Track and electrical/DCC
PRR steam sounds: Loksound, Tsunami, or TCS WOW?
Which brand has more prototypical whistles, bells, and sounds for PRR steam? Loksound, Taunami, or TCS WOW?
All brands are well regarded. Unfortunately they all have prorietary sound files so you cannot move the sound to your favorite decoder. I have read that Loksound has better motor control, so I tend toward them.
PM42 shorts at power up
Here's a weird one. One of my PM42s has been shorting in all four blocks as soon as I turn on the power to the layout. But, as soon as I turn on track power all shorting stops and everything is tickety-boo, as my buddy Bill might say in his native tongue. So, what's up wid dat? Not with weird Canuck expressions, they put vinegar on French fries so I expect those sorts of things, but with the shorting?
thanks
Randy
Railroad and Company
I have a friend that offered to give me his copy of RR and co as he no longer has a layout.
He has the USB stick that he purchased and that will be included.
Before I go and try and use the program I was wondering if I needed any other code for the license agreement. He cant recall if the USB was all I needed to get the program to work?
Thanks for any help
Trent
Hard-wiring 8-pin Loksound decoders?
I have 30 locomotives that currently have Tsunami board-replacement-style decoders installed. I'm in the process of converting all to Loksound, and I have a great opportunity to trade most for a like number of new Loksound Selects. However, most of the Loksounds are of the 8-pin plug variety.
Would the installation of such a decoder as a replacement for a factory board-style Tsunami be feasible (i.e. clipping off the plug and soldering the various wires on the locomotive to those on the decoder)?
Two motors with one decoder
I have an Athearn F7 A-A setup that is semi-permanently connected together with a drawbar. Currently, it's a powered unit and a dummy, and the power is has a really good can motor that doesn't draw more than 500ma stalled. Full throttle runs about 60 scale mph.
I'd like to put another can in the dummy to power both units, and have questions about how to do that, specifically how to connect the motors.
Have I fried a DCC decoder?
I'll admit right now that other than what I've read here on MRH, I know next to nothing about DCC and probably haven't retained much of what I've read as I don't use it.
I've got a DC N scale layout with no intention of converting to DCC until the next one.
HobbyKing
For the info of Canadians on the thread. I am starting to play around with servos and HobbyKing seem to be the place to go to. They state in their advertising that they supply to Canada though their US West Warehouse. They do but at US$38 for a US$3.00 item (plus the stuff the GoC slaps us with) !!! I suppose they can argue that they meet their legal obligations but!!.
LED strips - how much is too much?
I have been using LED strip lights, usually using the same wall wart sold by the manufacturer. But naturally I've been experimenting with ways to get more strands on one power supply so that the floor and areas around outlets don't look like something out of Christmas Vacation.
Using wall warts, you can get about two 5 meter strands, maybe three depending on the number of LED's on the strip. The wall warts seem to get hot regardless of one or two or three strands.
Considering joint bars / fishplates...cautions, tips, advice?
Greetings all,
I'm considering adding joint bars to HO scale code 70 and code 83 track. I'm sold on it from an aesthetic perspective, but I'm a little concerned from an operational standpoint--specifically, the potential for the joint bars on the inside faces of the rails to cause derailments. Note that I'm looking at using the Details West and/or Precision Design Co. products. Also, while most of my wheels are semi-scale, the track in question is on a Free-Mo module that will host a very wide variety of rolling stock.
Point me to a good tutorial on signaling
Now that construction has commenced on the layout and the track is down and wired on the first section (I'm building it in sections, completing them one at a time from benchwork through scenery then bolting them together) I'm in the detailed planning stage of the next section which will be mostly mainline (the section I am presently building is an industrial area). I want to incorporate signaling as I build rather then add it later.
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