ATME

Is anyone finding that these coaches derail easily on second radius curves? On investigation, they seem lightweight, with a stiff kinematic coupling preventing the bogie from rotating fully. This, combined with a (very good) fine wheel profile seems to ensure curves are an issue. I unscrewed and turned the bogies 180deg so the lugs that press on the coupling were away from the coupling and this improved things. A bit more weight would probably help as well.

Got the train down from Norwich on Thursday, stayed with my sister and her husband who live in Sodding Chipbury. Got dropped off and picked up Friday afternoon. I enjoyed the show and would go again. IMHO better layouts than Ally Pally.

11 minutes ago, Eddie the dog said:

On now !

 

Can't see them??  Aaah, registered and got a green one😀

3 hours ago, Revolution Ben said:

Hi all,

 

For those who can’t make the show we’ve reserved some for online orders from 10am today.  
 

cheers

 

Ben A. 

Did they appear online?

They must have sold out in 30 seconds or it never happened?

Will there be another run of 00 Carolines in green? They are going for stupid money on ebay. (Have done lots of track inspections in the real thing hence the interest)

11 hours ago, spamcan61 said:

I'd still reject it, the supplied PSU does not meet the command station specification "end of", and given that ESU Loksound v5 chips are specified to work to 14V minimum you're into a potential world of pain and uncertainty using lower track voltages.

Has been returned and refunded. Now on the lookout for a Z21 or ECoS.

Thanks for that, I’m often in Ipswich.

4 hours ago, matchmaker said:

Exactly the same as mine - bought new about 2 years ago.

So you are not getting the advertised track voltage either. I spoke to Gaugemaster again and the very helpful chap indicated that there have been supply issues with the power supplies but the Prodigy Advance would still work. However, I am not convinced the new generation of decoders from some manufacturers are operating to design due to the lower voltage supplied by some DCC systems, primarily in controlling built in keep-alives and speed performance (yes I know we don't all operate TGVs 😁) and I would like to know if the this is actually true and wanted the higher track voltage to rule out any loco/decoder issues? Anyhow, the retailer was happy to give a refund and I am now considering either a Z21 or an ESU ECoS. 

Yes it was new.

This is the power supply and what it says on the box…

Thanks, I might give GM another ring next week and see if I get a different answer to why I have a 13.8v power supply?

Question is related to another post in the Gaugemaster forum. If you have an Alphameter, oscilloscope or similar, what track voltage are you getting as it might be lower than you think?

thanks

Yep, just hope the retailer is not going to be out of pocket. The base station is actually labelled “input 16v” so still wondering if the GM chap thought I was talking about an “Express” unit rather than “Advance”?

I bought a new Prodigy Advance yesterday based on the specs on the GM website showing a track voltage of 15 volts. Sadly the power supply is labelled 13.8v giving a track voltage of 13.3v (Alphameter) I spoke to GM this morning and was told that the power supply is indeed the correct unit and the base station components would not permit a higher voltage. I have suggested they amend their website specs for the Prodigy Advance. 
You may be asking why the voltage is that much of an issue when I can still run stuff and the voltage is nominally NMRA compliant? Well I have been having some issues with Loksound v5 and stayalives where the suggested voltage is min14v so I thought time to upgrade from a Prodigy Express to the Prodigy Advance to checkout the voltage query and get some more amps for more locos plus other functionality. Sadly the Advance is not as advertised now. Would be interested to hear if the voltage drop is recent or not.

On 20/11/2023 at 14:31, Fair Oak Junction said:

It's such a shame Hornby have seemingly washed their hands of the T9s. Considering how many fell to the rot, you'd assume a market is still there for new ones. They don't even really need to touch the tooling, just made them out of better (and longer lasting) materials. But I'm sure they have their reasons.

Replacement motor mounts are now available again for the T9. Super service from Hornby who sent me a new set to replace my Mazak affected loco. Thanks Hornby.

Lovely looking model (Engineer's loco), but it looks like I am going to have to hardwire in a wired decoder as the direct pin Zen Blue I fitted proved to be too much of a squeeze and despite careful refitting of the body managed to sever two of the socket pins, dammit. The 48DS chip fitting was a breeze compared to the 88!

6 hours ago, Darius43 said:

As a newly retired Civil Engineer, I couldn’t resist this one.

