What did you order or the post deliver? (Electrical, Lighting, DCC, etc)

[Lina_Blue]

I knew I would get the Kato variant some day. It'll be easier to lug arround and use at the club's for programming or controlling, as it uses the same connectors as the Kato powerpacks.

 

 

my current small loop looks almost ridicoulus with this many throttles ^^

 

[Martijn Meerts]

As requested in the other 'What did you order' thread, some links to the things I ordered. There's not a ton of info available on those sites though. It's also in German.

 

PeHo

 

Brass cups for power pickup in coaches that aren't prepared for power pickup (mostly European brands, if this works it'd be MUCH better than the standard power pickups since they cause an awful lot of drag):

http://peho-kkk.de/mshop/index.php/spur-n/artnr-021-messingbuchsen-n-mit-angeloeteten-draht.html (with wires to check how they do it)

http://peho-kkk.de/mshop/index.php/spur-n/artnr-011-messingbuchsen-n.html (without wires because they're cheaper)

 

Set of small drills to make holes for the brass cups: 

http://peho-kkk.de/mshop/index.php/spur-n/artnr-003-bohrersatz-ohne-heft-n.html

 

Magnetic current conducting couplers for NEM sockets:

http://peho-kkk.de/mshop/index.php/spur-n/magnetkupplung-stromfuehrend-2-pole.html (2 pole)

http://peho-kkk.de/mshop/index.php/spur-n/magnetkupplung-4-pole.html (4 pole)

 

 

Krois

 

Remote controllable coupler:

https://shop.krois-modell.at/Krois-Modell-Eigene-Produktion/Digitale-Kupplungen/Kupplungen-H0e-TT-und-N/N-Digitale-Kupplung-fuer-Einfachtraktionen-N-D1::56.html?MODsid=8e86d524d7860fd1fa7314f82c1681e7

 

Current conducting coupler:

https://shop.krois-modell.at/Krois-Modell-Eigene-Produktion/Stromfuehrende-Kupplungen/Kupplungen-H0e-TT-und-N/N-Stromfuehrende-Kupplung-2-polig-NS-2::40.html?MODsid=8e86d524d7860fd1fa7314f82c1681e7 (2 pole)

 

https://shop.krois-modell.at/Krois-Modell-Eigene-Produktion/Stromfuehrende-Kupplungen/Kupplungen-H0e-TT-und-N/N-Stromfuehrende-Kupplung-4-polig-NS-4::14110.html?MODsid=8e86d524d7860fd1fa7314f82c1681e7 (4 pole)

 

 

And some other things, but those are just regular replacement couplers, nothing electrical or dcc or anything, just bits of plastic 🙂

 

[chadbag]

I want to see how the cups work when you get them done.

[Martijn Meerts]

I'm really curious as well.. Need to find an old coach to try it on though, so as not to destroy one of the newer ones.. I have plenty old stuff, so that shouldn't be a problem.

[Welshbloke]

Bit different, an ESU Lokpilot conversion in an old Marklin loco:

 

 

These can run on DCC, Motorola, AC or DC supplies (hence the 9v battery to check it worked). The motor has its original armature and brushes with a new magnet in place of the AC field coil.

 

Incidentally, the reason this part only has four wheels is that Marklin modelled a few bogie locos with a rigid four wheel chassis and the outer axles as radial trucks. Presumably they didn't fancy trying to fit the old motor into a bogie. It looks better assembled than this description would suggest, and is superbly heavy. The ends of the two chokes are well clear of the inside of the body, which awaits cleaning.

[Martijn Meerts]

On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 9:43 PM, chadbag said:

I want to see how the cups work when you get them done.

 

Spent a bit of time looking into installing those cups. I ended up using an old 2-axle baggage car with a small room for staff, basically the old German version of a caboose.

 

Drilling the holes was easy enough, I ordered the drill set which comes with 1 tiny drill with a brass ring fastened to it, and as well as a somewhat smaller drill. The one with the ring you use to drill the hole for the cup, and it's really just a matter of drilling until the ring hits the bogie. You do need to push it a little further with the wires that come pre-soldered, it's fairly thick wire and the solder joint isn't the best. The smaller drill you can use to adjust the inside of the cup a little.

 

I thought it'd be annoying to push the cups in, but they actually went in really easy. Initially the first one wouldn't fit well, but a little extra drilling worked well. Used the small drill slightly on the inside of the cup to increase clearance a bit, because the axle wouldn't fit. Ended up having to grind a tiny bit off the ends of the wheel axles to get them to fit well.

 

I haven't actually installed a light or anything, just wanted to test installing the cups themselves and check if the car still runs smooth. I think after a couple of installs to get used to them, you can install the cups real fast, and the cars run really well, if possibly a little bit louder. I think the only real issue might be soldering wires to the cups, which is definitely something you'll want to do yourself if you install these things in a lot of coaches.

 

I'll probably try soldering some wires and installing the cups on a coach I actually want to run on the layout, and then also install a temporary light using just resistor and LED, no additional electronics. I should then also be able to fairly easily test some of the current conduction couplers.

