DCC - Electrical
JMRI
Request for help.
We are having a problem with the JMRI throttle not controlling any DCC engine. Our DCC system is an EasyDCC from CVP and is working fine with no problem. JMRI appears to run fine on the computer. JMRI will turn the track power on and off and with the command monitor window open we see commands being sent, so we know the serial cable is connected. But the JMRI throttle we can't control an engine, throttle or function,even though we can see commands being sent in the command monitor.
Transient Short in Hand Laid Track
Cold weather sometimes has interesting side effects -- and exposes problems that were there all along. Recently, the big yard in my layout developed a short. The PM42 triggered, of course, and my control panel showed that the problem was in the Deseronto yard area. I took everything off the track and started poking around. Nothing... checked all the turnouts, trackwork, nothing showed. Interesting thing, though. When I measured the resistance between the rails I got 84 ohms... an odd number. FInally, by isolating chunks of track and walking the line with my ohm meter -- I found it.
IDCs for solid wire?
I just saw a video in which IDC (suitcase) connectors were used with solid wire. I was under the impression they were for stranded wire only. Can somebody clarify?
iphone 4 speaker
Do you cut the iphone4 speaker to fit the location in the locomotive ? It is fairly long, but thickness and width are great size. Thanks Zeke
Back to track work
For the past several months I have been deferring working on track as I hit a roadblock with controlling my staging yard turnouts. I am far from an electrical genius so was flummoxed by trying to figure out a workable solution. During a discussion a while back with my friend Doug H. (who has forgotten more about electronics and such than I'll ever know), he suggested the end run to my staging yard was using a Digitrax DS64 decoder.

Completely new to sound decoders - need advice
Hello! I have finally decided to enter the world of sound, but I need a little basic help and opinion. I am stuck choosing between Soundtrax, TCS, and ESU for some 1st and 2nd gen EMD HO locos. I've heard a lot of great things about Lok Sound Full Throttle, and it obviously sounds great, but I'm not totally convinced that this is the right option.
Here's my basic criteria:
- Easy to program with just a Power Cab
- Has plenty of options for lighting
- Easy to install
Digitrax DCC Questions
I am reading the manual, and looking at the diagrams and doing some searches. My main search question is how many power districts? This question does not really have a straight answer and I think its because there is so much variation in current draw between older and newer locos.
All of my fleet is Atlas/Kato or Kato or BLI or now Bowser Executive which I am really impressed with. Most will get sound decoders. Loksound.
BlueRail and Dead Rail in 2 Rail O Scale – a journey, an adventure and a success.
I now have three locomotives using BlueRail blue tooth boards and Staunton dual battery BPS boards. And I will never have to wire any of the 25-30 turnouts, nor any sidings or spurs on my layout.
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