Track and electrical/DCC
ESU Switchpilot and Extension
I've reduced all of my techie questions regarding the Extension down to this one: Is the Switchpilot Extension essentially a solid state digital version of the old Atlas 200 Snap Relay? Current proposed application would be to drive route indicating LEDs. Thanks - I've Googled this device to no end without a satisfactory hit to answer this question.
locomotive/accessory decoder and CV29
I am building a motorized overhead crane that I would like to put on my accessory bus. I have two motors that I need to control, and would like to use locomotive decoders for them.
If I understand the NMRA spec correctly, if bit 7 is set to 0 in CV29 then it is an accessory decoder. It appears that all of the regular locomotive decoders ignore bit 7, I have looked at both NCE and Digitrax decoders.
Do any of the other locomotives support changing bit 7?
Or is there another way to control the motor with an accessory decoder?
Thanks
Slow motion switch machines
I am in the analysis paralysis phase of my layout design and I have come to the subject of the slow motion switch machine.
I have been looking at a few and I have come up with a list of desires and wants.
Do you solder your turnouts?
I have heard different things about soldering rail joiners at turnouts. Some say to solder them to maintain alignment, others say turnouts need to "float" and not be soldered at the joiners.
What say you?
Randy
Atlas Silver FM Train Master DCC Light Conversion
Good evening...I'm working on converting an Atlas Master Silver locomotive to DCC/Sound. Question is, can I use the light boards that come installed or do I need to find a lighting kit for the conversion? Been awhile since I did a decoder install and this is the first of these light boards I've encountered. Any suggestions would be helpful for sure. Thanks!
Speaker wiring
Quick question regarding speaker wiring. Railpro is capable of impedance loads anywhere from 4 Ohms to 16 Ohms, and will output 2 watts and 0.5 watts respectively at these impedances. I'm using 8 Ohm 1-watt max speakers. Up to this point I have been wiring them in sets of 4 as series-parallel, so I have been right at 8 Ohms, 1 watt.
Weller iron and soldering to frogs
As work progresses on my new layout (old was DC), I've now soldered my first feeder to the frog of a Micro Engineering switch, that little nub underneath.
Decoder Pro over WiFi
I bought a 10-inch tablet this past weekend, and I know you can have a WiFi throttle through JMRI, but what's the skinny on using DecoderPro?
Black Electrical Tape for DCC installs
A few months ago I bought a used Bachman H16-44 with DCC installed. It worked but I wanted to play with the CVs. I got curious about what decoder was in it so I took it apart. The entire decoder and wiring were taped up like a cocoon with black electrical tape. What a gooey gloppy mess to take apart. Some mineral spirits and Q-Tips and about a half hour of scrubbing removed most of it. I re-taped with Kapton and the install looks much neater and I know will stay put without the gooey mess. The decoder can breathe too.
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