 

[chadbag]

Did you take pics?

[Martijn Meerts]

I didn't. Will take some tonight, although there's not that much to see since I really only installed the cups, didn't do any wiring at all 🙂

 

 

[chadbag]

8 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

I didn't. Will take some tonight, although there's not that much to see since I really only installed the cups, didn't do any wiring at all 🙂

 

 

That is ok.   I am interested in seeing the cups installed

[Martijn Meerts]

Here are some pictures. The first one is a size comparison between the brass cup and an N-scale DD51 coupler.

 

 

 

 

And the second one is the cup installed in an old baggage car of sorts. Left side has the cup, right side is the regular 'hole' for the wheel. I didn't glue these in, because this isn't really a car I need power pickup in, but it was just a good one for testing.

 

 

 

 

[chadbag]

Ah, OK.  Thanks.  I see now how this is to work.  Thanks!

[Welshbloke]

They look rather like the brass top hat bearings I have for kit built HO/OO stock, but with wires added. Useful for models with worn axleboxes or kits moulded in soft plastics, as the brass will last far longer.

[Martijn Meerts]

Yep, and it allows you to add frictionless power pickup in European brand (mostly) coaches if you install them with the wires. 

[chadbag]

It might be nice to have a separate topic for these brass cup bearings.  Where to get, how to install, etc.

[chadbag]

Some of the chips and parts for the DCC decoder project have come in.  Not all though.

[Martijn Meerts]

Ordered an ESU powerpack, which is basically just a capacitor with some additional circuitry to hook up to a decoder to give it a bit of a power buffer on dirty track. It should be able to keep a train running for about 3 seconds without power. The additional circuitry makes sure the decoder still works as it should. Ordered it mostly to test with, and see if I can get it to fit inside the H0j steamer. I'll likely need to modify it, install the capacitor itself in the boiler, and the circuit in a side tank.

 

Also ordered one of the new ESU 'modular speakers', which is basically just a regular small speaker with a couple of plastic bits and pieces to create a soundbox. Also for experimenting mainly, and see what kind of sound the new speakers can output. These are small speakers (11 x 15mm), so I'm not expecting too much, but I should be able to create a custom soundbox around it, and make it look like the interior of the H0j steam locomotive.

[chadbag]

I finally ordered and got the ZIMO decoder sets for the ICE4.  These are ZIMO based EM13 and FL12 compatible decoders.  I have not installed them yet but here is a pic with all that came today (3 D&H DH05 variants and the ZIMO sets -- one a set with motor and FL12 compatible decoders and one just the motor decoder for the expansion set).  The second pic is a more up-close pic of the same ZIMO decoders.

 

[Martijn Meerts]

Interesting to see other brands do this form factor. Do the ZIMO ones have more features than the Kato ones?

 

[chadbag]

13 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

Interesting to see other brands do this form factor. Do the ZIMO ones have more features than the Kato ones?

 

 

They have all the ZIMO features that their normal decoders have like RailCom and a bunch of other things.  I assume these would work in any EM13 installation but were specifically made for the ICE4 (probably at the request of Lemke)

[Martijn Meerts]

Would certainly be an interesting option if they fit in any EM13 socket. ZIMO is pretty decent in general, certainly has far more features than the Kato ones. 

 

Not sure about the motor control. I think I have a ZIMO in 1 of my Dutch prototype trains, and it’s not a great runner, but I haven’t looked at the settings of it either. 

[chadbag]

Today I got a Zimo decoder tester, a Zimo Nano decoder for a test I am running, and some ESU RailCom transmitters (5-pack).

 

I did not know about the RailCom transmitters but when I was looking at the vendor's website for the Zimo nano decoder I saw that and thought it would be a good thing to use to augment my few trains that have non RailCom decoders in them.

 

[gavino200]

11 minutes ago, chadbag said:

Today I got a Zimo decoder tester, a Zimo Nano decoder for a test I am running, and some ESU RailCom transmitters (5-pack).

 

I did not know about the RailCom transmitters but when I was looking at the vendor's website for the Zimo nano decoder I saw that and thought it would be a good thing to use to augment my few trains that have non RailCom decoders in them.

 

 

 

Decoder testers are super handy. I have the ESU one. That railcom transmitter looks interesting. How much was it?

[chadbag]

5 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

 

Decoder testers are super handy. I have the ESU one. That railcom transmitter looks interesting. How much was it?

 

The RailCom transmitters seems to have been $59.19 for a 5-pack at sbs4dcc.com .  Worth it to not "waste" those decoders already installed and to avoid the hassle of such as well 🙂

 

 

I have yet to try the decoder tester but am looking forward.  I have one or two that I think are fried but I'd like to confirm 🙂

 

 

[gavino200]

Some wire! 😜 Does this count?

 

[gavino200]

I got some LED lamps for my new flat roofless end platforms. They match the ones on my old platforms that I got years ago. I'm relieved they still sell them.