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DCC - Electrical

Soldering: Who really does it right?

Fri, 2015-03-27 04:25 — Chuck P

I've soldered before, mainly on track and PC boards, but I haven't in a while. I'm getting ready to solder feeder wires and took some time last night to watch some videos on soldering on model railroads. Everywhere from Youtube, to TrainmastersTV, MR, MR+, and few self hosted.

I'd always run under the adage that you need to heat both the iron and the part you are soldering. The part you are soldering needs to be hot and that's why you can melt your ties if you aren't careful (or some people use something for a heat sink.)

DCC and sound problem

Mon, 2015-03-23 09:12 — rebeitler

This is probably really basic, as basic as I originally thought, but cannot resolve. Recently switched from N to HO. Have one loco, Athearn Genesis GP9 wih sound. I am not sure at this moment what decoder it has. Using Lenz set 90 for power/control. Same set up used on my N scale layout.

Just finished basic track work for most of my switching layout this weekend. Ran a 14 gauge power bus underneath with 18 gauge feeders every 3-4 feet. Micro Engineerin Code 70 rail.

Stewart Alco C-628 & C-630 Running Issues

Sun, 2015-03-22 11:58 — Blane

Hello

For the past few years or so, I've acquired a fleet of three Stewart Alco C-628 locomotives (2 low-hood with big circuit board including mounted LEDs and 1 high-hood with conventional circuit board and standard LEDs). I also have one Alco C-630 that's high-hood and very much the same as the high-hood C-628. These units have made a nice addition to my roster and really capture the feel of how massive the prototypes of these engines were.

Decoder Programming Education

Fri, 2015-03-20 11:09 — GLatiak

Been having an interesting time of it setting up some new locos for the layout. The problem appeared to start when I tried to setup the long address for my new Rapido GMD-1. Worked fine at the default (de fault is always de user...) address of '03'. But when I changed it on the programming track to aything else the loco would brick. However, I could do a factory reset to the default address, this worked, and the loco was functional.

IAIS 250 sounds off

Mon, 2015-03-16 08:04 — rrfaniowa

My model of Iowa Interstate’s SW1200 250 just got a sound upgrade. It has a Loksound Select decoder and I had been using ESU’s 16 cylinder 567 prime mover sound. But ESU recently released a 12 cylinder 567 which is a perfect fit for the engine.

The sound is incredible. Since the 250 is my layout’s primary locomotive, having the correct prototypical sound is very important. The 12 cylinders have a nice throaty chant that ESU captured well.

If interested, you can hear the sound at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EYTMJWnMT0

does anyone know how to make it brake light that stays on even when the trains stopped eithe with an accelerometer or vibration

Sun, 2015-03-15 07:50 — silverdale0247

does anyone know how to make it brake light that stays on even when the trains stopped either wwithn accelerometer or vibration sensor. Ideally to stay on for a few minutes after stopping on a dc layout.

15 comments

Smoking Power Supply

Sat, 2015-03-14 13:32 — pierre52

The last time I ran my layout was some weeks ago and everything was just fine. Last night I had an opportunity to get back to it and run some trains. Switched on the power supply to my DCS 100 picked up my D402 throttle and selected an engine without problems but then tried turning on the loco lights and nothing. After a few seconds of head scratching I realised I had no track power.

At this point I went back to my control cabinet and saw smoke coming out of my power supply. I switched it off immediately and took it outside.

More wiring fun

Mon, 2015-03-09 07:32 — GLatiak

One of the more interesting parts of building this thing has been different styles of electrical connections. Quite frankly I can really appreciate the simplicity of IDC connections and ribbon cable. A lot less work than crimping RJ connectors on the end of a cable -- and a small vice is a good clamping tool.