jpendle

Actually sales tax in the US is added on at the till in a real shop, so US retail prices NEVER include sales tax. For high value items like domestic appliances and cars the seller will ask where you live so that the appropriate local sales taxes apply, rather than the sales taxes where the retailer is located. Sales taxes vary by state, county, and town, and sometimes by even smaller areas (special development areas). So if I buy a cup of Starbucks in each of the 3 towns near me the retail price will be the same but the final price at the till will be different. Regards, John P

Hi, Welcome to the wonderful world of the Z21/z21. Do you have the black Z21 or the white z21? The Z21 has a separate programming track output the z21 doesn't. When the time comes, I would recommend installing the Z21 Maintenance app on a computer or the Z21 updater app on your phone, that way you can update the firmware to the latest version, V1.40 was released recently. With Maintenance App you can also update the firmware of Zimo decoders. The Z21 firmware updates fix issues and provide additional features. Regards, John P

Hi Iain, The Z21 firmware is V1.40 it's the maintenance app that has version V1.15. I'll be trying these out ASAP. Regards, John P

I think perhaps they are saying that if you import something from Timbuktu (Mali) and it doesn't work you have no recourse through EU consumer laws and are on your own. So what, I would assume that has always been the case. Caveat Emptor John P

As standard Peco N Gauge E/F points don't have the dropper wire, the slips, crossings, and Unifrogs do. I usually solder to the rail inside the V of the frog. You could also solder to the wires underneath the point but you have to allow clearance on the baseboard or the point won't lie flat. Regards, John P

Hi, Is it a CE mark or a China Export mark? Somewhere in this thread, I think, there were some examples. The CE mark has the letters spaced and the E is shaped like the C, more like the Euro symbol than an E. Regards, John P

Actually the price without VAT should 16.666% cheaper, or divide the list price by 1.2. Regards, John P

I use two separate buildings, one for the organic members of my family and the other for me and my trains. John P

Hi, As I have got further into iTrain I realised that my previous post is not the full story. In iTrain you CAN enter the address feedback as I described, but there is also a setting to tell iTrain that you feedbacks are grouped by 8' or 16' etc. If this option is chosen then the address for a feedback channel 5 on a 10808 with an address of 3 would be 3.5. Regards, John P

Hi, If it is a Zimo decoder then it is not at the latest firmware version, the latest version is 40.1 Also on the Zimo website they say this regarding version 37 "Measures to correct previous software errors: - Bugfix: Brake button did not work with older decoder types - Bugfix: CV59 is now also effective with DC braking" If yours is at version 36 this may explain why the braking function doesn't work. Also try reading back CV250, this should come up with a 3 digit number with which you can look up the decoder type, an MX618 may have type 243 or 181. Regards, John P

Have you looked to see how much current the Z21 is drawing? If it isn't 2.5A or more then a booster shouldn't be needed. You might also want to try turning Railcom off on the Z21, this is done using the maintenance app on a PC. Regards, John P

?????????? Just because they're twenty quid doesn't mean that they aren't top of the range. John P

I know this is over a year ago, but I thought I'd answer as I had the same question. The problem is that while the 10808 unit has an address in the Z21 app the individual feedbacks do not. In order to work out which individual address to use for a 10808 unit in iTrain then use this formula : (A-1)*8 + F (where A is the address of the 10808 and F is the number of the feedback being used. So if the 10808 has an address of 1 then it's individual feedbacks have addresses of 1 to 8 in iTrain, if the 10808 has an address of 2, the feedbacks have addresses of 9 to 16, etc. As far as I can tell, this is only documented in the German language 10808 Tutorial manual. Regards, John P

They look like Unifrog points to me. John P

This problem is unrelated to the Z21 app, or the ADS. You've wired the second point motor wrong. The black and red feeds to the built in switch should be reversed. Remember that in a double slip you have the two 'points' back to back, they don't face the same direction, so the frog polarity wiring won't necessarily be the same. BTW the double slip icon in the Z21 app works fine, you just need to get your head around the logic of how each point motor works with the slip. Regards, John P

Don't buy any more locos with Imperium chips pre-fitted. John P

What confused me was that when I followed the link from the Revolution website it just shows 6 twin packs. The extra two only appear if you navigate directly from the ROS website. John P

Dunno! According to their website 221A/B are both Domes/Tunnel. The new packs, 231A/B, are both Dam/Turbine. If you go to the link from their homepage it says "As the Renewable Pioneer variants feature various images on the wagon sides, we have decided to add an additional two packs to the previous line up." I thought it was worth pointing out that there are now 8 twin packs available as opposed to 6, especially for people who have placed a pre-order and may not check the website for a while. Regards, John P

Hi, I just saw that ROS have announced an additional twin pack in Renewable Pioneers livery to cover all 4 variations, Domes/Tunnel, and Dam/Turbine. Regards, John P

I must admit that I'm getting less and less excited by this model. I don't really want either release, a TPE 802 is what I'm after, and it seems that these two five car units are likely to be all that we get for the next few years. I don't like being locked into a proprietary DCC decoder brand either, although I'm sure I read somewhere that Zimo make the decoders for Kato. I think it's also very unlikely that anyone else would be willing to offer a competing model, so we're stuck with whatever Kato do. Ho hum, John P

Hi, I just had this reply from Roco. The error you described was reproducible. After consulting the responsible department, we can inform you of the following: "The error will be fixed in the coming days with the next app update." Regards, John P

It's a 397 to go with the specially commissioned TPE 802 from Kato. I think I'll go and have a lie down now. John P

I've got 1.3.5 on my phone and iPad. I've sent an email to Roco. Regards, John P

Hi, Same issue on my iPad and iPhone as well, I mispoke earlier . It seems to be tied in to the way the screen refreshes. So as well as changing orientation, I can also get the C1 menu back if I reselect the same loco. But C2 and C3 only re-appear if I change the screen orientation. Definitely looks like a bug, it needs to be reported to Roco. Regards, John P

Hi, Which Z21 app are you using? The old one, Red loco icon, or the new one, Z21 on a black background. I am using the new one and have no problems programming CV's on the programming track. Regards, John P