Graham Radish

Thats one thing that gets on my t**s with Bachmann, their colour coding of wires makes no sense and does not follow the NMRA specs whatsoever. my 37 has brown grey and black for the headlights. and without a multimeter you can blow the sound decoder instantly.

Ahh that sounds like the speaker is out of phase, you need to add a 2.2uF capacitor to the tweeter, this the makes the tweeter only deliver sounds from 8khz upwards, phase matters little then and both speakers must be 8ohm wired in parallel speaker phase matters bigtime, if you have 2 locos on the same track out of phase both of them will sound terrible. Bachmann ought to really put markings on the pcb for this I was watching some of your videos on youtube earlier mate, good collection of vids you have.

Ahh ok, around the top exhaust area it would be quite easy to drill the tiny holes with a pin vice and add a 10x8mm sugarcube firing upwards for a treble boost as ive heard the EM2 speakers roll off at about 9khz, you wouldnt see these holes as theyre recessed Am going to relabel one of the bottom switches probably the cab switch to a stayalive switch, so i can switch the capacitor off when programming the chip

Ok cool, i dont need that much power on the rails its only a 6x3ft setup

A good quality silver core cable is the best for power delivery on DCC, as the main track power on such a large layout the thicker the better really. but whatever you do avoid those scotch block connectors, theyre bloody awful.

The regular PSU that came with my DR5000 has a capacity of 3.5amps, would changing this to a 5amp supply gain me more track output or is the DR5000 itself regulated to deliver 3amps reason im asking is im in the process of putting the DR5000 on a shelf permanently with its PSU and the DR4088 block detection module. So do you need the power booster or will a higher rated PSU do it? Cheers.

Thanks fella, so saving the cv list is pointless then? it takes about an hour and 20 minutes to fully read the loksound5

I can get JMRI to read all the cv settings of my loksound5 decoder but JMRI doesn't seem to want to load them back in to the decoder or JMRI, maybe i'm doing something wrong i dont know?? i have looked through the JMRI manual it doesn't mention anything about loading your CV settings back in to the program. I have made a roster file for my class37 and as i say can save all the settings as a .CV file but the program won't load them back up? cheers.

I loaded up JMRI up earlier m8t, i tell you what just the headlight settings alone are so so good, just finished programming in all the automatic sounds, yea the loksound 3.5 chips were bit of an oddball, they needed very rare 100ohm oval drivers, the loksound5 handles 4ohms (louder), nice one on the experimentation on the sound chambers lol youre like me, a born tinkerer! i bet you could 3d print a bespoke chamber for the Bachmann models, either that or make one with some plastic sheets and poly cement. or even a delay line type of enclosure with plastic tubing. I've noticed another thing, the sound quality is very very good, crisp and bassy, think theyre 16bit 32KHz which will easily saturates my hearing, thats what 16,000hz? Im finding this chip easier to work with, when i first loaded the pdf manual though i thought to myself, jesus this is gonna take forever to learn, lol, luckily jmri has made things very easy haha

Hey i tell you what mate i dont think ill even need to change the speaker, did a bit of experimentation with the factory speaker last night, on the back of the speaker i covered all the holes with insulation tape apart from one nearest the input wires, and widened the hole on the speaker mount to let more sound through (cut out the exact shape of the speaker), doing this its now acting like a sound chamber lol, doing this simple thing makes the speaker sound so much better i cant believe it. all im going to do now is add a sugarcube as a tweeter fitted with a 2 uF capacitor This is the first time ever ever used a loksound chip, i used to be a strictly zimo guy, but damn this thing is on a whole new level, 12 function outputs, 8 random sound or logic function generators, independent speaker support, more lighting settings loads of editable functions for even diy stayalives, etc... im blown away by this chip its incredible

A 100 ohm resistor, 25v cap and a 1n20007 diode, you dont need an esu branded stayalive, but as i use traincontroller and want to have accurate running i only use a 25v 470ohm capacitor otherwise the train just keeps going when being told to stop, the capacitor only needs to be there to stop micro stutters really (1/4 second) this is enough to ensure good running

