wasdavetheroad

IIRc - switch off the transmitter, switch on the receiver. The LED will flash. Eventually it starts flashing rapidly. Then switch on the transmitter while holding down the bind button, don't release the button until the receiver LED flashes slowly. Then I switch the receiver off and on again to check the bind has worked. Unbinding sounds a tricky problem, You could try a factory reset of the receiver and try rebinding. Remind me - what is your transmitter?

I have made extensive use of both Flexitrack and Setrack on my layout with No4 radius in the fiddle yard. I even used long lengths of Setrack to form long smooth curves, at least it stays curved. I have a hankering for a manufacturer to provide larger than No4 radius curves, with a reduced track spacing of course.

I had a good think about the equivalent to two points back to back and my aged brain has severe mental block so for now I will stick with the 4 little diagrams showing the switch bar positions for each route. My points are manually controlled so I don't have the complication of electrical lever switches where 'UP' is the default safe setting.

I am about to install a double slip as well and have decided to draw a simple diagram with the 4 possible directions as little diagrams. Then after a few hundred point operations it will be fixed in my mind, most of the time!

David T at Deltang has posted that additional supplies of the critical component which is the radio chip have been found, sufficient to maintain production until the end of this year. The component problem is with the Rx 6x series of receivers, the ones used for 12V motors plus the Rx47. The rest of the Rx 4x series, up to 6V and 800mA motors does not use the critical radio component. I understand that other manufacturers may be developing replacement receivers, made easier by Deltang using standard model radio control transmission protocols.

I would guess that you have a garden railway or similar and by remote you mean a considerable number of feet away. One solution would be to use a servo as the point motor with radio receiver and detachable battery, preferably in a water proof box. Then use a simple radio transmitter to switch the point. Micron Radio Control have a range of suitable equipment and I find they are always helpful with advice http://www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk/index.html

I looked at the banking issue online some time ago and apparently the banked train has to be longer than a series of switched sections so as the lead loco moves out of a section the section is switched to the controller running the banker, better for American layouts I suppose. Another more recent idea is if you have a banking loco convert it to radio control and battery power, it can then run independently with its own throttle, even on a DC layout. You have to drive it though just like a real driver. Can be used for a double header as well, for this i imagine the front loco would be easiest to control.

Search for 'servicing a lima motor' video. There are several available. I like the one that is 26.16 minutes long

How much does RC and battery power cost? A complex question but with my experience over a few years in converting about 50 locos with commercially available equipment is adding together the Transmitter, receiver, ancillary electronics such as a voltage booster if needed, batteries, chargers etc etc would suggest allow a budget of about £50 per loco. There are some 'fixed' costs such as the battery charger(s) and the control transmitters(s) which cost less per loco as you convert more locos. This suggests for me a similar investment to going DCC with, for me, the significant advantage of no track wiring. There are a lot cheaper solutions available for those who want to adapt existing control gear etc. Visit http://www.freerails.com/view_forum.php?id=45 for extensive discussion, warning there is a lot of information buried there

BlueRail Trains first board had essentially what you describe. The receiver seamlessly switched between track power and battery power when the loco was moving and I bought a couple to test. It worked well but the size of the boards was too large for my small UK locomotives and I did not like the smart phone touch screen control, I much prefer knobs and switches. The latest boards are apparently smaller but I don't know how far they got with integrating auto charging through the track, apparently this is electronically doable. When this solution is finally achieved we have reached the holy grail in train control, seamless DC/DCC/battery power with auto on track recharging and controlling your loco either through the rails, DCC, or via direct radio link. I calculated that my layout would have about 2 thirds of the plain track powered and all the fiddly parts unpowered, even without auto on track charging this would essentially triple the capacity of the onboard battery.

Ah! I read somewhere that you could use a N-FET (transistor?) to switch the 5V+ input voltage of a relay. How many relays do you want to control and what voltage do you want them to switch? It seems the way to switch points with Deltang gear is to use a servo motor which the Rx can control easily. I am not familiar with how relays work but they are basically a 'safe' means of high power switching? and I presume the 5+V triggering the relay has to be continually applied or is it a toggle with a pulse of power to switch on or off? The reason I ask is if it is a toggle or you are switching a single relay you theoretically use the channel 1 MOTOR output of the Rx to switch a single relay, plenty of power there, or if it is a toggle needed a simple multi way switch could control several relays. The speed control is only a variable resistor and could be replaced with a switch or the RX can be programmed to give a minimum voltage output higher than 5V, theoretically. a simple 'blip' of the throttle would then switch the relay. I have had positive experiences with Micron Radio Control and reckon that if there is a solution to your problem they will find it as they know a lot more about this electronic trickery than me. edit - just visited the Micron site, those FET buffers look like the way to go

Interesting, what are you hoping to use the relay for? I am thinking there must be a workaround somewhere?

