Well...I dropped in three NW2 decoders and got them programmed for their roadnumbers. They're running just great...no problems with the installation, programming or subsequent operation. I also tried to install the RS-1 decoder ...my first hardwiring job rather than a drop-in. I was careful about removing the tabs to the motor, just like the instructions said, but apparently not careful enough... I got some buzzes and beeps and lights flashing two or three times as I put it on the track. But I also had a click, click, click of a short, like I get if I run a loco through a turnout set the wrong way. Usually, when I resolve a short caused by a derailed loco sitting on a turnout, the system comes back up, but this short must have been within my installation, because, even though I immediately took the loco off the track, broke it down again and checked everything for possible shorting, when I put it back on the track I got nothing...zip...nada...dead, dead, dead. I had another loco with address 03, and that one worked fine. But the RS-1 hasn't given me anything since those initial few seconds. I'd take the decoder out and go back to using it on Address 00, but as part of the installation I had to remove the tabs from the brushes to the frame, so I can't go back to running it as an analog loco. AARRRGGHH! Maybe I'll do some more problem solving tomorrow...
ppuinn: be careful with shorting / misbehaving decoders; I've found the N scale ones quite fragile and not overly forgiving; and one of my life-likes has the scorch marks to prove it If it was misbehaving and is now apparently dead, it might well be dead. Check for scorch marks / burnt smells. Otherwise, I would recommend pulling it apart, checking all the gaps carefully, adding more insulation, and trying it on the programming track with the shell off (rules out shell pinching wires to create the short). Probably something is rubbing against a wire, a motor brush, or the decoder itself. The programming track is a lot less likely to melt a decoder than the main. Personally, I hate hardwired installs; I'm running 3 dead decoders from 4 installs <wheels chair over towards topic> ahem. Umm. For the Duck River, I've screwed together my helix foundation. It's not perfectly level, so tomorrow it will be shimmed. I've also added more horizontal battens for backdrops; including around the (river) corner and on the Staging Deck. I've decided that Pink wallpaper + white brackets should be covered up.. Annoying factoid of the day: 1x2 is 19x45 mm; so two 1x2 on their side is not the same height as a 1x2 standing on end. So now my helix foundation is about 14mm too short. Oh well; more shims! I'm on target to achieving one of my three 'goals' by February 1!
I got out my LT1 tester and I'm 98% sure the decoder is dead...the remaining 2% is clinging to the hope that the TCS decoder is factory defaulted to 14 steps instead of 128 and all I'll have to do is re-set CV29. I'm getting in touch with the dealer who sold me the decoder to see what else I might try.
Aren't you guys jumping the gun a little bit? I thought the Spring Layout Party was supposed to start Feb. 1. Are you in the wrong thread, or is this the pre-party party? :we-wink:
I intend to do something on my shelf layout but have not picked out a specific area or project yet. But I'm working on chosing something...
Guilty!! Every day is a party on the P&PU in N-scale!:we-wink: I'm probably jumping the gun a little because I know my workload at the office is going to pick up in late February and March and I may not be able to spend as much time on my layout projects.
I, too, have broken the rules a bit and started early. I know for a fact that at least one of the seven weeks is completely shot, and likely a second. So, we'll just call it a bye week and you guys will catch up to (and probably pass) me on the progress meter then.
This is my start: I will miss the real start on Feb 1. On Friday I go to a FREMO meeting with my station Naumburg. And from March 11 - 17 I'm at the exhibition in Sinsheim . :angel: One week for the party lost. :sad: Wolfgang
I cheated, too. With 3 weeks gone for a trip to Ohio, I slung some 'mud last night. I basically smoothed out the foam and filled in some crevices with vinyl spackle. I might experiment making rocks with spackle. I still need to get rock molds, and Hydrocal. Is there a good, (locally available at any hardware store) ultra-lightweight substitute for Hydrocal?
Some time back in another thread,I mentioned I was using code 40 in the spurs on my N scale HCD layout. Someone wanted to see pics,so....... The grain elevator spur, code 40. Next to it is a piece of code 55, and to the right a piece of code 80. The main line is code 55. And yes,I've smoothed out the kinkin the curve. And yes, I'm using a rail joiner with terminal wire to supply power to the track. Seems to work well, and cuts back on soldering. The track, as you can see, is laid on WS foam roadbed, which is on a 1" slab of pink foam. Track elevation is 48" from the floor.
I'm in for the 2008 party. Like some others I have done very little since the end of the 2007 party and I really need to make some progress. Since I completed the trackwork and DCC wiring at the end of the last party, I will work on rough scenery in this one: My plan for the 7 weeks: 1. install and shape the couple of above-track foam embankments 2. rough in the hardshell bridge embankments and riverbed 3. make progess on installing my streets around the street trackage in styrene 4. In at least a couple areas, get the earth basepaint in thus removing the plywood look. 5. Lastly, work on a couple of the significant structures. I've attached a thumbnail showing what the layout looks like today. Peter
I put a TCS decoder in one of my MP15s this weekend...had to mess around with the motor contacts to get it to work and I'm still having some occasional hesitation before it accepts reversing directions...sometimes the delay is up to 3 or 4 seconds! It is almost as if the wheels or track are dirty and the signal needs to be sent a 2nd or 3rd time before the decoder gets the message. I cleaned wheels before changing out the lightboard for the decoder, but it could be dirty track...I'll be cleaning track over the next week or so and will see what happens. I'm not having the same issue with any other loco/decoder.
Getting close to start time so I will post some pics of the layout as it is today and give a brief out line of what I intend doing over the next seven weeks. Helix two: get a better backdrop for a start, and some basic scenic basework done. Helix one: the same thing really, do some ground work for adding more detailed scenery. Ahhh.... the bridges, lots of work to de done here. Again the backdrop needs a real makeover. I am still waiting for the "right" bridge for the center double track but something will happen here for sure! High on the list of priorities is fill the areas between the tracks (mountains in the background, a tunnel, some cut and fill work and lots of pine trees and rocks! I don't intend finishing the upper level in just seven weeks but hope to make a good start on the scenery. I have a large bag of casting plaster ready to go and am really keen to get into it.
It is getting close to start time. I'm getting nervous! I'd better start planning my first moves. Some of you guys appear to have a head start?
I have made a head start, as I'm losing 3 weeks due to a vacation. Amtrak from NW Montana to NE Ohio! Last nite, I sanded the spackling smooth, and added more in cracks, crevices and oother areas I missed the first time. I might experiment with making rocks with spackle.
Mine is not so much of a quick start as the fact that I've been working on my layout pretty solidly since somewhere before christmas; so I'm progressing every week even without the party. While this means the only time I'm in my armchair (so-to-say) is to read TrainBoard, I would hate to think it suggests I can't join in the Fun and progress+encouragement that I predict over the next couple of weeks. Not to mention I also plan to use the excuse that several here have echoed - March is crazy-making-time at work, so I may bow out / pass out / slow down towards the end. January is probably a better time for Layout work for me. Since there's no point posting again in two days, I think I'll start the next part early too! This Week: My layout currently stands at: | | (click to enlarge) By 8 February I hope to: * build more than one of the little "boxes" for the (lower) Staging Deck and fit these into place so I have somewhere to lay track Alternatively I might: * Staple backdrop to the walls to hide all that timber! See y'all there!
