arff999

just one thing on the mini panel, ever though it is good when used with a power cab and i'm not sure if it was said before to set up the mini panel you need a separate hand set as it has to be plugged in to the device and the power cab one cant be removed 

john 

There was

At the ally palace show with Richard

i was on the Digitrains stand i think we were the only ones with it all

John 

Nice one Richard

Should be ok when you get it, i've been demoing it at shows for a few weeks now and your not the first one, a lot of people think the same as you did until i point out you need the other bits unless you use a NCE system.

john 

For what it's worth, I tried plugging an Alpha Central via the official adaptor cable, into my Prodigy Advance 2.  The buttons light up and you can program the box to match your accessory (points, signals etc) numbers.  BUT, while the Prodigy happily operates said points etc, the Central box doesn't, i.e. Alpha Central reads Prodigy but not vice versa, or at least won't pass on the signal to the point motors. So I'll need a Cobalt Box and a transformer to separate points et al from track power.  

 

Pending the availability of the Cobalt Alpha Power module, it would be useful to know the size of plug needed from an alternative power supply unit into a Cobalt Alpha Box.  But no further expense until I know the cost and availability dates of the Ally Pally announcements.

 

On the subject of cost, I reckon a DCC system costing the same as 2 or 3 locos, is probably worth it, as is the option of NOT doing lots of soldering if you're as cack-handed as I am.

 

And separating track power from accessory power is very much a Good Thing, even if it means you stay with analogue post control.

 

Richard

 

P.S.  It would also be interesting to know whether an NCE handset, plugged directly into a Cobalt Box, could be used without the rest of the NCE gubbins as a DCC system in its own right.

I take it your alpha central is plugged in to your prodigy system via the Alpha box and then the adaptor cable not just the cable 

john

Hi John,

I personally won't be for this show but from May on-wards I will be in the UK in our new Head office.

 

Regards

Rand

Hi Rand

ok pity but then i did talk to Richard and the other guy i forget his name

He told me about some new bits but its not for me to say about them yet. i also discussed your uk office.

and a few issues about the items hope fully he has not forgotten by the time hes home 

Regards 

John 

For what it's worth, I tried plugging an Alpha Central via the official adaptor cable, into my Prodigy Advance 2.  The buttons light up and you can program the box to match your accessory (points, signals etc) numbers.  BUT, while the Prodigy happily operates said points etc, the Central box doesn't, i.e. Alpha Central reads Prodigy but not vice versa, or at least won't pass on the signal to the point motors. So I'll need a Cobalt Box and a transformer to separate points et al from track power.  

 

Pending the availability of the Cobalt Alpha Power module, it would be useful to know the size of plug needed from an alternative power supply unit into a Cobalt Alpha Box.  But no further expense until I know the cost and availability dates of the Ally Pally announcements.

 

On the subject of cost, I reckon a DCC system costing the same as 2 or 3 locos, is probably worth it, as is the option of NOT doing lots of soldering if you're as cack-handed as I am.

 

And separating track power from accessory power is very much a Good Thing, even if it means you stay with analogue post control.

 

Richard

 

P.S.  It would also be interesting to know whether an NCE handset, plugged directly into a Cobalt Box, could be used without the rest of the NCE gubbins as a DCC system in its own right.

i had a powercab handset plugged into the cobalt box on its own it works fine also the auto switch for the programme track works but i guess if you plugged a nce procab throttle in it won't work as a complete system as there would be no system box plugged in as there is with the power cab handset so for a cheep 5 amp nce system it it works well but theres not alot of differance when you compare costs for both ways 

john

Rand 

will you be with Richard this week end at the show 

john

Ian 

the adaptors are in the shop now they've been in about 3 weeks had a play the other week not managed to try all systems yet 

but yes i agree fully with your last comments

john 

There are still more questions than answers!

 

In the Alpha Digital Encoder manual it states that it will connect directly to the NCE equipment.

NCE already do something which is cheaper, as Ron states, use the Mini Panel this will do the same thing but cost less money?

OK if you need a booster NCE do those as well.

