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Hi, I have a ESU V5 fitted to my Class 55 Deltic and use: Stops on ABC at 2.1m. Regards Andrew

Dear All, I have quite a few locos fitted with Lenz Standard+ V2 chips and I'd like to operate de/uncoupling for Kadee couplings. The idea being passenger train arrives in station, press a button on the LH100 / LH01 controller, and the train moves forwards a fraction over the magnet embedded in the track, and reverses back over the magnets to decouple the train. The coaches are back where they arrived in the station. Then I can swap the locos.... So how do I do that! I have seen in the Standard+ V2 manuals there are CVs 145,146... that configure the decoupling. I am not familiar enough to know how to assign the operation and to which button on the controller? Any help much appreciated. Regards Andrew

Well having worked 30 years developing computer software, I personally, like to keep computer displays away from my model railway! I find the touch pencil fast and intuitive and not restricted to the size of an iPad or whatever. I dont want to drag and drop trains to operate them... Also the cost of DCC tortoise turnouts is a major factor on a medium sized railway. My stud pencil can also throw multiple turnouts, which I am sure you can do in software, but is more tricky with the DCC hardware controllers. I am looking to move to servo operated points, mimic board and lit turnout LEDSs, so Megapoints controllers is a good fit as well but also quite expensive. Both Megapoints and Lenz dont support the pencil - which is a shame. I am also looking at ARCOMORA for the accessory decoder side but have not yet found a hardware mimic board that would work for DCC.... Regards Andrew

This looks like a nice option for controlling the points as well as display. Can you wire it so that a touch pencil is used rather than push buttons on the mimic panel. i.e. does the lw150 use a common wire on the buttons and will the momentary touch trigger the device in the same way as a push button? Does the system switch different turnouts if you press the push buttons at the same time? This would enable me to touch "routes" that set multiple turnouts wired via diodes. I am considering re-wiring my current layout that uses Lenz DCC for the loco control, but currently a solenoid setup for the points (60 turnouts), I like the touch pencil control rather than typing in point numbers on the LH100; (which has stopped me from moving the points to DCC so far). I'd like to add the display of turnout positions as well, and of course do away with bundles of CAT 5 cables that go to the points. Regards, Andrew

Hi, I have pretty much an identical setup, I wish I had more than the 6 hidden sidings that I have. I use ABC braking to stop and hold a train in a siding, driven by a switch on the mimic board, it applies ABC to the last 2.1m of the siding. The zimos should also support ABC braking but I use Lenz decoders. The nice thing is that once a train has stopped gently in the hidden siding, simply releasing the ABC braking will restart the train and you dont need to know what DCC address the train has in the siding. Points are controlled separately using solenoids. To light the occupancy light on the mimic board I used infra red detectors (IRDOT-Ps) from Heathcote Electronics, one for each siding. The roof of the hidden area needs to be painted matte-black above the detector. They light the corresponding light on the mimic panel and also switch the main siding entry point back to the mainline. The detectors are placed towards the end of the sidings allowing the train to enter almost fully first. The auto-point switching is so that the next train does not accidentally run up the back of the previous one directed to the sidings, something that tends to happen if you allocate a train to the siding so that it stops by itself, it is easy to forget that the points are now directed to the siding. Hope that helps Regards Andrew

I use Heathocote's IRDOT-P's to detect a train, light a light on the control panel and also switch the siding entry point to be back-on-the mainline, preventing the next train running up the back of the parked one. I also use ABC braking to stop the train independently of the detection circuit. Andrew

I have ABC braking working on my layout, for station and hidden sidings... I prefer to use the Lenz standard + V2 decoders but I also have a Loksound V5 fitted to a diesel (Bachmann LMS 10000). I used the diode sets from Megapoints controllers on the right rail (using the right hand rail is a quasi standard), but I doubt the diodes are your problem. I had to adjust the sensitivity in CV 134 to make it more sensitive on the Loksound V5 so try playing with this value (CV 134 is 12 on my loco) Else I suggest you buy a Lenz decoder to ensure it all works, and isolate the problem to either the track or the decoders. I also resolved your next problem - lights on coaches that short the rails as the train slows down. I ensured that the right wheelset of each coach was only supplying power to the lighting through a single wheel. I only needed to modify the rear half of the train in this way (4 of 7 coaches). Regards Andrew

