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jpendle

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Posts posted by jpendle

    Where Do You Buy From Internet Or Local Shop ???.

    in Modelling musings & miscellany

    Posted

    My local (60 miles down the road) shop is Caboose Hobbies,which used to advertise as the largest Model Railroad shop in the world, it's a lot smaller now.

     

    It may well have been the largest in the world, but it only ever had US outline stuff plus a bit of Peco track and some Lenz stuff if you were lucky. I sometimes use it for scenic stuff but most of that can be had at local hobby shops.

     

    The mad thing is that virtually everything I need or want can be purchased cheaper in the UK online than in the US online, this even extends to boxes of track, Zimo decoders, and, of course, track pins, rail joiners, etc.

     

    John P

    Roco Z21 - suggestions as to why not

    in DCC Help & Questions

    Posted

    Hi,

     

    One more point in favour of the Z21 is it's method of 'consisting', or double heading, or banking.

     

    Rather than have to program CV's to match loco speeds and create a consist the Z21 will handle all that for you.

     

    To speed match locos you run them over a fixed length of track at 3 different speed steps (or more) and record their performance in the loco settings (traction control). You then create a new 'train' and add the loco's you want to the train.

     

    That's it.

     

    As an experiment I set two locos in a 'train' a foot apart and let them run round my layout, after a couple of circuits they were still a foot apart.

     

    Regards,

     

    John P

    • Informative/Useful 1

    Duplication of Models: A Discussion

    in Modelling musings & miscellany

    Posted

    If I were running a for-profit manufacturer that aimed to be as big as Bachmann or Hornby then certain loco's would have to be made, regardless of whether they are already available. For diesels the 37,47, and 66 are definately on that list. I don't have any stats, but these 3 must account for a large minority of diesel sales to UK outline modellers, and more sales means more profit. 

     

    The duplication that frustrates me is when 2 manufacturers produce exactly the same model.

     

    For example, I have a Dapol N Gauge EWS 66, 66111. The latest Farish EWS liveried option is also 66111. I won't be buying the Farish version unless I desperately need a spare chassis to rebody, or until it gets re-released with a new running number.

     

    Regards,

     

    John P

    • Agree 2

    PSX-1 DCC control question

    in DCC Help & Questions

    Posted

    I have a PSX-1 hooked up to my layout so that the track bus is physically seperate from the bus that controls my accessory decoders.

     

    Reading the PSX-1 instructions it says that by writing to address 2042 it is possible to turn track power on or off. BUT it doesn't say what command or bit sequence that should be sent to this address.

     

    I tried setting up a switch at address 2042 using my Z21 app but when I activated the switch icon all that happened was that other random accessory decoders went haywire.

     

    Has anyone here successfully used this feature?

     

    Thanks,

     

    John P

    Zimo MX622 Wired & Farish locos

    in DCC Help & Questions

    Posted

    I have a Farish CL66 wired with an MX622 wired decoder. It worked fine at the start but gave up the ghost about 12 months ago.

     

    After a house move and other things getting in the way I have finally got around to trying to figure out what the problem is.

     

    It still wouldn't work so I removed the decoder and soldered it into another CL66. This worked first time, lights on and motor running. I then tried to pt the body back on and got the following symptoms.

     

    1) Turn on lights and they work

    2) Change loco direction and the lights change as appropriate,.

    3) Turn motor on, loco doesn't move. turn motor off.

    4) Change loco direction, lights do not change direction.

     

    Then I take the loco of the track and put it back on, and the same sequence can be repeated. If I take the body off it works properly. 

     

    Next I take a second MX622 from a second non runner (Farish CL60), and wire this to the loco instead. Now I get the same symptoms as the first decoder even with the body off.

     

    I've checked a few voltages with a DMM (I know that it won't accurately measure a PWM or DCC signal). The front LED output on the decoder is around 3.7V DC, the rear LED is around 14.5V DC, across the motor terminals at the motor connection (not at the decoder), I get 0V DC when the throttle is off and around 14.5V DC when it is on.

