wasdavetheroad

Almost all my experience is with Deltang equipment and basically the receivers have a number of 'P' pads to which can control various devices including LED's. They work on 3V so the LED resistor has a different value than DCC. There are default automatic forward/reverse plus you can use a switch on the transmitter to switch up to 4 LED's in any combination, this requires programming. I set up a bench test with front and rear white and red LED's each end. A single 3 way switch means you can have them on/off in any combination including all on!. I should have videoed it. They can stay alive as long as the receiver is getting power.

David T said that is why he changed the LED colour Apparently you can also set up another LED to mimic the on board one, any colour you want anywhere you want

44 x 19 x 9.5mm and for DCC compatible ones 52 x21 x 19mm. Separate ESC (electronic speed control) needed? 44 x 22 x 11mm. I think for 0 scale or larger.

That battery/loco test you ran suggests the loco was drawing about 80mA per hour, pretty efficient. You could try another test with say a 100mAh battery and the loco pulling its normal load at service speed. I found that with a up to 3 hour operating session and about 12 to 15 locos the locos were only actually moving for about 15 to 20 minutes on average. the rest of the time they are sitting 'idling' and drawing about 12-15 mA. This suggests with a 100mAh battery your loco could move for 30 minutes and sit idle for 2.5 hours. I prefer charging the batteries outside the loco and use 'UM' types of various capacities. Interesting to see the removeable smoke box door, how did you do it? Also is there room to fit the decoder etc in the side tanks?

Nice little video

I run mixed rakes of Hornby and Bachmann coaches and have removed the weights from the Bachmann ones bringing their weight down to similar to the Hornby's. Can't see the point of having the rolling stock being heavier than it needs to be. A 4 wheel wagon at about 40g and a coach at about 120-130g works for me.

I built my baseboards out of 3 layers of 50mm blue foam. Overkill but I bought a lot of it. I used a specialist spray on adhesive but discovered that you can use screws as well. NOT self tapping. I use long brass ones and they hold surprisingly well. If you add some Copydex to the thread before screwing in you have the proverbial …. to the blanket. Try to get that out without destroying the foam, no way.

Easy! - start with point - remove ballast shoulder from inside of small curve and connect to diverging track on point - connect short straight to point with the 'wedge' fitting into the gap in the small curve ballast shoulder - connect large curve to small curve - connect long straight to 'wedge' straight Job done Remember to keep the small curve ballast shoulder

If you can't get a replacement tyre try building up a new one with multiple applications of bullfrog snot, essentially filling in the grove

I found bullfrog snot was good as a final coating even on traction tyres in good condition. By slowly building up layers you can even replace a missing traction tyre in grooved wheels.

did Gunpowder vans ever carry other goods or were some repurposed for other roles not involving stuff that could go bang!

An alternative is to make up your own 2S battery from 2 small single cells and charge them separately but you would need to be able to remove them from the loco. Another idea is to make up your own larger single cell with smaller cells connected in parallel. This acts as if it is a 1S battery and the individual cells automatically balance themselves. How many mA the loco uses in normal service is important. My rule of thumb is if the loco pulling its normal train at normal speed draws less than 250 - 300 mAh then a Pololu booster will do the job with a 1S battery. How do you find the loco power requirements? I am lucky in having a continuous circuit so I charge the battery, couple up the wagons etc and mark the throttle position for normal running. Then charge the battery again and let it run until the Rx LVC stops the train. note how long this took. for example if you have a 250mAh battery and the loco/train runs for an hour the loco is drawing about 250mA. as a refinement my operating sessions last up to 3 hours. I give the loco 30 minutes of moving which needs 125mAh in the above example. My Rx/Pololu combination needs about 20mA when idling so add 2.5 hours of this giving 50mAh for a total battery size of 175mAh. Actually my locos usually only run for 10-20 minutes.

