornby has the email address of every user.  No different than when my Samsung Note got recalled.

Hi,

How so?. Hattons are also selling the decoders and by phone or shop orders and users don't have to send Hornby their E-mail address to use the decoders on DCC (which they have to use on DCC at the moment if they are Android users).

Regards

Nik

After a fallen tree adds an extra hazard to the 17th fairway at the US Masters players offer to remove it and Tiger Woods made the cut.

Hi,

I did notice when I looked at the waveform from my Gaugemaster LT Rolling road that it appeared to be AC full wave rectified to DC and then a resistive divider driving the base of a darlington pair.

If so there is the potential for spikes from the mains side of the transformer to reach the controller output albeit reduced by ~ 19V/240V (the 'sinusoidal' 100hz part of the waveform was up to 19V) .

When I looked at the output from a 240v to 12V transformer there were a lot of spikes.

I'm not saying this is definitely the cause of HM7000 decoders failing with Gaugemaster controllers.

Regards

Nik

On 15/02/2023 at 22:45, Chris116 said:

The normal view is that to make a small fortune owning a working steam engine you needed to start with a large fortune. 

Hi,

An air industry quip is 'how do you make a small fortune in the air business? - start with a large fortune and buy an airline'.

Regards

Nik

A couple boarded an Australian train carrying a Platypus.

They ordered a vegemite sandwich from the buffet and the chef put it on the bill.

After Nicola Sturgeon announces she is going to learn to drive police arrest her husband before she can act as getaway driver.

Some say the Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeares plays even though he died too early - must have been just will power.

After meeting Shakespeare a fan wrote some doggerel - he went from bard to verse.

Shakespeare went into a pub but was thrown out - he was Bard.

12 hours ago, WIMorrison said:

 

It is highly unlikely that iTrain will ever support communication and control direct to decoders using Bluetooth because automation needs stable and reliable comms that will work for every command, every time. When you are controlling manually using an app, if a command isn't received by the loco you would see that the it hasn't been acted upon and simply send it again. This doesn't happen with automation and iTrain will operate these decoders using DCC.

 

I suspect that other programs will have a similar view on the use of this system via bluetooth.

Hi,

Whose to say HM7000 Bluetooth won't have as reliable comms as DCC. Commands can be sent a number of times, as I understand they are with DCC.

Also Bluetooth being bi directional there is the possibility of checking messages have been received and resending them (at a faster data rate than DCC).

Regards

Nick

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I wonder if anyone has modelled a Neolithic stone circle on a layout?

Hi,

Santa's global vacation? - originally built by the Basingstoke and North Hants Model Railway Society for Channel 5's Great Model Railway Challenge.

Didn't have any small folks dancing round it or a rock band playing with the amps turned up to 11.

After the news that Shaun the Sheep went around the moon and back to earth on Nasa's return to the moon test flight Shaun was asked if he had been nervous and he just pointed to a little pile of black plasticine poo.