NIK

Hi, I thought the RRP of £449.95 was announced a while ago. Contrast the Bachmann 4 BEP - a variant of a largely BR(SR) Eastern Division EMU to the Hornby 4 VEP which is based on a more widely used prototype but which is out of production. Also the 4 VEP model had a number of design errors, oversize flanges and an inferior motor bogie. If you want to see a 00 boat train composed of three CEPs plus an MLV there should be one running at speed on Beggarwood Lane at the Basingstoke show on the 14th/15th March (easier to park on Sunday). Regards Nick

Hi, I don't know, the links to the motor on Mitsumi's website produces a message: "404 page not found at present". There are or were some Ebay offerings that say its an 8V motor (as well as others saying 12V). Regards Nick

Hi , The motor is labelled M15N-3 which according to a post on this forum has a nominal rating of 8 Volts not 12 Volts. Regards Nick

Hi Ian, Its lucky you mentioned that. I had said to some of the Beggarwood team that at a later date I'd like to add a Wurlitzer with the organists arms controlled by servos and following the music. Now I've got a milling machine it should be easier to make the vertical mechanism. Looks like I've got 30mm left between the front row of seats and the former stage where the screen is to be located. I may take out a row of seats to make more room. Luckily there are no baseboard supports nearby. Just have to make a model Reg Dixon or Carlo Curley. Regards Nick

Hi, Its less than five weeks until Beggarwood Lane goes to our club's exhibition on the 14th & 15th March 2020. Rob's looking for some brown poster paint to cover over what bare cork is left. The scenic board with the least scenery on it is the right hand most board and the biggest building to go near the front is the back half of a cinema (formerly a small theatre). The cinema (photo attached) is being assembled with a ply core. Its 3.5 to 4 stories high to block as much of the hole in the backscene where the tracks pass through. The cinema has to be wide enough for the 7 inch HDMI video monitor to fit inside. The Raspberry Pi that also will do the station sound effects plays a silent movie on a continuous loop. The sloped board at the front is where the rows of seats start. The Wifi link to Beggarwood's DCC system had become increasingly unreliable but now hopefully has been fixed. Regards Nick Murphy (on behalf of the Basingstoke and North Hants Model Railway Society - still looking for members)

Hi, There is tremendous variation in grip between different locos. My Heljan OO Class 128 single car parcels unit will go up a 1 in 5 gradient (no DCC Concepts Powerbase or talcum powder or roughened rail tops). I haven't done any gradient tests on N gauge stock but it might not be entirely proportional to scale. A plastic bodied loco might not have proportionately thinner walls than its 4mm/foot equivalent so the weight of the chassis may be lower than expected from the scale. The rolling stock may not be as light as expected (to make sure it stays on the rails?). The friction of the rolling stock chassis may be a bit higher than expected. Regards Nick

Hi Simon, If you go for RFID you might want to avoid the low cost 13.56MHz NFC RC522 based reader writer modules. There are reports on the internet that most of the RC522 modules from China are now using cloned Integrated Circuits. These don't meet the RC522 datasheet and may not be suitable for model railway use. If you go for 125kHz RFID I can supply some info that should improve the reliability. Regards Nick

Hi John, Just to clarify what you mean by power has been stopped. Do you mean when the DCC system is turned off or do you mean when you turn the speed control down to zero?. The NCE locos decoders I've seen have a green PCB so I'm not sure they are NCE. Regards Nick

Hi, Well spotted re the little boxes. I thought it was worth pointing out the resistor value in case Liam has to use an alternative component. RS don't seem to stock UMH4s. Regards Nick

Hi, I hope you don't mind me saying well done on finding the part. I may have interpreted the datasheet wrong but I think the UMH4 has integral 10k base resistors: Regards Nick

