WIMorrison

Oops!! - I did mean CV2, silly me. If his decoder doesn't have CV6 then I guess he wont be able to adjust it 🤣

John, When I see this sort of curve I reduce CV5 and/or CV57 (but you have already reduced CV57) to shift the curve to the right and lose the bump. Ideally I like to get the top of the curve at SS 126. FYI, I had a discussion a couple of years ago with Zimo about CV57 and asked them to clarify how it actually works. I was told that it is more relative than absolute. I asked if a value of 100 meant 10v with a track voltage of 14v and it was still 10v at a track voltage of 18v and was told that I shouldn't consider it providing an exact voltage! The upshot seeming to be that your value of 90 may not be 9v, but it will certainly be less than the track voltage. I just use CV57 now on all my locos, with the lowest I have at CV57=75 on a track voltage of 17.5v (with 19v supply).

You can get them for a couple of quid on eBay - cheapest I have seen in the past few month is 99p! most seem to be around £2.50 - clearly all used, but does that matter?

You will know if it is Copydex from the smell - totally unique, and unforgettable

Hmm, that isn't quite the question that you asked earlier that Nigel and I answered which is a pity because it is a lot simpler. Assuming the top speed is acceptable currently, increase the value in CV6 to around ⅔ the difference between CV1 and CV5, then play about with it up and down to get the speed of them to match where you want them to match.

Paul, I am not a member of the Alton club, but I will be helping another exhibitor on Sunday (the one who helped me at Warley 😂) - I will look you up when I am there. To match speeds for locos at a given throttle isn't easy, but it can be done with a tape measure, a stop watch and changing of CVs. specifically CV67 to CV94 - and I would recommend using something like DecoderPro from JMRI to do the speed setting. You will need to measure the speed of the two locos over a set distance using the tape measure and the stop watch, and adjust the CVs to make the 0-6-0 match the speed of the 2-8-2 at 38% throttle. Unfortunately this lies between CV77 and CV78 (speed step 11/12)- you can make your choice which one you make it match at. I have checked the 2 x CVs that you need to play with in DecoderPro in this picture, you will also need to adjust the left and right to provide a gradual speed increase that matches the required CVs and is acceptable elsewhere. If you do not have a PC available that can be attached then you will need to do it manually, either on the programming track or be using Ops Mode (Digitrax speak) to do whilst the loco is running on the track - but setting 28cvs this way will be a right pain in the butt. I suggest that you find someone with a Digitrax interface and a laptop, ideally who understands JMRI who can do it for you. Unfortunately the easier way to do this using a program like iTrain or TrainController isn't available on your layout and you cant do it on another layout as the track voltages would be different , the tape measure and stopwatch will be the only suitable method. If someone can think of a better way, please post it - this is the only way that I can suggest.

This is dependent on what devices are being used for powering the power districts. If it is a simple cut-out device, such as the MERG DCO, then your statement would be true, however these would not generally be used when adding additional power to the layout. They are often used to simplify fault finding. When using a booster to provide the additional power you need to consider the configuration of the booster. Many come with a default configuration which sends out a global off message when there is a short within the area being supplied by the booster. This setting will need to be changed not to forward these events to the command station, or other boosters, to have only the single booster cut the track power.

There is a drawback to this type of design as it is possible to have two trains in the auto-reversing section and that might cause an issue when trying to drive in/out if there is a train already in the loop. You also need to ensure that the auto-reverser is able to handle the current drawn by two trains (most will, but cheaper end of the market may not)

I suggest that you need to place it here where you see the red mark across the track and the green marks the reversing loop. Given the length of your sidings this will be able to handle the trains that you plan to store in them.

The 101 and 102 are (hopefully) the IP address of the phone and the tablet - as long as the Z21 IP address in the app is the same.

I assume that the phone is using the same settings, if not then you need to use the same address as shown in the phone. if the phones is the same then I would suggest deleting the app, restarting the iPad and then reinstalling the app. You may also want to consider resetting the router back to defaults, I am only guessing though as I have never seen or heard of an issue like this before.

