irishthump

4 minutes ago, DART8118 said:

All good now and running silky smooth.  Lots of discoveries to be looked forward to.  Thanks for that.

You're welcome! Glad you got it sorted. Didi you install a sound decoder?

56 minutes ago, irishthump said:

Grip it from above with a needle nose pliers. Then apply gentle pressure and lift it straight up.

You can wiggle it very slightly as you do it, but ONLY a little otherwise you risk bending the pins on the plug or damaging the PCB.

3 hours ago, DART8118 said:

The blanking plug in my RPSI loco seems to be a tight fit.  Anyone got any words of advice about lifting it so that I can fit a DCC chip? 

TIA, 8118

Grip it from above with a needle nose pliers. Then apply gentle pressure and lift it straight up.

Just now, NIRCLASS80 said:

Sorry but I haven’t a clue what CV’s effect what as I have used a Lokprogrammer for years. 
Does anyone think there would be a market for a decoder programming service?

I'd say there might be a few modellers who may want the 121 decoder set up for independently controlled lighting.

When you make adjustments to the function mapping in the Lokprogrammer software if you click on the tools tab there is an option to show which CV's have been changed.

4 minutes ago, DART8118 said:

Thanks.  Don't have a Lokprogrammer and thought it might be something I could set with CVs on my controller.

You can do it with CV's but it's a bit of a chore and easy to mess up.

Great video. Do you only use the Drive Hold and Coast functions to drive the loco? What values do you program to Acceleration and Deceleration?

The way I set up my locos I put the Independent Brake function on F3 and set deceleration to maximum (255). I only use Drive Hold if simulating starting a heavy train. I never use Coast as with the high Dec value you simple turn the throttle down to 0, let the train coast and stop it with the brake on F3. I find this is very realistic way to drive the loco.

7 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

Do try to keep the thread on the 121 gentlemen

The DCC side of the 121 models is rapidly growing into its own thing. Could the relevant replies here and on other threads be merged into a separate thread?

10 minutes ago, connollystn said:

Do any of you guys actually 'enjoy' railway modelling?

DCC control, lighting and sound is a fascinating part of the hobby.

14 hours ago, NIRCLASS80 said:

20 minutes with a Lokprogrammer soon sorted the lights outs. All independent. 

That sounds good. Which file did you use?

9 minutes ago, murphaph said:

Good post. There will be plenty of time for a more in-depth discussion of mods or small improvements people may wish to embark upon (I may well replace the speakers for example for a double iPhone 6s job, for example). I'm looking forward to hearing the sound belt out of the open vents. Where is the factory speaker located within the body actually?

Not sure where the speaker is placed in the 121’s but contrary to popular belief it’s best to have a completely sealed body shell with one small speaker opening than to have large open sections in the shell.

Oh damn these are tempting!

5 hours ago, DiveController said:

Lots of companies used 'proprietary' hardware and software essentially to ensure they maximize their bottom line, that's nothing new.

If you use something else, then that may invalidate any warranty provided as part of the purchase agreement. This may be contingent on local statutes in the country of purchase.

If you go off label because it's cheaper or you want a different sound is up to the purchaser but if you do have a problem you're likely to find that the vendor will likely not be very accommodating of your request for a replacement (if available!) or a refund. You could litigate but would you want to bother?

I will say that generally I dislike this approach re use of 'proprietary products' and don't think it does much in the longer term for the vendor (unless you're don't plan any future products, I suppose)  

Except in this case there is nothing proprietary about the decoder or the software used on it.

3 minutes ago, Noel said:

Yummie. Outside USA should not be problem with AddressPal to get around that.

$482 for the throttle. Another $99 for the wireless adaptor for whatever DCC system you use.

Another thing to note about the MM121 decoder I bought yesterday....

The Loksound V5 is available in 2 versions - The V5 and the V5 DCC. There are some important differences between the two decoders...

The V5 is designed for the European market. It addition to DCC it works with other control protocols such as Marklin and Motorola which are more popular with European modellers - not really relevant to us! It also uses a multiplier of .25 for momentum settings similar to the V4. The vast majority of other brands of decoders use a multiplier of .896 and no one knows why ESU deviated from this when developing the V4.

What that means is that when you program acceleration or deceleration whatever value you enter into CV3 or CV4  if you multiply this value by .25 the result is the amount of seconds it takes for the loco to go from full speed to a dead stop. So a value of 100 in CV4 means the loco will take 25 seconds to come to a stop.

The V5 DCC is made primarily for the US market. It uses a momentum multiplier of .896 which is preferable on large layouts common in the US. 

Now, when I looked at the decoder I bought in my Lokprogrammer software it identified it as a V5 DCC. If the rest of the decoders supplied are all DCC5 it will mean that if you try to double head them with Loksound V4's your momentum settings will not match up.

It's a simple enough fix, simply take the value you have entered into your V4 and divide it by 3.6 and enter this value into the V5. This should result in the two different decoders being matched.

