WIMorrison

I suggest that you do some reading on the fundamental properties of electricity, then you might realise how totally incorrect and impossible your statement is.

Hmm, all you had to say was that you were wrong by suggesting you can get DC out of a transformer ...

That’s not a transformer then, plus you missed out the capacitor that normally goes with a rectifier - making the circuit even less like a transformer which can still only work with AC.

Transformers only work with AC ...

Nigel, The sniffer port will work to give the twin centre controlling art of the layout and the z21 the rest, the Loconet connection can be configured either way which is why I quoted it (both connections are described in the link ) I will let the OP work out from reading the Roco link how he wants to do it

Do you mean that the Z21 will be the master? This could be achieved by connecting the output of the twin centre to the Sniffer Bus of the Z21 or you can use the LocoNet as described by Roco in their manuals See the Roco page on this https://www.z21.eu/en/faqs-support/questions-answers

not needed - lots of ways to protect software without an internet connection, but it does make it easier - though as I said earlier the codebase needs to be able to adopt current protection algorithms.

Have a look at the DR5000 with WiFi MultMaus - extremely good value, walk about without cords holding you back, plus has all the interfaces that will support you for years to come as you extend the layout.

Keith there are many ways to make the software secure, most of which use 2 factor authentication - you have one bit, the key that is issued (which is often an encoded version of your email address, the second part is supplied either by, as you suggest, an internet connection or by phoning a number (automated or personal) where you supply a code displayed on your screen and generated by the key you have. you are then provided with an unlock key and the software is licenced. This will not be unbreakable, but you can make it almost unbreakable and certainly commercially secure enough as the compute power required to crack the code would be significantly more than the value of the product. Other tricks can be used, taking a snapshot of hardware which provides a unique machine key is one method, placing encrypted files hidden on drives, hiding codes within the BIOS - all of which will work without a dongle or internet access. Most of the industry gave up on dongles 10-20 years ago because there are more secure (and cheaper) ways to protect software now. But when you are using a 20 year old codebase it is difficult to adopt current practices. Iain

Begs the question as to what he will be like when he can legitimately refuse to sell, or charge whatever he like for UK purchases?

Your post was suggesting that people adopt illegal practices to obtain licenced software. Completely correct to remove the post.

Andy, Remember the way he treated me when I had the temerity to ask some technical questions about Traincontroller? This response is completely inline with the arrogance he displayed to me (and the people who answered my questions when he refused to). Iain

wrong way around - look at your foot in profile then you will see where heel and toe come from

You can never have too many droppers and yes, you will need IRJs on the heel of the frog for all connections - where you have small buts of track joining 2 frogs then place the IRJ at one end

@StanierBlack5 You can also use the IP Digital to switch the frog polarity and get much more reliable running over the points. IIRC it shows you how on the IP Digital documentation, if not go to the website where it definitely does have diagrams.

Nigel What you describe sounds interesting and I wonder if you have some details? How are you triggering the events and what program are you using on the Pi to achieve the results? I assume that you are amplifying the output somehow and that may be interesting to understand also - essentially a complete description of what you are doing and how you have achieved it Iain

Uninstall the software on the pc, reinstall and then correct the dr5000 to the pc. Open up the program and apply the update again. sometimes works

The first post is correct, the second post will cause a short circuit on your layout when only one point is switched and almost always when you try to switch both together as they won’t switch at exactly the same instant. stick with what you suggest originally and put insulated joiners in your red connections.

You stick the TF card into a SD carrier and then insert into your PC and just copy the music onto it. Some computers have multi card readers that will accept these small phone sized cards.

When would you want to set a loco to use 40kHz rather than the default 20kHz that multi-frequency decoders offer? I have tried changing a loco between 20 and 40 but don't see any difference in control or performance and wonder when it should be used.

use this to calculate trhe CV29 value you need and write it into CV29 CV29 Calculator

The fact that the loco jerks when you first try to read it suggests to me that you are using the bit of track as a programming track as that is indicative that the controller is sending the messages to the loco asking for the CV details. i would check that you have good connections all round, if they are all ok then it does suggest it is knackered

Yep

I guess you haven’t been looking very hard then - there are shed loads around

EBay is still more expensive than a Chinese platform such as AliExpress - much better for components (and often faster delivery)