irishthump

Noel,

I am not on DCC sound yet. Can you explain what the manual notching function is exactly? Sorry for my ignorance.

Thanks

It allows you to hange the engine revs independently of the loco's speed. You can rev the engine right up to simulate trying to get a heavy train started or you can lower the revs to simulate coasting.

Chatting to somebody recently they expressed a preference for the Zimo sound files of Irish GMs rather than the LokSound 4.0 compatible recordings. Does anybody who has had or listened to both have a view on this?

I have both Loksound and Zimo decoders. I think the sound files on the Zimo chips are better quality recordings, also they are taken from actual Irish locos while the Loksound equivalents use genric engine sounds from US locos that use the same prime mover as Irish locos.

Having said that I prefer the Loksound decoders. Zimo's motor control is second to none but Loksounds are much faster to respond to throttle changes and they have a manual notching feature.

I'll give the servicing a go, Its about 14-15 years old, good physical nick, how or where do I get my hands on extra pick-ups for the 201?

You'll have to make them yourself using copper or brass strip. Here's a video showing how to fit extra pickups to another a class 55; the basic design is pretty much the same for all Lima models.

[video=youtube;-8UQ6wiowoI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8UQ6wiowoI

Like Riversuir said servicing the motor would be the first think I would look at, then strip down the motor bogie and give it a clean and lubricate it.

Also check the existing wire connections and resolder them if necessary. It's possible to add extra pickups which would be a good idea if you're planning to convert it to DCC.

It's quite possible to get Lima motors to run well, but the performance will be nothing like a Bachmann or Athearn.

Thanks Dave et al. That particular TMS decoder comes with a wires only harness, no plug at the loose end only the 9 pin plug that mates with the decoders pcb socket. AAMOI I bought a few extra 9 pin harnesses so I can wire more locos to the harness before committing them to a specific chip, and so I can swap decoders to match the motors in different locos. Many of the main decoder vendors seem to have variants of their decoders with 9pin pcb sockets.

Careful, not all makes of decoder use the same size 9 pin plug. I have decoders from Gaugemaster, DCC concepts, Digitrax and Lenz and they all use different size plugs!

As I understand it the problem arises when there is a PayPal dispute, where the sender now has no proof that the intended recipient has received, only proof it got to parcel motel leaving sellers open to fraud.

Can't see how that's right. You can only collect your parcel with a code that is sent to your mobile phone by Parcel Motel.

Thanks irishthump. The main culprits are metal wheels on Bachmann loose coupled mineral wagons (steel coal wagons), and some old lima BR Mk1s in Blue/Grey 70s livery (possible donors for IR EGVs). By thread do you mean the thickness of the flange, or the depth of the flange or other?

Thanks. Noel

By the thread I mean not the flange but the part of the wheel that actuallt touches the rail. If these are are to wide (or thick if you like) they will easily cause a short. Like I said the old Lima's are notorious for this....

Aha, there is a little bit more to DCC track wiring conversion then I had thought. Crossings and double slips!!! Now do I use isolating switches, or electronics (ie reversers)?

 

I've been testing DCC on the layout for a few weeks now with DCC drops to the middle and upper levels working ok. Haven't gone near the terminus yet which is still DC. However I noticed the crossing linking the dual track incline linking the upper and middle level is causing intermittent shorts as metal coach wheels run over the plastic frog briefly bridging the circuit. Temporary solution has been to isolate the incline using the existing old block section wiring switch, but a more permenant solution may be needed. Any suggestions from experience?

 

Glad I have left permenant track ballasting until the layout is totally finished and went with foam underlay initially. Makes pulling track up for wiring changes easier.

The short is usually caused by the tread of the wheel bridging the gap between the rails at the frog of the point on insulated points. Are you using live or insulated frog points?

Also, are the coaches causing this problem older models? The wheels on Lima and older Hornby MK3's have a very wide thread which bridges the gap easily. The best option is to change the wheelsets, easy enough with Hornby but the Lima wheels have a shorter axle. Replacements can be found but they're not cheap.

DC makes the loco go back and forward. DCC makes more than one go back an forward at the same time.

Now now, Glenderg. You're being a bit economical with the truth there....

With DCC you can make 2 locos go in different directions on the same length of track. Try doing that with DC. Oh, it's possible but not without a load of switches, isolating sections and complicated wiring.

To be honest I'm amazed at the reluctance of DC users to even consider DCC. I was at one exhibition a couple of years ago and I asked the operator of a particularly nice layout if it was DC or DCC. He snorted this reply; "Oh no it's DC, sure why would I want to complicate things?" Now I dread to think what the mess of wiring under the layout looked like! I then tried to explain the advantages of digital control to him, and he replied that he could do anything that DCC could do with his layout. So I used the example above of 2 engines crawling towards each other on the same length of track and he did'nt believe you could do that with DCC....

My point being that a lot of long standing DC users seem reluctant to even learn about DCC, with the result they don't know what they're missing....

How does the Parcel Motel work then? Do you put their address in the delivery info & they tell you when its dropped off at the nearest machine to you??

Yeah. You'll get an email and a text from them telling you the parcel has arrived. It costs €3.95 per parcel and still often works out cheaper since many sellers offer free UK shipping.

Did some minor detailing on a couple of covered wagons that I picked up on Ebay. I added some handrails on the doors and nose grabrails and added DCC controlled lights.