What you mean the 20KV overhead wires yea obviously, carbon handles heat very well and model trains are 15v 0.5amp not 20,000v 20amp

To each their own init, for me the negative effects outweigh the positive, all in all a waste of time. this is trying to solve a problem that doesnt exist. sorry but im taking no chances with thousands worth of locos oh i never said graphite wont work, what i DID say is its pointless and possibly can cause damage, and it WILL attract dirt more, its giving grime a nice home to live. and do these laws of physics mention possible dissimilar metals damage, crud buildup and the fact that graphite is one of the poorest materials as a low voltage conductor? I can see what people are saying but in reality its the dumbest idea ever

Yup but years ago we managed with steel track, and steel is a much lower conductor than modern peco track, but this was before DCC became mainstream, everything was DC then and no one cared about losing power to the trains. most people back then ran their trains at stupid high speeds. i mean does modern track even acquire carbon buildup? the old steel track was horrid for this simply because guess what, yet again its Carbon steel. I think silver would be the ultimate thing to use for track and provide the correct colour to the rails but prices would be steep and this hobby is expensive enough as it is especially when you have certain model shops charging 5 quid for a 2cm piece of plastic. Silver is the king of metals when it comes to high frequencies, therefore would be absolutely ideal, its for this reason silver wires are used for tweeters in loudspeakers and copper for bass, ideally good quality track feeder cable should be silver not copper, copper suffers greater power losses over distance if i remember right, in turn you need more current. No matter what type of carbon it is it all acts as a resistor to electricity and this is never a good thing with model railway track, peco have designed the track the way it is for a purpose and they spent years doing it, its rustproof has better MUCH better electrical stability than steel and is hell of a lot easier to work with, but as i say its the wrong colour! this is very noticeable in OO gauge track and upwards, on garden scale track it looks absolutely horrid. but steel track outdoors is a bad idea on a whole different level, yes real trains run on steel but obviously on a whole different scale and quality and real trains dont have a habit of cutting out when they hit dirt on the track. carbon deposits can attract dirt big time. Keeping the track clean of as many contaminants as possible is the ideal scenario adding carbon based graphite to me is bad idea, having a high possibility of reacting with the locos pickups is one thing, graphite however is an excellent heat transfer solution, i use graphite pads instead of thermal paste in my computers for years even in my new ryzen 2700x pc. all this said a good metal polish like PEEK will shine that track up a treat in turn boosting performance providing the tracks laid properly. peco designed the track to keep carbons away not add them. Theres a factory just past stoke on trent that manufactures graphite resistors, these are for precision, right down to 0.01 ohm increments for electrical distribution boards etc... where an off the shelf resistor is not good enough or have the wattage rating. Put your multimeter across a builders pencil, it will measure anywhere from 6 to 14 ohms, thats borderline semiconductor territory you may as well paint your track with superglue. Peco silvernickel is top notch for stopping corrosion as you say, 100% agree there certainly are different applications for different materials, try putting a silver kill coil in a PC that has a nickel waterblock and watch what happens, silver is a poison therefore ideal for killing bacteria, however, it will also totally destroy nickel when used with water and corrode it in a matter of weeks. Adding dissimilar metals and using a water based cleaner has a high possibility of doing damage.

This is exactly what im trying to say, the higher the resistance the more current flow needs to be to run the motor at the same speed, just like using under spec track wire, it does indeed reduce the current flow thats why you will draw more power, i already did this experiment in the late 80s, my flying scotsman without graphite used to draw 0.4 amps, with graphite on the rails it used to draw 0.58 amps, modern nickelsilver track is far superior to the old steel stuff its just the wrong colour. example: putting a 470ohm resistor on an LED vs putting a 4.7k resistor on an led, to make the led with a 4.7k resistor the same brightness as the 470ohm fitted one you need to crank up the power, this is exactly what graphite is doing, its putting a layer of resistance on the track, the path of least resistance always wins. Resistors themselves are made from carbon thats their whole point, to reduce current. electrical contact cleaners boost conductivity therefore simple logic says the loco will run much better and with less power needed, this helps the electron flow and doest hurt it. deoxit will also clean and disperse carbons as the train runs. you dont want any loose particles on the track at all, only a good electrical cleaning fluid once a week. a drop of this stuff on the pickups once a month will increase their lifespan by a very large amount as theres less friction and more conductivity. In the days of steel track carbon was the enemy, it built up very quickly and ruined pickups carbons can wear down and clog certain metals, thats how they do damage to petrol engines.

