irishthump

On 9/11/2020 at 11:30 AM, Warbonnet said:

Hi everyone,

The Murphy Models range of DCC and DCC sound chips are back in stock with IRM and ready for immediate dispatch!

The 645E sound chip is correct for 126, 127, 133 and 135 (in later years, not in grey as per the model, that should be 567), while the 567 chip covers the rest of the 121 range.

We got lots of emails asking to stock these again so we thought we better let you know! Order here https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/dcc-decoders

Cheers!

Fran

I assume you have sufficient stock of decoders to cover anyone who preordered them?

Just asking as I ordered 2 decoders when I ordered my 121s. Should I have received the decoders already?

46 minutes ago, minister_for_hardship said:

In reality, cab lighting is flicked on to read or write for a minute or so and then flicked off again. Most of the time drivers have it off anyhow.

Ever try driving your car with the interior light on all the time? No, me neither.

Yeah cab lighting has always been a take-it-or-leave-it type of thing for me. It's great to see manufacturers having the technology to add it to nearly every new model, but it does'nt add that much to the running experience. It's a bit of a gimmick for manufacturers to pad out the spec sheet!

2 hours ago, DART8118 said:

Many thanks everyone for the replies.  All very helpful and informative and appreciated.  I have an NCE Powercab since 2014 and have only used about 20% of its functionality.  I have reduced the volume on one loco to about 40% level by adjusting CVs.  If I now put that loco into a consist and later remove it from the consist would there be issues with the settings on its sound CVs?  I know I lost recall settings when I reset the sound volume CVs (might have been cab CV) so just wondering if the same might happen when exiting a consist.

Thanks again in advance

8118

Putting a loco in and out of consist wont affect any other settings on the decoder. The only thing to remember is that the loco will not respond to it's original address while the consist is set up. Setting up a consist sets CV19 to the consist number. CV19 overrides the regular loco address so it will only respond to the consist address so as Noel said this needs to be cleared for the loco to run normally under it's address. You can also clear a consist by setting CV19 to 0 in each loco. This is a handy thing to know in case you forget the address of the consist!

On a side note when locos are in consist any function buttons you press will activate the functions on all locos in the consist. So if you press the horn it will sound in all locos. This can be annoying for some people! Decoders can be set up to change this but it gets complicated.

22 hours ago, Warbonnet said:

Ah man, not sams trains!!! Nearly want to ban you for a month for posting that

Yeah I feel dirty just for posting it!

Jesus! Hasn’t he heard that DCC will do the same thing more easily and a lot more safely?

I’m not a fan of this guy‘s channel at the best of times but he’s hit a new low with this crap....

27 minutes ago, Thameslink said:

Yes I have an old Hornby loco that runs fine. 

OK,I really think the loco will need to be opened up to locate the short. Can you do that yourself or is there a dealer near you that can offer that kind of service?

7 hours ago, DART8118 said:

What does a beginner need to know about mixing a 4-function decoder in one loco and a full sound decoder in the second loco, for mixing different decoders from different manufacturers, and for mixing locos from different manufacturers?

TIA.

8118

To work in a consist the two or more locos must have very similar running characteristics. Basically this means that the need to pretty much ensure that each loco accelerates and decelerates at the same rate and that they all drive at the same speed for a giving setting of your controller.  Otherwise you can have the locos fighting against each other when running. Generally the Murphy Models locos are very consistent and run very well together so it's not too much of a worry.

Decoders can get complicated. It's usually best to run the same brand of decoder when possible as they have similar running characteristics. The reason for this is that motor settings and acceleration and deceleration can be handled differently in different brands.  I usually run sound in all my locos and I have standardized on Loksound decoders for all of my models. For the 121's it would be best to pair the sound decoder with the ESU Lokpilot which is the non sound version that MM is supplying.

Hope that helps!

The red light on the controller and the heat from the loco would suggest there is a short circuit of some kind. Do all of your locos run ok?

6 hours ago, Barl said:

This is an interesting topic as it can be very confusing for people to transition to DCC. In my experience DCC isn't complicated and, as the lads have said above once all the track is connected to as wire 'bus' then insulfrog points shouldn't be an issue. All of my points are insulfrog.

One point that I don't think is mentioned is that it's worth having a short section of track isolated -either in a fiddle yard or siding - that can be used as a programming track for loco's etc., rather than having to connect to a separate piece of track each time.

Yeah I used Insulfrog points exclusively on my layout. I just don't want the hassle of wiring up live frogs and having and having to have a means to change the frog polarity. IAs I run mainly 4 or 6 axle diesels the dead frogs don't cause me any issue whatsoever once the track and loco wheels are kept clean. As I mentioned before I connect the stock rail and switch rail so I don't have to rely on electrical contact at the point. 

6 hours ago, Noel said:

 

Our layout was built 28 years ago as a DC layout with extensive wiring for block sections and isolation rails (eg loco she's, sidings, terminus platforms, etc. To convert to DCC all I had to do was connect two wires from DCC controller to my DC switch box and flick every single switch on and leave them on. It took me 20 minutes. No droppers anywhere, and no tales of woe encountered it just works, and come of the track sections are quite long. The fishplates have made excellent conductors. DCC = Simpler

No offence intended but that's really not a reliable way to do things. I would imagine the existent DCC wiring on your layout is helping conductivity to different sections. I know you say you don't have any problems but you're asking for trouble. Fishplates will conduct, that's what they're designed for, but over time they can oxidise or loosen and that will affect them. Painting and weathering track can also cause a loss of conductivity (I notice your own track isn't painted), I have experienced this first hand.