Seems a very strange thing that DCC concepts have come out with this which by default connects to the NCE equipment even though they themselves already sell items that can do this anyway.

 

In the Alpha Encoder manual it states that if you don't have the NCE equipment then you can use it with other systems as long as you also buy the Alpha Box which is also a booster that the Alpha Encoder can connect to create the accessory bus.

So that will be the Alpha Encoder, Alpha box and a power supply for the Alpha box required, that doesn't even include any switches yet!!!!!!

 

Finally it states that it will be possible to use the Alpha Encoder with other DCC systems by using a “Command bus protocol adapter" to allow the Alpha Encoder to plug directly into the existing DCC command bus, but there is little or no information on what these are or when they will be available.

 

Really sorry but there needs to be much better instructions and clarity as at this moment it all seems a bit half baked.

It also looks like a very expensive way of simplifying the wiring.

 

I wanted to try this but not at that price and lack of clarity to see if it would actually work.

 

Hopefully you can clarify all of this so it's easy to follow and understand.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

 

Hi Ian 

I have tried this and it all works with the different systems also with various other bits of NCE kit 

down at your local DDC shop i may have also been in when you've been in 

JOHN

Hi All,

Browsing through the various threads and can see that there is some confusion here.

 

The overall essence of the Alpha Range as a whole is to reduce the wiring requirements and soldering needs of the layout as a whole as, lets be honest, this is were most faults occur on a layout. 

 

The Alpha Box is in effect a universal booster with one of its intentions of allowing smaller DCC systems such as the Hornby Elite, Bachmann ezy Command, and other similar systems to be converted into a 5amp system without having to get a whole new system. 

The Alpha box is also fitted with a Circuit Breaker and On/Off button to turn track power off without having to turn the whole system off.

The Alpha Box can also act as a Booster for a Accessory bus taking amperage off the main DCC system or as and additional booster to any layout and interface for the Alpha main unit for controlling DCC Accessory items on the layout.

 

The Main Alpha unit is a Digital encoder that takes any manual switch action and converts it into a DCC command which is sent via the DCC system (or Alpha Box) down the DCC track bus to the relevant accessory decoders on the layout. This means that you can have a conventional switch panel with all the wiring contained in the panel and not having wires traversing all over the layout like a spiders web because they just connect into the terminals on the Main Alpha Unit. This in turn will connect into the cab bus of the NCE and Roco systems and the Alpha Box. This saves wiring hassle and make fault finding simpler and more time to run trains. 

 

The Alpha Switch packs follow on with the wiring saving theme where the switches have LEDs built into them so when pressed it lights up and its wired twin turns off. The switches connect via a plug harness into a central PCB where no soldering is required. On the other side of the PCB are outputs to feed out to the relevant Accessory decoders (switch-D version) or Stall motors (switch-A version) or you can feed it it directly into the Alpha Main unit.

 

Granted this range is quite extensive and a bit bewildering and with note to the current manual this will soon be replaced with a updated version which will help stream line things.

 

The Alpha Central is inspired by the Marklin Central of old and is in effect a pre-finished control panel which contains the components of the Alpha Main and switch units which can connect directly into the cab bus of the NCE or Roco systems and the Alpha Box. 

 

There will be another major addition to the Alpha range coming soon at the Alexandra Palace show this coming weekend along with Several other Major Pieces of News which will be of great interest to you all I am sure.

 

Feel free to ask more questions as I am not sure if I covered everything here.

 

Regards

Rand Cooley

DCCconcepts

Rand

i was under the impression that the alpha switch A was a stand alone system not able to connect to the Alpha Main unit unit only for use on 2 wire stall motors with its own regulated power supply 

also if the Alpha Central is just really a cab unit working on the NCE bus then i presume you can connect the nce mini panel into your 5a booster to give you a 30 switch fully programmable device as you would on a stand alone nce system? and it would work ok.

i had sent a e-mail to richard asking about 3 way switching using the Alpha Central but have had no reply as yet.i think i have a way of doing it or do you have a small pcb that will work

are you going to ally palace if so ill pop along and have a chat

john    

silly question 

have you rang james at dcc train automation hes the best person to answer your questions 

john

That last photo in post 401 - I know that spot well enough, having waited there for the Sheffield Pacer often enough! 

