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WIMorrison

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  1. re 'runaway' - I used to have ab ZtC511 ( as i was changing from zero-1 to dcc), and they advocated adding a separate switch to isolate the track when powering up ... I did have some of those early decoders do a 'quick spurt' as power arrived ... I assume it was not a nice clean start ( with apprppriate preamble or perhaps rising  voltage rail initially ???  Also the early Hornby decoder  could 'forget' its address following a short ... then the decoder might be 'running away' because a [loco 3] was not left at zero -speed previously ...

    Nowadays its only 'non zero speed' left from some earlier operating session that might make unwanted loco movements.  I always keep dc running enabled because it allows a9V battery to be used as a quick test of any loco (fitted or not)   ... and alliows the stock to be in analogue mode on our society's demo layout .. if other analogue members have brought theirs.

    1. WIMorrison

      WIMorrison

      As I said on the thread, neither myself or any of my modelling friends have ever seen a runaway and we all leave DC enabled - between us there must some where near 750 locos. It is also interesting that one who attends the local club said this was under discussion because the have 'rules' that DC and Railcom must be disabled on any loco using the club layout, he told me that when he asked why he was told it was because of the problems they cause . though nobody could actually state when they had ever seen a problem that was cured by switching either DC or Railcom off.

       

      It is though the #1 cure offered up by everyone when some reports with anything on their layout. 

       

      I will leave it switched on as I find it useful for simiar reasons to you, and I leave Railcom on because I use it (with zero ill effects :) )

       

      Iain

       

       

    2. Phil S

      Phil S

      Re: Railcom: As you may recall I have many Roco controllers from Maus2-Multimaus+Amplifier, MCPros and now 1 Z21 (as well Massoth, and others. My loft layout is Rocoline-with trackbed and uses a mixture of their Digital and Analogue point motors (and Veissmann's alternative - which includes Railcom feedback).  Roco have recently reintroduced Rocoline-with-trackbed, and the downloadable manual ORIGINALLY [pre-delayed-release] stated that RAILCOM must be OFF for use with the digital point motor: [ Not simply, not included, but specifically OFF - they may have mentioned overheating - I cannot recall now or locate the .pdf copy I have ]  THIS HAS NOW BEEN CHANGED - they obviously rewrote the software and made it compatible !!! - possibly explaining the months of delay 

      However - as I have many of the original, older release(s) - I am working on the assumption that I cannot use Railcom on that layout- without specific testing/replacement - but as it was designed and started with cabled Multimice then MCPro [after a ZTC511], it won't be a great restriction - it was designed for Roconet feedback bus and RFid. [ It's 3 boosters are Roco Amplifiers '764 =internally the same as the booster and no railcom cutout ]. - so, the Z21 was left, until the LANmultimaus  came out [ we use 3  + 1 cabled backup]  and is now used on our G scale  portable layouts -  having now programmed a touch-tablet for the trackplan, as that replaces the Rocomotion Displays we use  with the MCPro layouts.  I'm progressively fitting newer decoders (Lenz StdV2) to my H0 stock, and have bought 1 Digikeijs Railcom FB module, so that I can experiment with it on our H0 portable [ I must also experiment with the link between MCpro and Z21 now available ]

      [ With about 700 digital locos, and 200 points  across G 00 H0 H0m H0e H0f-via-busch decoder - previously over 100 with Zero-1, (32 at its launch} - it takes time to adapt to 'new' features .. but the first major revision was the change of 'Fwd' direction in Zero-1 just after launch! Potential loss of my 2m Micromimic display delayed a complete change to DCC until the layout was totally rebuilt ]

       

      As an aside - since you're from Alton area, just down the road - I heard yesterday from a friend working on The Watercress, that the turning back of trains at Four Marks is causing great problems during the bridge reconstruction 8-(  - sounds reminiscent of the problems when they had to change to diesels on the then-new track to Alton.

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