wasdavetheroad

55 minutes ago, 88D said:

Well, I spoke too soon. It was all up and running, so I decided to show my son. Didn’t work: it had become ‘unbound’ and doesn’t want to rebind. I’m using the same controller, RX 63 receiver,etc that appears on this thread, so any suggestions. 
I press the buttons in the correct order, but should zi keep them pressed whilst the binding operation is taking place?

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!

6 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I think the situation with Deltang receivers is a bit fluid. A component that's critical for the Deltang receivers most appropriate for 00 is no longer in production. Others posters here will have more up to date information.

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.

15 hours ago, TonyHM said:

I need to operate two remote points and are considering electric point motors.  I have no experience of point motors and my railway is entirely steam or battery electric.  What is CDU that many of you are talking about?  I just need a motor to move a single point from a remote location.

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

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

 

I’ve developed a set piece on the club test track, involving one loco buffing up to the rear of a moving train, banking for a while and then dropping back. Works very well on DCC, can’t picture how it would be done in Analog. 

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

3 hours ago, AndyID said:

I was heading in the RC direction. Primarily for controlling shunting locomotives while the rest of the layout does its own thing on automated DC. (At least that is the general idea )

 

But then I wondered if I could get control that was almost as good as RC by simply adding an electronic flywheel to my locomotives. I've been doing a fair bit of experimentation on that and it actually seems to work. One of the big advantages of this method is it's dirt cheap! (Possibly that is a slight exaggeration, but it really is not expensive.)

 

Anyway, there might be a "hybrid" solution here that eliminates the need for batteries in RC locomotives and replaces them with supercaps. The track would still charge the caps but there could be large track power gaps where only the caps would supply power and a bit of dirty track/poor contact would not be a problem at all.

 

This video might give you a sense of how much energy the caps are storing. When I flip the switches to off the loco is running entirely on it's own storage.

 

https://youtu.be/I13EPnmBuz8

 

 

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

6 hours ago, DavidCBroad said:

The Morley has a built in CDU with an orange light which stays on for a while even when it's unplugged.  It really, really annoys me.

Ours has clicks on both controller and Hand held.     You  can buy centre click potentiometers, I bought some to repair an On Track controller, except the click is not quite in the centre.  On Track is the same essentially as the Morley except its a single unit while Morley seem to only do twin and four units.    Bot deliver from 0 to around 15 volts.   The old H&M variable transformers have a centre off feature but only deliver about 3 volts, some are 5 volts as a minimum.

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?

2 hours ago, Ray Von said:

Thanks, which model do you use / recommend? 

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

4 hours ago, DavidCBroad said:

The old LOI  depends heavily on Magnadhesion, even then it wasn't too clever, on other than steel it was hopeless.  However if the smokebox is stuffed full of lead and the trailing wheel's draggy pickups removed the old thing should equal the prototype, I can't see one shifting more than 8 short clerestory coaches say 200 tons? I would look for a nice free running  etched brass tender chassis with wheels live to one rail which picks up current on the locos insulated side to avid dragging pickups.  Bitter experience with 14XX and Airfic Railbus chassis convinced me wheel back or similar draggy  pickups on non powered axles are a major cause of poor pulling power.   Singles did slip on starting, skilled drivers judged the amount of slipping to maximise traction lust like the class 59/66 locos electronics do.

 

The Airfix Dean power unit is pretty awful,  They had lots of grunt with all those traction tyres.  but all my Airfix tender drives jumped about like frogs on a lily pad when pulling a reasonable load and the Dean was the worst. 

I tried a K's tender drive in a Kitmaster/ Airfix/ Dapol City of Truro tender body with as much lead crammed in as possible which was noisy but smooth ok for a Dean Goods on a branch but not fast enough for a single. I got fed up and went to a K's Dean Goods loco chassis with Triang/ K's bodged motor.     

When you double head as in dissimilar mechanisms the speed differential is not linear especially when you mix ring field pancake motors and the long type. DC Feedback controllers and resistance controllers are  pretty hopeless.  Sometimes on loco starts before the other but the second then rapidly builds speed and pushes or drags the other.  You can indeed add a slow running loco in front of a lively one and reduce the pulling power of the lively one.    I have withdrawn all but one (two?) of my tender drive locos as the traction tyres make the track dirty.

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