 

I like the strip lights with the name on them - how did you make them? 

Hi Welly 

there made from a bit off 7 mm copper clad sleeper gapped down the middle long ways then 6 nano leds are fitted across the gap making sure to keep the correct polarity, two small holes are made 5mm from either end fitted with a piece of transformer wire to simulate the hanging conduit they also carry the electric,these inturn are fitted to a copper strip tape on the roof via a 1k resistor. the lens is is a clear plastic rectangular bar hollowed out with a dremel to take the leds,

the name tale were made at a printers on clear back ground 

hope this helps 

john 

Hi there.

Very nice indeed mate. Your quite good at this making buildings lark aren't you??

Regards Lez.Z

Hi Lez 

Most of the buildings i'm afraid i can't take credit for,  there made by Howard Leader, all i do is fit them to the model and sort out the electric for the lights.

Ok final picture for tonight i have saved the best till last,

I met Howard a few weeks ago at the show at Spalding where he was demonstrating his model making skills, And on his table was the start to my station main building bear in mind it's a start as it's going to be huge when finished well over 1.5 meters long and will look awesome.

That is amazing. 

That is amazing !! 

thanks i think so too

John

Last week i was asked to post some more pictures of the  great northern hotel building

Thats all on the construction now for a few of the finished building 

Thats all on the construction now for a few of the finished building 

A few general pictures of the island building 

Then we had to sort out the wiring of all the lights and make sure they worked as when the roof was fitted it would have been impossible to get to the connections 

Hi update time again 

after having a chat with Howard the other day he said i had omitted to post any pics of the island platform building,

so i thought i better put things right on that front. 

well here we go 

firstly a few pictures of the construction 

Hi John

The one I am most interested in is the Great Northern Hotel-I posted the photographs i had of it, but there are gaps, and I would like to model it.  Any possibility of some elevation photographs-the model itself looks extremely impressive.

Sure leave it with me ill take some pics when i get down to the shop next 

john

Hi jrg1

we don't use working drawings for the models there all scratch built using just original photos the only thing we do have is a scale footprint drawing of most or the area around the station.

hope this helps.

JOHN

I have been looking to make the loco running smoother as we have a few minor problems with some joins in the track, If you remember when i started this project it was all made on 1200 x 600 boards transported to a show then fitted together this in principle was ok but in reality just did not work. tracks cut across tight angles across joins don't work,so we joined the to make 1200 x 1200 modules great we thought works well lets leave it at that.

Then when planning the station building it was noted that the 2 main buildings were longer than the 1200 modules. now what, well there was only one way to do this so we ended up joining 2, 1200 modules together to make a 2400 x 1200 so now we have 2 large and 2 smaller modules.

The only problem now is that there are cuts across the rails in the middle of the 2 long modules not a problem you may say but in one place that accounts for cuts in all of the tracks 10 in total, this is were the problem lies.

We could just rip up the track and relay it all or leave it as is and carry on, after a lot of thought and figuring out some other minor electrical lighting bugs i came up with the idea of having a whole new set of baseboards made so i can relay the track sort out the lighting bits and make sure the roadway all works and the cars and buses all move as there designed to.

so over the next year this will happen as for now we will carry on using what we have.

I do hope you all stick with me with this mark 2 version for now you wont notice any difference and ill post pics of the new bits as time goes by.

JOHN

Hi 

Over the moon is probably an understatement the works awesome come to mind a true credit to Howard patience and skill as a model maker.

I for one could never have built anything this good.

If you think  these are great just wait until you see the main Station building this is in a class of its own,i do have some build pictures but i have decided not to post any until its finished.

JOHN 

The Treaty of Commerce pub looks smarter in the model than it does now, the shops more interesting too!

 

Is The Durham Ox at t'other end?

 

Dava

Yes Dava it is but in the time scale of the model pelham bridge is in its place 

JOHN