peterm1

One of the best boxes out there. Quick change with no clutch. Smooth as silk.

I fitted my 0-4-0 diesel shunter with a Zimo MX648 and speaker with Lais stay alive, all in the cab. Now you'd be going for the MS500 which is smaller than the MX648. The MS500 has 4 functions which means you can have the lights working, as I have. Paul Chetters sound file from Digitrains is great and if you order it from them in the UK, they'll load the sound on for you.

I'd be getting someone with a different command station to try it out. If Accurascale can't find a problem with other makes of controller, it must point to that. At least give it a try would be my suggestion.

I always use the supplied Cap' and ground tabs if they're there. I don't know why you wouldn't.

This reply is a long time coming, so you might have sorted it out by now, but a wired connection between cars is quite OK if you make sure to get the wires connected properly with no short circuits.

I've used the common positive to operate a light and a stay alive and haven't had a problem.

Thanks Paul, I changed CV111 from 1 to 0 and it now works. I just assumed that 0 would be maximum. That'll teach me not to assume.

That's looking really good. Looking forward to more photos and the extension.

Not over here. If I mention Zimo decoders, most people don't know what I'm talking about. 🙂

Hi Paul, Thanks for the reply. I have CV111 set to 1 which works on other MS decoders. I'll jury rig it and try a '0' in CV111. I can't do any updating at the moment, until I get the MXULFA back from Zimo.

Thanks for the replies. I've had a few problems, lately. 🙂 When I get my MXULFA back, I'll check the decoder firmware and update it if needed. I updated the MXULFA just before the USB socket came off, but I know that it'd come back with the latest firmware. Just a matter of waiting now.

Yes, I have other MS decoders that do stop dead if I press the large button. I've trawled through the manual but couldn't find anything relating to this.

Our posts must have crossed. I corrected my typo which should have read "I pressed the large button ON my LH101'. So it's definitely a LZV200 and LH101. Sorry to both of you. I'm stood in the corner with my dunces hat on.

I've just corrected a stupid typo where I put one instead of 'on'.

The big one in the middle and the LZV200.

Hi all, I've got the above decoder fitted to a new Beattie well tank with Digitrains sound. The one problem I can't get round is that, with all other Zimos, I can press the button on my LH200 and the loco stops immediately. This one doesn't. I have other MS decoders that do stop with a press of the button. Does anyone know what's going on?

You're just showing off now. 🙂

AGR Models has rain coming down like stair rods. I like it.

How are you switching the points and/or crossings? If you're using Tortoise or other slow mo motors, you could use the inbuilt switches rather than relying on a short circuit to get the polarity change. Just a thought.

Hoping I don't get on the wrong side of ColinB, here. I use Zimo sound decoders and lais stay alives. I set CV153 to 20 which is 2 seconds and CV 111 to 1. CV 111 set to i negates the braking effect from CV 4, so the loco stops dead after the 2 seconds. This stops it from running into anything. The advantage of stay alives is, as others have said, is that a dead spot, such as dirt or a gap in the contacts of a turntable don't cause the sound to restart.

An update. I connected the common positive wire to the terminal +V/F4 that Stephan told me to, and the decoder went into self repair. This done, I followed the rest of the instructions to load one of the free uncoded files from Zimo. This took a long time to load and even then didn't sound right. I then loaded the sound file from Digitrains. This started at 12.45 and finally finished at 18.00. It was still nowhere near right, even though I could read CV's. I'm now thinking that I might have a faulty decoder. Nothing for it now, but to email Zimo again. Thanks for all the replies.

Thanks for the replies. Nigel Cliffe, I must admit that you've lost me there. Bucoops, Exactly what I was wondering. The reason I haven't simply asked Zimo, is that they're busy and it's that time of year..

Hi all, My turn for a question. I think I know the answer but bear with me, if you would. I have an MS480 decoder that failed part way through sound loading and Stephan Hubinger at Zimo has given me some info' about fixing it. The one part I want to clear up is that one of the things I have to do is to connect the blue wire (common positive) to the common positive terminal on the MXTAPS. I can see that the last terminal in the row is marked C+/F4. As I say, I think I've got it as it's the only one marked this way, but confirmation from someone that actually knows this, would be really good.

N9, Would you get rid of that link once you've found the wire, as that's on my logged in page. Thanks, Pete,

AWG 30 to 36. As Iain says, it's just called decoder wire. I bought some from ebay: https://www.ebay.com.au/mye/myebay/purchase Sorry, you'll have to scroll down. There are several different colours.