27 minutes ago, patrick said:

https://www.iascaled.com/protothrottle/        Have you seen this Noel. There are also some demo videos on You Tube.

Bloody stunning piece of engineering. Unfortunately, not available outside the US.

(I looked into it, believe me!!!)

26 minutes ago, Noel said:

PS: Purely for info today out of curiosity I took a LokSound V5 21pin 141 decoder out of B165 and popped it into a MM 121 and it worked ok including the ESU full throttle drive features (ie throttle hold, braking, etc). I could not drive a loco anymore that was not able to coast nor brake on command and be driven prototypically. Might pop short video clip up over next few days. It's a total feast of options available to Irish modellers. Going to layout now for a while to play and shunt wagons using B134 with kadee automatic uncoupling magnets to marshall a goods train in the yard.

There's no reason the decoder would'nt work as normal in an 121 as opposed to a 141....

Just now, murphaph said:

It's fine like that IMO. Better to use a high quality ESU recording of the same prime mover in a very similar body (the recordings are from little US road switchers, which is basically what the 121 is), rather than use a less than optimal 121 recording.

@irishthump can you clarify if the full throttle features are not or are enabled by default? I think there's a small typo in your post which makes it unclear.

 

Yes, the sounds on the ESU website are very recent, high quality recordings and the engines in both those switchers are identical to what's in the 141/121/181's

Sorry I corrected the typo! No, Full Throttle features are NOT activated in these decoders as delivered. But like I said, it's an easy task to turn them on with a Lokprogrammer. I just did it with my own decoder.

6 hours ago, murphaph said:

The prime mover in the sound file sounds very similar to the 8-645E available on the ESU website:

http://projects.esu.eu/projectoverviews/search?q=8-645

(ESU bizarrely have no SSL)

OK. I picked up one of the 567 decoders from Mark's Models yesterday and have spent the morning tinkering with it. Now let me say right off the bat, it sounds excellent! But the soundfile is not bespoke, apart from the horn it basically uses this file: 

http://projects.esu.eu/projectoverviews/search?q=8-567

A more prototypical horn has replaced the US one, but it's the same file. I suspect the EMD 645 is the file that Murphaph has linked to above.

By the way I installed the MM decoder into one of my 141's to test it out. These work fine with the 141/181's without the need for any adjustments. F0 controls the lights as expected so these decoders are perfect if you also want sound in your other locos.

One other thing, if you're used to running Loksound decoders using the Full Throttle features be warned that these decoders do not support those features out of the box. They also don't take full advantage of the new features unique to the V5.  Reprogramming them is simple enough but you really need the Lokprogrammer to do it. Trying this process by just adjusting CV's is not easy!

BTW this is not meant to bash MM in any way, the decoders work fine and sound great which is what is important. (I have 2 more on order anyway!) Just putting the info out for anyone who is interested!

9 hours ago, Irishswissernie said:

I think its this bit here, it might not actually fit on the axle so you don't need to prise off the rotating bit. There would only be one per loco. Looking at later photos of IE IR liveried locos it may have been changed to a different design. I could be completely (and probably am) wrong about this

Yes that’s it. The design may well have changed over time.

21 minutes ago, WRENNEIRE said:

From a conversation some time back with PM, I seem to recall that the cylindrical thingy is a speedometer that fits to the rotational part of the axel on the left hand side of the loco, cab forward, you will need to prise out the cover off the axel . The speedo does not rotate , the bag of extras is a generic bag that will have some bits for the various models being issued, not all the bits will go on every loco

Yep it's clearly visible in this pic...

22 minutes ago, flange lubricator said:

Would you be better striping the coach in brake cleaner before priming .

 

Ewww.... brake fluid?  You use that on the wrong plastic and you'll get a mess!

On 9/11/2020 at 12:19 PM, spudfan said:

 

My point about the plastic hand rail is that it stands out as a plastic item and takes away from the model.  I know we have been waiting on these for a long time but I do not think they should be above criticism if it is fair, appropriate and honest. 

 

This I don't get. You do realise the model is MOSTLY plastic? I really don't see how this particular part on the model looks any worse for being made out of plastic.

7 hours ago, WRENNEIRE said:

Thats all good and fine, but what about the yellow handrails on the 121's?  

Just wait for the rest of the “snag list”....

On 9/11/2020 at 9:43 AM, spudfan said:

I am afraid judging by the photos the plastic rails just don't cut it for me.

Wow! Didn't take long did it? 

A big thanks to Paddy for his immeasurable contribution to making the Irish RTR scene what it is today.

4 hours ago, Dead Kennedy said:

I've noticed MM B121 comes without lamp irons on either buffer beam. They were on the locomotives from the start. Is it just an oversight on the ( excellent) model?

Is it something to do with the model being in its “as delivered” condition? Perhaps they were fitted after arrival by Inchicore Works....