The best practice is to install a DCC bus and to use droppers every few feet or to all seperate pieces of track. I've also heard people suggesting that the track itself acts as it's own bus which is nonsense. Track is actually a poor conductor which is why a bus is the best option.

1 hour ago, Ironroad said:

This is a great topic and since I'm at a crossroads on taking the plunge into DCC and completely ignorant of what I may be getting into, I'm very interested in all and any contributions.

So a couple of questions (which may seem silly to the informed),  Noel, when you say

Is it correct to assume that you were using points with live frogs rather that the isolated type? If using the latter you would have have tp provide a power feed to sections that would otherwise be isolated?

Secondly, is there an issue with reverse loops?  In DC since the polarity is reversed it is necessary to create a section of track that can be isolated to facilitate reversal of polarity.

Dump questions perhaps but I'm dumb on this subject, Thanks

Points...

Yes, if you use dead frogs you'll need to provide power feeds to isolated sections. I also solder small jumper wires across the switch rails of the point so that they are always conducting power. I can post a picture of what I did to better explain it if needs be.

Reverse loops require a special module for DCC which automatically switches the polarity when a train enters and exits the revers loop. The loop also needs to be isolated from the rest of the layout.

2 hours ago, PJR said:

Noel,

Very interesting video. Just wondering how you got the magnet to uncouple the kandee .  I'm confused as it looks to me that the magnet would pull down instead of sideways. Maybe you could post how you did it. 

Paddy

The Kadee magnet is designed to pull the pins on the couplers to the side rather than down.

15 minutes ago, David Holman said:

Feel sure there must be something on this somewhere, but can't find it. Would like to post some video footage of my layout, but the files are too big to upload. How do others do this please?

Upload to Youtube and post the link here, that's what most people do.

On 13/10/2020 at 4:05 PM, controller said:

Hi, can someone tell me what strength wire I need for running from a controller to a capacitor and to a set of Seep self latching points. Am I right in calling these a bus wire? Also where can I get these wires?

Thanks ,

Controller.

I'd use 32/0 for the main bus from the capacitor and then 16/0 from the bus to the motors themselves.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10m-DCC-Layout-wire-Droppers-Track-Bus-Track-Power-16-0-2-24-0-2-32-0-2/321069274650?hash=item4ac138561a:g:zywAAOxy4t1SkIHy

Sounds fantastic Fran! The fact it sounds clear as a bell through the IPhone mic indicates the quality of the recording. Obviously the higher definition of the V5 helps but you need a good recording to begin with. Can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear!

Good to hear the Deltic is going well too...

7 hours ago, Noel said:

Try CV29=63 (ie to toggle the first CV29 bit, direction

If your DCC system doesn't have a setup menu for a loco that automates setting the various binary bits in CV29, try setting it to 63 (ie turn the first bit on). Swapping between 62 and 63 should change the direction bit.

62 = 0111110 = Direction bit is off but the next 5 bits 1-5 are all ON (see translation below)

 

Bit 0 Direction of operation is reversed 
        Direction of operation is normal

Bit 1 ON [1] = 28 Speed Step Mode
Bit 2 ON [1] = Analog mode operation enabled
Bit 3 is  Railcom and is usually ignored by the DCC system firmware.
Bit 4 ON [1] = Alternate Speed Curve Active 
Bit 5 ON [1] = Use long loco address

If possible it's best to leave DC operation disabled if you plan to only run DCC.

Save yourselves a lot of hassle with this....

https://tcsdcc.com/CV29Calc

On 12/9/2020 at 8:42 PM, NIRCLASS80 said:

Every now and then I change the stock on my layout completely over to British rolling stock to enjoy my little collection of models. Hope someone enjoys. 
 

 

No complaints here. I have a small collection of BR locos myself (looking forward to the Accurascale Deltic!) and I often mothball the Irish stuff to give them a run.

1 hour ago, murrayec said:

I don't think so! the only way I was able to release the barbs was from underneath after the chassis was removed, also there was the difficulty with the boxes being in the way and I could not have sussed what was going on without removing the chassis.

The cab rear barbs do release when the cab body is squeezed on the outside, but the cab front ones needed a cocktail stick prodded in from underneath.

Eoin

'Cab rear' - I'm looking at it as bonnet front!

That's good to know! Having a driver in the cab is not a deal breaker for me so if it's too much hassle I probably won't bother.

25 minutes ago, murrayec said:

The speaker is up front under the board;-

 

Thanks again, Eoin.

Can the cab be removed without removing the entire body from the chassis?

@Eoin

Very informative, thanks for this!

can you  indicate the position of the speaker on the chassis by any chance?

22 hours ago, murphaph said:

 It would be nice if you could use a mic or something to capture your speech a bit louder over the loco.

Yeah, sorry about that! I really don't have much of a mic setup, I just recorded this on my phone. If you've any questions resulting from not being able to hear me talking just ask away.

14 minutes ago, Thom said:

 

The attached picture is  the 071 on the top

and the 201 with the 071 chip in place in the bottom

I guess that the "chip" in the 071 is a Blanking plate again?

 

Yes that's the blanking plate in the 071. At least that's your problem sorted!

Folks,

I threw together a quick video of how I set up and use the new settings on the 121 Sound decoders. 

Apologies for the quality, trying to take a video and use a throttle at the same time is not easy! 

Yes that looks like a blanking plate alright.

Was this installed in a loco?