Hi, I have built 25 different Scalescenes kits, some of them several times, I am a great fan of the flexibility and detail that is on offer. Particularly, as I am in Australia where the download and print works brilliantly for me - I use a cost effective printer!, 125gm paper and I spray the finished building with artists fixative spray - it keeps the cockroaches from eating the paper (I have had to ref-ace various things before). Recently I have been building a canal where I now have 5 boats and 3 locks, some empty and some full, two are in a staircase, I have managed to scratch build and adapt the lock kit and boats to create something I like but I think the lock / boat kit could be improved a bit by: . Separating the boats and lock into two separate kits . Making the lock kit cater for both double and single locks . Allowing for both full and empty locks (empty have higher sides running the whole length of the lock . Having gate paddles on the top and bottom gates rather than just ground paddles ( I used the brown brick from the scratch build yard as empty lock sides) Otherwise, I think the Scalescene kits are great, today I re-faced a Metcalf Settle and Carlisle station building with random ashlar to make it look much nicer... Regards Andrew

Hi I have used RailModeller Pro on my Mac for several years to design my double garage sized layout. It contains all the turnouts and allows free radius flexi-track to be drawn as well. I find it really good and worth the small outlay. I also drew the dilic board for the solenoid points using it,... https://apps.apple.com/au/app/railmodeller-pro/id952380304?mt=12 There is a light version so you can try it out - see the App store on the Mac

Hi, I just used two DCC80s, as there are three frogs but two are wired together as far as I remember. Regards Andrew

I have two of these code 75 points wired with DCC80s and they work fine for all turnouts. You need to have insulating joiners on the inside 4 rails You need to cut the linkages under the point, like on a two way point. The wiring diagram is simply power to each frog, doesn't matter which DCC80 powers which frog. Use a meter to test that the frogs are not getting power from the rails when no DCC80 is connect. Regards Andrew

Hi Nigel, Many Thanks for the pointers and very detailed response, (I should have read the manual more carefully), I will change the way the switch is wired, as I want permanent "slow approach", I have used the 16V AC track power to indicate the switching inputs. What I learnt was that it is essential to have both outputs 3 and 4 wired to track sections, so I broke the lead in to the points from the points themselves and all worked fine. Regards, and thanks again Andrew

Hi, I have a Lens LH100 and use Lenz Standard+ V2 decoders. I use ABC braking to stop trains in the stations and on hidden sidings, this works very nicely, but I recently purchased a Lenz BM2 module to use the slow approach output on the entry to all the sidings, the idea being that the BM2 powers the entry way and all five points for the sidings so that trains drive slower over these points when decelerating from express speeds! But I can't get it to work. I connected the BM2 resister as suggested and left the other switch terminals empty - so the slow approach and braking should be permanently on. In the decoders I have set: CV29 to 34, CV51 to 3, CV52 to 70 and CV53 to 20 (this should be pretty slow!) . If I connect BM2 output 4 (the ABC braking one) to the track the locos slow to a stop over the approach, not in the siding - so the track is wired correctly and the ABC braking from the BM2 works. If I connect BM2 output 3 (the slow approach one) to the track there is no affect on the speed of the loco over the approach and the loco stops in the siding from other ABC braking modules. Have I missed something? Regards Andrew

Hi Richard, did you try deactivating the direction dependency of the ABC braking in CV 51 bit 3 (2)?

Well I suffered the same fate today, rear motor gave up. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5PCS-Miniature-12V-15000RPM-DC-motors-230-Motor-12V-N60-motor-free-shipping/32359478972.html I found these, do the experts think they will work?