     

    I will be checking the motors directly on DC with the decoder disconected to seed if the motor is toast.

     

    So, does anyone have any ideas as to what might be wrong or has anyone seen these or similar symptoms?

     

    I'm beginning to wonder if the 2 MX622's that I have tried are the culprits as so far, I now have 3 locos which won't run, all of which have had one of these two MX622's wired up to them.

     

    Thanks,

     

    John P

    Resistor experts ?

    in Modelling Questions, Help and Tips

    Posted

    13 hours ago, Hroth said:

    Resistors are there to reduce the current passing through the LED, preventing it from being overloaded and burning out. 

    Series and parallel resistors both decrease the current depending on the value of the resistors.

    For series resistors the total resistance is R1+R2+R3...

    For parallel resistors, the total resistance is 1/R1+1/R2+1/R3...

    Each LED should have a resistor.  Its not recommended to feed several LEDs via 1 resistor as its possible for the LEDs to be unmatched and one to draw more current than the others.  Result?  POW!

     

    You'll also need to ensure that the current draw on the lighting circuits is within the capabilities of your DCC chip, or that might say goodbye too.

     

     

     

    I'm sorry but this is factually inaccurate and misleading.

     

    A resistor in series with an LED will reduce the voltage drop across the LED, the current stays constant. A resistor in parallel with an LED will reduce the current flowing through the LED, the voltage drop will be constant.

     

    To calculate the resistance of resistors in parallel the formula is 1/(1/R1+1/R2+1/R3 ...).  E.g 2 15k resistors in series gives 30k, 2 in parallel gives 7.5k, 3 in series is 45k, 3 in parallel is 5k.

     

    Regards,

     

    John P

    To DCC or not?

    in DCC Help & Questions

    Posted

    31 minutes ago, Tallpaul69 said:

    Because I am having my layout built as I just don't have the skills to do it myself, I have to trade off cost of wiring against benefit of extra sections. My current feeling is that a professionally built system should be less prone to requiring troubleshooting than an amateur build, so a reasonable compromise is to have only up, down, and branch sections.

     

    Reference control systems I do not have modelling friends that I want to be compatible with, but I agree you need to be comfortable with  how your chosen system switches and knobs work.

     

    Cheers

    Paul

    And please bear in mind that some systems (Zimo, ESU) have neither switches nor knobs.

     

    Regards,

     

    John P

    • Like 1

    Loco works on Lenz system, but no on NCE system

    in DCC Help & Questions

    Posted

    I suspect that the DCC Wiki page needs some editing, for a start, no-one writes hexadecimal numbers as nnnn16. In the post above the hex numbers are 1 to 27FF, or 0x1 to 0x27FF, then the '4 digit address' makes sense, i.e. that it uses 4 hex digits.

     

    The whole 1-99 or 1-9999 thing, as was stated earlier, is simply a desire to use decimal numbers and limit the screen display size to keep costs down. I.e. use a 2 digit display rather than a 3 digit display, etc.

     

    Regards,

     

    John P

    Dapol 142

    in Dapol

    Posted

    I ordered my Northern Rail version today from Hattons, with any luck it will be here Wednesday. As others have said, for 115 quid I think it will look OK on my new layout.

     

    John P

    • Like 1

    Uppin Thattick. Wigan(ish) Loft layout- Modern Image

    in Layout topics

    Posted

    Hi,

     

    I’m also doing Wigan NW and Wallgate but in N Gauge. My local station was Westhoughton but as it has very limited interest and services I decided not to bother modellng it. I’m doing the mainline as a roundy roundy and the lines through Wallgate as end to end. 

    I’m also using a Z21 Black and have chosen Tortoise point motors for slow blade motion. I found that removing the spring from Peco points helps the point motors work better but I have to have polarity switching as I can’t rely on blade contact any longer.

     

    Pictures and stuff are on the N Gauge forum. I got tired of trying to keep two websites up to date with my old layout.

     

    Regards,

     

    John P

    • Like 1
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