Check out this site for diagrams of how to wire LEDS with Deltang receivers https://rctrains.co.uk/LEDs.htm The penultimate diagram is the one that is relevant to using the Deltang Rx auto light feature with P1 and P2. Wire up one set of LEDS as described to P1 and the second set with colours reversed to P2 I have copied the diagram here but do read that site

OK, this is a Deltang RX60-22. The 'L' pad is only used to monitor battery voltage when used with a voltage booster. The 'L' pad does nothing else. The 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 pads provide up to 3.3V to power LEDS, control servos etc etc, for LEDS the current should be no more than 20mA. Connect the 'P' pad to the LED and the other wire on the LED to the NEG terminal? Others will know more about connecting leds but I do know that using pads 1 to 5 you can independently control red and white front and rear lights with any combination off or on. You need to program the receiver to do this. Example front on rear off - pulling a train front on rear on - running light engine both off - stabled or loco second in a double header front off rear on - pushing from rear of train red on front and rear - stabled in a loop that can be approached from both ends. All from one switch on the transmitter, I did a test rig a few years ago and just have to remember where I put the notes http://www.deltang.co.uk/rx60c.htm

I would have the thought the original controller with the central 'click' would have been calibrated during manufacture, as potentiometers have a tolerance in their resistance. Maybe recalibration is possible?

Sorry, I should have explained my controller is for radio control, the speed control is still a pot though.

The speed control knob is a potentiometer and the 12 o'clock click is called a detent, You can also get potentiometers with multiple detents so you could simulate speed control 'notches' . I prefer this to using a direction switch although both options are available.

Look for chargers designed for use with small RC planes etc which use 1S batteries, Micron Radio Control have a couple of types. Note that charging is generally recommended to be no more than 1C so a 200mAh battery would have a recommended charge rate of 200mA per hour. RC plane fliers want to charge rapidly but this stresses the battery. I remove the battery for recharging so 'recharge time' is how long it takes to replace the battery with a fresh one, usually about a minute!. My batteries have UM style connectors. http://www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk/charger.html#psu-usb-2a

Is the Class 66 bogie a direct replacement for the Class 31 or is the wheel spacing the same and the frames etc just cosmetic? I have read that is should be possible to replace the bogies on a Lima Class 50 with Class 37 bogies as this was done in real life. Of course some chassis modifications would be needed as well?

maybe a crude representation of a GWR pressed steel double bolster bogie HMRS drawing 26700?

If you use a dehumidifier make sure it is a dessicant one, they work well at low temperatures and the refrigerant ones are not efficient at low temperatures

Good point as my double heading is 2 locos of same model and a similar age from the same manufacturer. Some might consider a 10% speed difference as too much and I worried that a slower loco leading would hold back the faster loco. Not so!, as soon as you couple the 'faster' loco to the train in becomes the 'slower' loco. My point about flexible couplings is because I noticed that even when running light engine with the faster leading on my continuous circuit there where several areas on the circuit where the couplings swopped from the expected tension to compression and then back again, weird, anyway it did not matter so I did not investigate further.

Could you alter the garden wall so a pair of outward opening doors could replace the up and over door. It should be straightforward to apply plenty of insulation to the inside of the doors. Maybe even a pair of doors with different widths so no intrusion onto the pavement. Being cavity walled (insulated) brick built security will be less of a problem once the doors and windows are secured. Have the side windows narrow depth placed high on the wall with security bars? A cheaper option to underfloor heating could be a combination of fan heaters/ tubular radiators mounted high on the rear end wall. with good insulation you will be surprised how few watts you need. My insulated room uses a fan heater which at the 1Kw setting can keep the inside temperature 16C above the outside ambient level. The winter temperature is set at below 10C and I blast the temperature up to +18C using a second fan heater if needed.

If both loco and tender speeds have less than a 10% difference it should be OK as I found out by researching double heading DC locos. DCC wiki also stated the 10% difference as OK. You might want to consider a more flexible connection between tender and loco such as a modified tension lock type coupler.

I don't have any experience of refrigerant dehumidifiers but apparently they don't work well below an ambient temperature of about 20 degrees. Based on figures for 85 days last winter my dessicant version used an average of 100 watts which was enough to raise the temperature in the railway shed by 1.66 degrees above the outside temperature. It used a total of 209 Kwh which cost £37 or just over 43p per day