Check you have the correct address for the Z21 in the app - it should be 192.168.0.111

LoDi KSM is also an excellent choice

reconnect he iPad to the router (I assume it is the router supplied with the Z21)

I was having issues with a DR5013 whereby it would throw intermittent faults like you suggest and I cured it initially by stopping the DR5013 forwarding the short event over Loconet to by Z21 thereby preventing the Z21 dropping out due to this message. I then suffered a different issue whereby some locos would run a slow speed whilst in the feedback controlled by the DR5013 and other then undertaking some surgery on the board there was no cure therefore I got rid of it - glad that I did as the LS5410 replacement has been much more reliable :)

Absolutely agree, but at least with me you get what you see - I don't make posts and then hide them 😉

Want to send me one? happy to PM you my address 😂

If you had read the manual for your Train-O-Matic and Zimo decoders then this story wouldn't even have needed to have been started 😂 However at least you now know that stay-alives are not required, and that they merely hide more fundamental underlying problems.

@jpendle I use old laptop power supplies that I have lying around from what seems like a lifetime of using them. They range from 16v to 23v and 2.8A to 3.6A - strange values but there you go. I just cut the ends of wire and use a screw connection barrel. They work a treat for all sorts of things 😊

Why do they make cars that are capable of 130mph yet the speed limit is only 70mph? Answer - because they can sell them to people who are led to believe that it is 'good' and they should have all this reserve available just in case they need it. Why do they make televisions that can handle hundreds of channels? Answer - because they can and it doesn't cost anymore to make one that handles 200 channels compered to one that only displays 5 channels. People, many of them on this forum and including Nigel, have been building model railway for more years than DCC or stay-alives have been around and we all managed to run our DC layouts without them and didn't suffer from the issues that stay-alives are meant to 'cure'. The reason we didn't suffer or see the need for them was because we fixed the track issues that caused the stuttering or stalling. We knew how to make the roadbed, we knew how to lay the track, we knew how to level the track and hence even the lowly Hornby 0-6-0 that I started with didn't stutter or stall on turnouts, slips, or crossings - and it still doesn't, even now it is running on DCC, with much more modern track. Stay-alives mask the issues of poor trackwork, nothing more, nothing less and they are available with these extremely large capacities because some locos will drain this in a few seconds, but because they have a large capacity doesn't mean you need to let it run for an excessively long time, the same as you don't have to drive the car at 130mph or try to watch all 200 channels. They make them because it is cheaper to make one that will support the worst case scenario rather than make different sizes, they make them because they know that people do not try to resolve poor trackwork, they simply use technology to cure very simple faults. For the record, I NEVER use stay-alives and have corrected the trackwork issues that stuttering or stalling indicates when you would have, presumably, relied on a stay-alive rather than sort the track.

5.1. Can I set the output voltage on the track? The output voltage can be set on the black Z21 between 12 and 24 V. However, the actual track voltage can only be a maximum of 1 V below the input voltage. E.g. input voltage 20 V, set 18 V = track voltage 18 V E.g. input voltage 20 V, set 24 V = track voltage 19 V E.g. input voltage 20 V, set 12 V = track voltage 12 V On the white z21, however, the output voltage cannot be adjusted and is around 1 V below the input voltage. Please note that it is not possible to use a standard multimeter to measure the output voltage reliably. This applies both to the DCC signal and more specifically to the asymmetrical Motorola signal. Taken from - Questions & answers - FAQs & Support - Roco z21

Remember the insulated gaps on the turnouts to make occupancy work correctly - a lot of people forget those, especially as they are not just needed on the frog rails, they are often needed on both rails (dependant upon which rail is being used for sensing and handedness of turnout) 😊

Make sure that you use 16/02 wire for the track feeds and 1m will not cause issues. Long runs using 7/02 (or smaller wire as some people use!) cause issues. My longest run is just over 4m, but I am using less sensitive feedback decoders and fortunately the YD6016 is much less susceptible to stray currents than the DR4088CS. To reduce complexity of wiring I take the feed for the SPDT switches from the rails on the turnout using 7/02 to the switch and 7/02 back to the frog, same effective result but saves breaking the track feed and means I get away with one common wire rather at 16/02 than lots and lots 😁

Why on earth would you want a loco to run uncontrolled for 25 secs? Even the 4 secs maximum of Train-o-matic is excessive and could in a huge amount of damage.

As I said, look at CV153 in Zimo always the gold standard for decoder functionality