There you go, all sorted, well almost. A 1S battery will only deliver a maximum of 4.2V to your 12 volt motor. Sometimes this is useful such as in shunting locos where you don't want to go faster than about 15mph. Two ways of getting more volts to the motor: Use a 2S battery wired in series that will give you a max of 8.4V, actually you can use a 3S as well, they will need some form of balance charging though or use a voltage booster with your 1S battery. I use the small Pololu ones to boost a 1S battery to 9V, 5V and 12V are also available. You get about 85% efficiency in the voltage conversion but this depends on how many milliamps the loco needs

Brilliant stuff is Unitrack, I used to have an extensive layout but the trains were getting too small for my aging hands and eyes. If I was wealthy I would consider the HO scale version with code 83 rail.

If you have the money try and get permission to replace the door either with one opening outwards or one of those new folding door that are half the width. Should gain you at least 6 inches in the staging yard area

Not a difference between a single and double slip is BOTH need 2 point motors but a difference is a single slip needs I peco switch and a double slip needs 2

This is getting more complicated than I understand. If I wanted multiple operators selecting locos form a 'common' pool the new BlueRail board should do that and connect to a DCC controller as well including sound. Over $90 though and not very small

Maybe the Tx22 needs recalibration. this is from the Deltang site CALIBRATION: The motor control pot (Ch1) has a 'click' at the center position. When Throttle is used 'center off' it needs to center accurately so that the 'click' on the Tx matches the 'off' position in DelTang receivers. The 12-way Selecta switch (Ch2) can also be calibrated so it associates the same value for each position as other units. Calibration is done using the Bind button while Tx22 is on. After pressing the Bind button for ~20s Ch1 is calibrated and after another 5s Ch2 is calibrated. 1. Switch Tx22 on. The led will come on. 2. Rotate the Inertia button fully anti-clockwise (left) so it has no effect on Throttle. 3. Center the Motor pot. 4. Put the 12-way Selecta switch in the 6 o'clock position (assuming position '1' is at 1 o'clock). 5. Press and hold the Bind button for ~20s until the led goes off. Ch1 should now be calibrated. 6. Release the Bind button if only Ch1 needs calibrating. Continue holding to calibrate Ch2. 7. The led will come on for 3s then the led will go off again. Ch2 should now be calibrated. 8. Release the Bind button. The led will come back on.

A Rx63 yes? It normally comes with the direction control set to 'centre off' Your Tx22 throttle knob has an 'indent' at the 12 o'clock position. Turn the knob to the left and the loco goes in reverse. Turn it to the right and it goes forwards. The other direction change method is setting the Rx to 'low off', with this setting the loco is 'off' when the throttle knob is turned all the way left and the throttle is at 100% when the knob is turned all the way right. You can simply change this setting by using 'paperclip change'. this from the Deltang site 1. Connect P2 and P3 together. 2. Switch the receiver on. 3. Remove the connection. The led on the receiver will come on solid and flicker: * once a second for 'center off' motor control. * twice in 1.5s for 'low off' motor control. This feature is available from v610-11. Or you might have accidently done this, again from the Deltang site Another way of reversing the motor direction is to place the throttle at max before the Rx is switched on. The motor's direction will toggle each time you do this. Both techniques have the same result. Changing the motor direction with this approach also affects the Directional Light feature. good luck!

The aerial should be of the correct length and basically straight or gently curved. You did switch the Tx on whilst holding down the bind button? Try switching off anything nearby that might interfere like modern light bulbs etc Try binding with the Rx further away. I found in some cases the Tx and Rx had to be at least 6 feet apart If the bind is successful the Rx LED will be on continuously. Is the Rx set up for Selecta use?

Reminds me somewhat of the Dapol N gauge Voyager couplings

Knocking the aerial of a Rx is one of the things I have done several times. I always sent them back for re attachment and at least the newer aerials have thicker wire.

Or use Bullfrog Snot, make your own traction tyres and they are almost invisible.

Ah!, it is tender drive? How many axles are driven, is it the front and rear ones? If so it may be a problem with the drive train to that axle, Have you checked the gears.

Just a thought. If the tender chassis is twisted the pickup axles will not be parallel to the track. Maybe the weight of the tender is concentrated over the front axle so you are only getting 3 wheel contact with the track. Place on a piece of glass to check?