Hi, I'm glad that guess worked. As to brake function its worth trying setting up a brake function as per the Soundtraxx MC1 DCC decoder series manual. The MC1 default is the brake key on F11, try values of 129 through 255 in CV 61 (the F11 brake rate). The publication date of the MC1 Manual on the Soundtraxx website is 2011 so the chances of the decoder in your loco having the brake function is uncertain, the decoder may be a predecessor of the MC1 series. Worth a try though. Regards Nick

Hi Rogerzilla, I should have written CV 66 not CV 68. If you have a JMRI compatible DCC system you could download JMRI, start Decoder Pro, put your loco on the programming track, select Soundtraxx and MC1Z102P6 and then use the Decoder Pro speed table tab to try and set up the linear speed curve and trim multipliers. Regards Nick

Hi, I've found some CV values to try based on a Soundtraxx manual. Try setting CV 25 to 2 (to try and select a straight line as a preset speed curve). Decide what top speed you want as a percentage. Divide that by 1.28 and make into a whole number (integer). Set that number into CV 68 and CV 95 (those two CVs may be the forward and reverse trim - multipliers for the speed curve/tables). Set bit 4 of CV 29 to 1 to enable speed table use. Regards Nick

Hi, I don't know much about N gauge DCC decoders but if you are lucky you may have a Bachmann 36-558. That one didn't have a CV for max voltage but did have 16 speed curves and may have had a multiplier for the speed curves. So in theory you could set a CV to select say a straight line as the speed curve and then set another CV to set the multiplier to give the top speed you want. If someone on RMWeb has the instructions for a 36-558 they could post that might be helpful. I will look to see if I can get clues elsewhere - it may be a rebadged Soundtraxx decoder so an early Soundtraxx instruction sheet that mentions speed curves (as opposed to programmable speed tables) might be helpful. Regards Nick

Hi, You haven't said how much you can afford per magnet. I use E magnets UK and they have N52 10 x 1 magnets with a 0.5kg pull (min pack size 20 magnets). In the past I've found the metal plating over the magnet seems to stop the insides from breaking. Regards Nick

Hi, That's very useful info, I will move it down my wish list. The only dead Heljan motor I've had access to was for a Class 16 and that didn't have the standard Heljan OO motor in it and I can't remember for sure if the instructions said it was straight wound. Regards Nick

Hi, Except there is full track voltage with DCC. Regards Nick

Hi, That's good. I was thinking of buying one of the standard Heljan OO motors for evaluation for a kit. Regards Nick

Hi, Sound like a good idea especially as it avoids having to find space on the tracks or scenery for a meter and it could keep your hands free for operating points, waggling connectors/wires etc. Could put a clear housing round the bulb to protect it from getting crushed in a tool box?. Regards Nick

Hi, RS do 25 Watt resistors. Regards Nick

Hi, Thanks for all that info. Is the brake button widely available on non sound decoders?. Regards Nick

Hi Nigel, I hadn't looked at Soundtraxx. It was a MC1 that Bachmann rebadged although the Bachmann website referenced the MC2 information. Regards Nick

Hi, Could you provide a list of decoders that have had a brake button over the last ten years?. Regards Nick

Hi, If there are suspect joints through the layout the resistance may increase when the current a loco takes is flowing. The interest is normally is checking for good running so testing for DCC voltage at typical loco currents is a way to do that. I think if the DCC voltage were 15V then a 10 ohm resistor would have to be 22.5 Watts rating to be on the safe side (power dissipated = R * I squared, 15 volts /10 ohms = 1.5 Amps, 1.5 squared = 2.25, 2.25 * 10 ohms = 22.5 Watts). Regards Nick

Hi, The conductive particles are presumably not the majority of the bulk and each may be surrounded by the grease unless compacted by say a model wheel pressing on a rail. Would need to do experiments to make sure it doesn't electrically bridge across deliberate rail gaps such as for live frogs, power districts, track circuits etc. The model train manufacturers don't always make things easy. I found my Hornby T9 was only picking up on two driving wheels and then only occasionally. None of the pickups on the bogie were touching the wheels and appeared to have oxidised. Regards Nick