I wanted to install a headlight in the front door and a working mars light in the upper headlight. Space can be a bit limited so I used micro leds from Wickness models that I fixed to the back of the headlight lenses. I then sealed the back with black mastic tape which holds everything nicely in place and stops any light from bleeding into the cab.

I used Lenz Standard decoders which give flawless running even with the bog-standard Blue Box motors. The motors were given a good clean and the sintered metal wheels were replaced with nickel silver replacements.

The only glitch was that initially I wired the headlight to the white decoder wire (F0 forward) and the mars light to the green wire (F1). Unfortunately only the white and yellow outputs can be programmed to work like a mars light. So I was forced to rewire the mars light to the yellow function wire and re-map it to work on F1.

Here's a short video of them working....

I replaced the Ringfield motor in a Hornby HST with one form a CD drive a while back. Like Dhu Varren said the result is far better.

Here's a link to my workbench thread that shows it running - http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/77-Graham-s-Workbench/page12 Scroll to the bottom of the page.

As Dhu described the gear off the old motor shaft is to big so I cemented a small piece of brass tube over the shaft for a tight fit.

I've used a mix of Lenz Silver 21pin and Bachman 36-557 21pin in Murphy Models 141/181s. The low cost 36-557 performs remarkably well with MM141 crawling smoothly without any juddering.

Never used Bachmann but I have to agree on the Lenz decoders. I just installed Lenz chips in a couple of old Athearn locos and they are running sweet as a nut, even with the crappy old Athearn motor!

The main difference between 8 pin and 21 pin is the number of functions available through the pins. An 8 pin socket will only support 3 functions, although 4 function decoders with an 8 pin plug will have an extra 9th wire which requires connecting separately for the 4th function. 21 pin connectors will support 6 functions. If using sound decoders, an 8 pin setup will also require speaker connections, whereas a 21 pin setup has the connections built in.

I would agree with skinner75 that it is a good idea to fit pre-DCC locos with 8 pin sockets instead of directly wiring into the loco, providing there is enough space inside for a socket and a decoder.

Sorry Dhu Varren, we must have been typing at the same time!

The amount of pins on the decoder is mainly to do with the amount of functions. 8 pin has a maximum of 3 functions which can be used without any modifications. The word "function" does not cover motor control, it's normally lights, sound or even smoke generators or couplers. Many 8 pin decoders will have a seperate purple wire which can be connected to power an extra function but this has to be wired in seperate from the decoder socket.

Having said that, Murphy's 141's have a 21 pin socket but actually don't require it. The loco only uses 2 functions (forward and backward lights) so an 8 pin decoder can be used with a 21-8 pin adaptor. To be honest though, there's no benefit as the cost of the decoder plus adaptor is close enough to the cost of a 21 pin decoder! You might even run into problems squeezing the decoder+adaptor+wires under the body of a 141....

The 071's and 201's actually need a 21 pin chip that supports 6 functions to allow you use all the lighting features on the loco. You can use a cheaper decoder (which usually have 4 functions) but the cab lights won't work.

Noel,

DO I understand that the WiThrottle app will interface with any system that's compatible with JMRI?

I use a Gaugemaster/MRC Prodigy Advance 2 and MRC have just opened up their software to be JMRI compatible.

Hi Noel, the American stuff has fallen way behind. It seems its a case of if it ain't broke don't fix it! The NCE powercab is a good example of this,

I think you hit the nail on the head there, Dave. I think it has to do with the older demographic of the US market. You've got a lot of old timers (no offence intended there!) who don't want to give up the feel of a throttle in their hand. Mention computer control and it's like a red rag to a bull!

Great shots of 145 and 177 in Black and Tan.

The loksound should let you enter a value from zero to 31 for CV 278/CV 286 for Aux 1 and Aux 2 brightness

Sorry! Boskonay's right. The value should be 0-31 not 0-255.....

You also have to set CV 31 to 16 and CV 32 to 0 before changing those function output CV's.

OK no NCE Pro Cab users around for past 24hr, but . . .

 

I've been wondering if I'm going about this the wrong way, should I be looking at reprogramming the decoder to remap functions above 9 (i.e. 10-19) to lower FN values (e.g. 5-9). I'm trying to get the MM 071 sound chip FN 18 & 19 on direct key access so need to map them to say FN 8 & 9?

 

PS: does anybody know if the MM 071 sound decoder (i.e. LokSound V4.0) can be programmed to dim the cab light. It's a bit stark.

Noel,

The various sound functions can all be remapped to different keys. I have had it done by the suppliers before myself, but I'm not 100% sure of the process.

The Loksound V4 manual explains it but it takes a while to get your head around. The full V4 manual is here - http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/instruction-manuals/digital-decoders/

Any of the light functions can adjusted, as far as I remember the cab lights are on functions outputs 5 and 6. According to the Loksound manual the brightness on these outputs is controlled by CV's 294 and 302. You can just experiment with values of between 0-255 until you get the level you like.

Hope that helps!

I need a microscope to get the railings back on.

Yep, they're a b**ger and no mistake! Personally I leave the railings on and just release the tabs from underneath as aclass07 said.

Absolutely top notch lads!

Thanks guys. I couldn't find your workbench tread irishthump

Here it is - http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/77-Graham-s-Workbench/page10

Thanks. Just read a magazine article on fitting one of these to a 141/181 but it seems a little bit of cannibalisation is needed to fit a speaker.

Not at all. If you look at my workbench thread you can see how installed a decoder and speaker in one of my 141's. The back of the speaker can be removed which allows you to fit it under the body without having to do any drastic surgery!

Looks superb!