Ok i got my magnifying glass out again, the decoder is an ESU Loksound v5, i've got to say these are absolutely beautiful to work on, damn ill never go back to N gauge now, i'm in love lol, Ive done replacing the 2k resistors with 4.7kohm now the cab lighting is absolutely perfect at full brightness, the lighting circuits also have built in mini stayalive capacitors (to stop flicker 0.3secs) the pcb is laid out lovely you can pretty much get to everything without messing about, ive changed the yellow front and rear marker led resistors to 4.7k as well, now the main headlights are twice as bright which is how it should be really. right, tomorrow ill get cracking and wire up all the lights independently to use different decoder functions. this is the exact decoder: http://www.esu.eu/en/products/loksound/loksound-5-loksound-5-dcc/

Yea thanks m8t, ive just changed the cablights to warm white looks so much better, i think its just a matter of re-routing some wiring from the lights to the locos pcb, im also going to tone them down, theyre currently fitted with 2k resistors for the cabs theyre a bit too bright, the dimming functions on every decoder ive used, dcc concepts/zimo/lenz/esu all have pwm flickering issues, going to change them to 4.7k, also going to drop the front yellow lights down a notch as atm theyre overpowering the main white headlight. lovely model though i must say it weighs a ton

I think this is the correct diagram nope it isn't!

You're right The decoder does have a row of solder pads as well as the 21pin plug, but it doesnt come with a wiring schematic

Its got a loksound v4 after some investigation, the sounds are actually really nice, has various startup sequences. the only thing im going to do to it is change the cablights to their proper colours and fit an earthmover2 speaker, a piece of pvc tape over the rear cab light pcb connection in the loco will sort the problem of the rear cab light, or i might have a look inside and see if there is a couple of decoder functions spare, yea it was programmed by southwest digital in portishead bristol, i live in weston super mare so might give them a ring V4

Right ok thanks, theyre the wrong colour anyway they are yellow but supposed to be warm white

Simply because there is no other option for cheap motors, and there are such things as brushless motors that perform much better, also phosphor bronze is the best thing to use, thats why its used on loco wheels as pickups, my dremel motor uses graphite and its speed is very erratic for low voltage applications graphite on the rails will put resistance between the rail and the wheel, which in turn you will be using more power (current) to do the same job as youre adding an extra layer of material of lower conductance- graphite is used for resistors (potentiomemters) as it has got a quite high resistance, so my recommendation is not to use it, but of course its entirely up to you, the ONLY thing i ever use is deoxit d100, a very excellent electrical contact cleaner but it aint cheap, its 30 quid a can. but one can of this for model railway track will last years, not only is this stuff the best thing you can use, its also an electrical carbon remover, and btw carbon is the worst enemy on the rails and guess what graphite is? carbon build up also destroys petrol engines plain old peco track is a 10x better conductor, just keep the track clean job done. I hope one day peco will come up with better track thats a nice shiny silver colour instead of light brown, maybe some sort of copper formulation that is silver in colour.

My mrs just bought me this loco in the colas livery, its a lovely loco but the cab lights are not directional for some reason, theres a switch at the bottom though to turn both ends off, is there any CV setting i should know about to change this? also does anyone here know what type of decoder this has? I think its a loksound v4 but not 100% sure cheers.

Putting a lower conducting material between the rails and wheels can work better? please explain, if anything the ultimate material to put on your track would be a drop of De-Oxit

Graphite conducts electricity, but its a very poor conductor and will probably make things worse