 

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Same reason I got one! Picked up today from Great Eastern Models, Did they ever have one in Redbridge PW Depot I wonder?

I can remember redesigning the track layout in the BOC sidings when I was in the Permanent Way Design Office at Norwich. A cheap job that involved re-jigging the existing bullhead layout for a longer run round. This was about 1986ish. Also did a lot of the setting out work for the new S&C layouts from Halifax jct to East Suffolk Junction prior to  electrification. 

Anyone know how the “Foundout “ sidings got their name?

I posted here a month or so ago about having a less than stellar experience with my two Accurascale locos. As they say, this changes everything and I applaud Accurascale for their commitment to their product. The terms and conditions seem to reasonably cover what could go wrong over time. Well done.

So does this mean that all decoders should work in the range 8.5v to 22v despite being informed by Accurascale that ESU v5 decoders require a minimum of 14v?

All I can add to this topic, is that I had an issue with my AS (sound fitted) Manor’s keep alive not working. After some very quick and attentive email exchanges with AS tech support to try altering various CVs, it was agreed I should return the loco to them for inspection. Got it back a few weeks later with no difference in keep alive performance. AS tech support suggested that my DCC controller was not kicking out enough volts. Apparently ESU v5 decoders require a minimum of 14v preferably 15v. My Gaugemaster Prodigy Express shows 13.1v at the rails (DCC Concepts Alpha meter). Therefore the capacitors are not charging. Curiously though, the stay alive on my SF AS37 seems to work fine with the Prodigy Express.

I discussed this with a respected DCC systems retailer who opined that 14v minimum reason for the Manor’s keep alive not working stated by AS tech support was, er, not correct.

My knowledge on the subject is limited, so happy to be corrected.

From DCC Wiki    relating to use of multimeters, I have no idea if this is accurate or not but makes sense to me?

https://dccwiki.com/Measuring_Track_Voltage

Measuring Track Voltage

Main article: DCC Power

Why Does the Meter Read Half of the Voltage

Good Question.

The reason lies in the periodic nature of the DCC Waveform.

The voltage on the rail switches on and off, creating pulses. The On time is equal to the period the voltage is Off. For an analog DC Voltmeter, this results in only 50% of the torque needed to move the needle. For a digital meter, it will have an equal number of samples for the on and off periods, which when averaged, result in a reading of half the actual voltage.

EDIT

Just measured the power supply voltage which is 13.8v giving a measured 14v, and track voltage (its a bit warmer in the garage now) with MM on AC mode and got a reading of 6.6v which on the logic above is 13.2v (The Gaugemaster Prodigy Express2 controller has just come back from GM with a note stating all ok).

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but thought it might be useful to the OP to see someone else with a similar issue. Oh, and apologies for irritating the electronically literate.

Well there's a thing. After experiencing problems with a stayalive fitted loco, (In garage - runs ok but stayalive not working)I checked the track voltage supplied by my GM Express which was 5.5v on the multimeter AC setting. I also have had higher readings in the past. Trouble is, you will not get true track voltage using a multimeter on AC as a DCC supply is not true AC. As I understand things, the meter will only read half the wave/signal. However, as I read this out to the guy from Gaugemaster on the phone, he said send the Prodigy Express for checking back so I did last week and got it back today. An accompanying note stated all was tested as OK! Checked the voltage again and 5.5v at the terminals which I suppose is 11vAC in actuallity?

I cant see how you can get any more than 13.8v (6.9v on a mutimeter?) as the power supply is rated at 13.8v for the Express. ( the Prodigy Advance is 15v AC)

Good that Gaugemaster were happy to check it out for me but it would seem you will not get the full voltage out of the power brick when it's cold?

Perhaps someone could explain the vagaries of measuring track voltage with a multimeter?

Yes, I have a Prodigy Express2, 13.8v power supply less any voltage drop at the rails. Turning the master volume down on cv 63 seems to help but one loses the…er….total sound effect on the 37. I can cope with that in the privacy of my garage! The stay alive works on the 37 but not the manor. The manor’s cvs have been checked to agree with the Loksound manual (can’t remember them now offhand). But no effect. Anyone else got any tips for the manor cvs? Is there a cv adjustment for the time the stay alive works?( AS fitted Loksound)

Thanks all for your comments.