jpendle

Because there aren't that many part numbers for SOT23 Zeners in the list that you linked to. Any of the SOT23 Zeners would work, I chose Vishay because they're a company I'm familiar with. Regards, John P

It's not a transistor, it's a Zener diode, check your other post for a fuller answer. Regards, John P

Hi, It's not a transistor, it's a 15V Zener diode. If you look at your link you'll see that nearly all of the Y4 marked devices are Zeners. This is the DataSheet for the Vishay part https://www.s-manuals.com/pdf/datasheet/b/z/bzx84-v-series_vishay.pdf, and this is the part number for the 15V version, BZX84C15-V. They should cost about 25p. Yes I know that diodes have 2 pins but a third pin is often added to an SMD package so that it can't be loaded backwards. Regards, John P

They get a 16.66666% reduction on prices shown on the Hattons website, or any other shops website, as do I and anyone else living outside the UK. VAT is an ADDITIONAL 20% added to the price of the good, so before VAT if the price is £10 then the price with VAT is £12. To get back to the price without VAT you need to divide 2 by 12 = 16.666% Regards, John P

Hi, My Zimo MN's behave the same way. It does mean that it's easier to program an MU non motorized coach without needing something to simulate a motor load. Regards, John P

All my Revolution ones, none from Farish or Dapol. John P

I'm all in on this one, I've only got 18 in my roster so I'm sure I could justify 18 more! BUT, the big issue for me is that these models will use the ESU E24 format, which, as far as I can tell is still not a standard format. The only option for non-sound is the ESU 59925 Lokpilot Nano which is about £38. I'm quite happy with my other Revolution sound fitted models with ESU decoders ( and my Farish ones for that matter) as someone else has done the hard work programming the lights, etc. I'd much rather use a non-sound Zimo decoder as, IMO, their CV programming is much easier. And finally, even though I'm happy with my sound fitted Pendolinos, I have observed, admittedly without any scientific tests, that my new Pendolinos, with Zimo Next 18 decoders, run smoother and quieter than my original 4 ESU sound fitted ones. (Anyone suggesting that I turn the sound off to make them quieter gets a slap🙂) Regards, John P

So in order for iTrain, or the Z21 app, or a Maus handset, to control signals on your layout the signals must be connected to a suitable DCC accessory controller. You can connect your signals to accessory switches on your point motors but then you're not controlling the signals, they are just working in conjunction with the points. For signals with no associated points, you can either control them manually or hook then up to accessory decoders. Regards, John P

To make sure that you've changed the address on your laptop to 192.168.0.100 ping that instead. ping 192.168.0.100 You should get an immediate response, if you don't look at your laptop settings again. Don't forget that to change your laptop's address you'll need to turn of DHCP and tell it to use a fixed address. FWIW this is nothing to do with the age of the laptop. Regards, John P

The Uhlenbrock unit is for DCC decoders that DO NOT support Railcom. "In RailCom® mode, there are small RailCom transmitters for retro-fitting to DCC Locomotives without a RailCom-Decoder and for wagons without RailCom Decoder (e.g. driving wagon). They transmit the configured address to the track of a DCC-RailCom System via the power pickup. " So that is exactly what the OP needs to add Railcom to his locos without swapping out the TTS decoders. BUT, as others have said the DCC system must also support Railcom, and you would also need to add Railcom detection devices around the layout. So, @deepfat what DCC system are you using? Regards, John P

Remember that with a 6 pin decoder you’ve only got 2 function outputs unless you’ve been soldering to pads on the pcb. That means that Digitrains need to remove all their lighting mods, except for dimming otherwise the lights will never work. I would be asking Digitrains to redo the sound project with lighting suitable for a 6 pin decoder without any wiring mods. Regards, John P

It definitely sounds like the default lighting CV's have been changed, F8 turning off taillights is used on my ESU equipped sound locos. What bothers me is that the MS490N fits into a standard 6 pin socket with 2 wires for the speaker. On all the Dapol loco's that I have with 6 pin sockets, you can't control the front and rear lights separately, F0 controls the forward and reverse lights, i.e. both head & tail lights dependent on the direction of travel. As @jamesed said reset the decoder and then F0 should turn on the head and tail lights. If the sound project were loaded into a Next18 decoder then F8 turning on/off lights would make a lot more sense. Regards, John P

For various reasons I have ended up with a Z21 connected via a PSX1 to the track bus and a Roco Booster operating my accessory bus. If get a short running over a point set the wrong way, then the PSX1 trips but the Z21 is still able to change the points on the accessory bus. The booster is there both to remove the Railcom signal as my NCE switch decoders aren't compatible with Railcom, and because with 40 N Gauge locos and 80 points my Z21 had run out of juice. I suspect that you wouldn't need the booster just the PSX-1. Regards, John P

I think it's actually set back in Boston. The new Frasier, that is. Not OFAH, I doubt they could get to Boston Lincs in the 3 wheeler! John P

I've got 7 N Gauge CL68's on my layout based on present day Wigan North Western. 4 are top and tailing 2 different nuclear flask trains, 1 is hauling an Intermodal and the other two are idle. BUT once my 2 TPE liveried MK5 sets arrive I'll need at least one more because I only have 1 TPE liveried one so far (Brutus). I expect I'll end up with 10 or more before I'm done, but the North West of England is where you'll most often find them. Regards, John P

Someone flushing the toilet in a MK1. Probably best appreciated in one of the larger scales 🤢 John P

That may well be the case. Regards, John P

The Zimo CV29 default value of 14 means 28/128 speed steps , DC operation on, Railcom on, and short addresses stored in CV1. So technically the default address is 3 NOT 0003. If you then change CV29 to 34 and program a long address of 7801 CV’s 17 & 18 should end up set to 222 & 121 respectively. CV1 should remain at 3 as you haven’t re-programmed the short address. If CV’s 17 & 18 aren’t being programmed then you’re not doing long address programming. Regards, John P

Because the Z21 itself acts as a Railcom detector. With just one or two locos in the part of the storage yards that doesn’t have dedicated feedback I can still use Railcom to readback CVs using POM. If I put 6 or 7 locos there then Railcom stops working, i.e. if I try to read from a loco it says no loco found at that address. Regards, John P

Hi, I have seen very similar issues when using the Z21 with multiple locos on the track, and I have been round the houses about this with Iain @WIMorrison 😀 I couldn't get Railcom to work with more than 4 or 5 locos on my layout. FWIW my layout is N gauge rather than OO. I then started to automate the layout, so now I have 20 or 30 isolated sections each with their own Railcom feedback from a Roco 10808 occupancy detector unit. Railcom now works exactly as it should on al the isolated sections but it still doesn't work on the bits of my storage yards that don't yet have feedback detectors added to them. I'm hoping that as I add feedback to more and more of the layout I'll be able to work out why I had the initial problems. One hypothesis is a rogue decoder, or maybe there really is a "Railcom" limit. Regards, John P

(Pic NOT enclosed)

Correct, it's just a zip file. You don't need to delete the earlier zip file version. Regards, John P

SBS4DCC had them in stock but now seem to have run out of the 6 pin decoders. It's also just about the same price to buy them from the UK where the 16% VAT discount pays for the shipping. I quite often buy mine that way. Regards, John P

Why ESU? Zimo are available in the US as well. They’re also a LOT easier to program than ESU. Regards, John P

Yes they have. The owner retired and decided not to sell the business. Regards, John P