NIK

Hi, I think when Hornby went on from the 2 BIL to the 2 HAL they added extra weight to the motor coach and I think that improved the smoothness of the running (motor under more load ). Regards Nik

Hi, It looks like the motor is being described as 3 pole skew wound instead of 5 pole skew wound for the pre 2024 versions. Regards Nick

Hi, I've thought about the idea of a twin electrically conductive magnet pair based coupling to replace the Bachmann ones. A thing to check is can there be enough pull with two small magnets as opposed to one large one on a Hunt magnetic coupling?. The other thing is attaching wires to the magnets without going near the curie temperature of the magnets and damaging them. Perhaps small wires can be quickly soldered to the Nickel housing of the magnets so the magnets don't get too hot. I bought some small powerful magnets with wires attached many moons ago but I haven't seen them for sale since then. Regards Nick

Hi, Your photo doesn't show what the wires coming out of the decoder to the left are connected to. What are they connected to?. Normally if the decoder is connected only to the decoder tester I would not expect the polarity of the DCC input to the tester to matter. The motor running at full speed is often a symptom of the decoder being in DC compatibility mode and mistaking DCC for DC. Regards Nick

Hi, There are some stay alive circuits that charge the capacitors to a lower voltage than the typical track voltage and then step up the voltage to that the decoder requires when there is a pickup problem between track and loco. This could be done so that large capacity supercapacitors can be used which inherently have a low maximum voltage. These type of circuits tend to be more expensive. The Hornby HM7000 series power pack is probably of this type (the step up is probably done on the decoder). If loco decoders have Back EMF feedback operating and working well it is possible for low voltages at the track to be disguised until a DCC speed step is requested by the operator that is high enough that the motor cannot make the loco/train go faster as it simply isn't being supplied with enough voltage. Maybe I will make a DCC track voltage monitoring vehicle (with radio link for the voltage data to be towed behind a loco). Easier would be a power resistor connected by wires to crocodile clips clipped to the track and then a DCC voltage meter in parallel. The resistance value would be that to take the max current the power district is rated for without tripping. If the voltage is <7V then that part of the layout may be out of spec for HO. If the voltage is <13.4 Volts then locos will not be able to achieve the max speed they would do on 12V DC (pre decoder fitting). Regards Nik

Hi, The NMRA document says peak voltage decoder should operate in and withstand is 7 Volts to 27 Volts. I assume the 7 volts is to allow for voltage drop due to resistance in the wiring and rails. I assume the 27 volts is to allow for voltage spikes generated external to the command station. I have yet to find anything in DCC decoder manuals about NMRA voltage compliance. Regards Nik

Nominal Voltage limit not nominal voltage.

Hi, I think the bit about Accurascale coaches was they drew 30?ma for 20 seconds on so on DCC power up after a period with no power to the track. I guess the problem is 10 coaches makes 300ma draw and then there is the short startup current of the main capacitors of sound fitted locos and together they appear to have tripped 3 amp district cutouts on their layout (assuming all accessories and their decoders are powered from a separate supply). Many years ago for Beggarwood Lane, a 'large' OO DCC layout I did some calcs which included trains double headed by big Heljan diesels and concluded we could get away with a 5 Amp command station and three power districts with 3A district cutouts (accessories and accessory electronics powered from a separate supply). The power districts were divided not by baseboard but by track so a train was unlikely to span two districts on DCC power up. Dividing a fiddle yard power districts by baseboard or baseboard groups has some merits if the layout is very big. My calcs did not include coaches with lighting and Accurascale Mk1 coach stay alives since they were not around then. The calcs did not include the surge current of sound locos on DCC power up either. Regards Nik

Hi, If the road is to represent one built today then it will be the width of one built today divided by 76.2. Regards Nick

Hi, From the Hornby website: Regards Nik

Hi, I think the latest photos for the two units announced show the motor moved to the brake end. Or were you referring the older models?. Regards Nik

Hi RFS, It would also have been nice if Dapol had written in the instructions which Function number of the DCC connector pins connected to which light. I've found a quirk is that the loco now its got the MX634D decoder in it and its on DC and in reverse the interior cab light (No 1 end) comes on. Regards Nick

Hi, 4D-006-017 JA Class 73 OO just arrived. Seems to pick up fine at least on rolling road. Seems to run fine on DCC on RR without stay alive. Still have to work out interior cab lights under DCC (Zimo MX 634D). Seems to have proper warning yellow on ends rather than a hint of lime green. The battery box clips marked out in yellow unlike an earlier batch BR Blue JB. Only one bit has fallen off so far (a bogie damper) and that was when taking the body off. About 500ma at max DC so not a coreless motor. Regards Nik

Scientists who had announced they had cloned a monkey for research purposes now admit it was a Frenchman picked up in Hartlepool.

Hi, I ordered a Blue JA from Kernow. Its due to arrive tomorrow so will check the wiring and the pickups when it arrives. Regards Nik

Hi, Rails say they have coreless motors whereas Dapol say the OO Class 73 have the super creep motor but don't mention coreless. Regards Nick

Hi, I thought those sold out two days ago. Regards Nick

Hi, If you have the space there are 8 pin breakout boards for decoders with NEM652 connections. Regards Nik

Hi, What's a Zimo standard decoder?. Regards Nik

Hi, The initial launch was just for the loco decoders but accessory decoders are planned and the app already has a facility for accessory operation. Regards Nik

Hi, Bought a BR Blue Booster from Alton Model Centre. Ran nicely on the shop DC test track. I've run it in on my rolling road. The maximum continuous current I've measured is 440mA (on the rolling road). An idea which supplier produced this for EFE/Kernow?. Regards Nik

Hi, Before most of Beggarwood Lane was taken down for a scheduled break some more of the tracks were measured for length. This could allow planning for running a greater variety of trains at open days etc. For instance there is two feet between one of the carriage siding walkways and its point (green line on picture). So two locos could be parked there. The layout has just acquired its first SR Booster in BR Blue via Alton Model Centre. So maybe the Booster could sit in front of some old EMUs or DEMUs in the back carriage siding?. Just to end with we are fundraising to complete our first new club hut. So any donations such as via the BNHMRS website would be gratefully received. Nik (on behalf of Basingstoke and North Hants Model Railway Society - still looking for members)

Hi, A full power cycle of all devices on its own didn't fix it but unlinking the loco in the app and then relinking did fix it for a while. Then the app seemed to not offer sound control even though the settings screen showed loco had a sound decoder. Sound still works on DCC control. PS I connected a DC current meter to the DC power input to an NCE Power Cab. When the decoder was in DCC mode with Class 73 sound profile the current draw only went up a few milliamps when the sound was on and the loco at tickover on default volume. Current draw for the R7336 decoder in DCC or Bluetooth mode was indicated to be 12mA. Regards Nick

Hi, I linked and downloaded the Class 73 profile into a R7336 DCC/Bluetooth Sound decoder in a Bachmann Class 108 DMMU Power car. It seemed to run fine on Bluetooth, I then swapped it to DCC mode and it seemed to run fine. When I swapped it back to Bluetooth mode I can't seem to operate the loco. It seems I can change the loco address because when in Bluetooth mode I can change the loco address and it remains at that new value when I swap back to DCC. Any ideas?. Regards Nik

Hi, Just seen this on the Zimo Website: NOTE: Due to the continuing demand and the favorable availability of components, in addition to the MX616 and MX617 types, all MX decoders are available until further notice, contrary to what is stated in the current price list. The prices in the December 2022 price list apply to these other types. Could be out of date info. Regards Nik