[harkins77]

Hi there I am running a gaugemaster dcc21 chip in my mainline N gauge class 60 and a hornby chip in my virgin class 57 thunderbird.

I am running them with a e-z controller and I wondered if there was any way of being able to turn off the back lights on the locos when I have a rake of wagons or coaches coupled to the back to make them like the prototypical stuff.

I must admit that although there has been some bashing of the Hornby chips I find the way it slows down gradually and the fact that it is a 4 function decoder brilliant.

Any suggestions would be greatfull.

 

[Avionyx]

Hi Harkins77.

It might be a bit fiddly to do but if you feel comfortable with it, you could hook up some electrical contacts on the rear couplings, to form a switch for the red lights, so when the couplings are attached it breaks the circuit to the rear LED's?

Only problem with that might be you'd have to put metal contacts onto every bit of rolling stock that you were likely to pull for it to work!

Its just an idea anyway, probably wouldn't be too complicated at all, certainly no harder than fitting a decoder.

Alex

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (harkins77 @ 5 Nov 2007, 09:37) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi there I am running a gaugemaster dcc21 chip in my mainline N gauge class 60 and a hornby chip in my virgin class 57 thunderbird.

I am running them with a e-z controller and I wondered if there was any way of being able to turn off the back lights on the locos when I have a rake of wagons or coaches coupled to the back to make them like the prototypical stuff.

I must admit that although there has been some bashing of the Hornby chips I find the way it slows down gradually and the fact that it is a 4 function decoder brilliant.

Any suggestions would be greatfull.

*** The Hornby decoder slows down gradually because it has a little momentum pre-set. You could actually get any chip to do this if your controller was able to change CV's. CV3 and 4 set momentum.

Same story really with the lights - the fact you have a 4 function decoder means that you could change the rear lights to a different function and turn them on and off at will, BUT you cannot unfortunately switch functions with the EZ command either!

The suggestion for a coupler dependent switch is clever in a way BUT it will be much, much, much harder to do than suggested, especially in N!

So....

As you've found, the EZ runs your loco's well, but it is a bit limiting in the ability to make them do as you'd like.

My recommendation would be to live with the shortcomings of the lighting until you can afford to upgrade to a fully featured DCC system. However avoid the Hornby - it really does have issues that need resolving before its compatible/compliant with the DCC standards.

I'd strongly recommend this as a next step before adding any more loco's etc - the NCE PowerCab at about 90 something pounds is the best option if budget is a factor. Bromsgrove models have them in UK and John Russell is a nice guy to deal with.

Christmas is coming - put it as # 1 on the list

Richard Johnson
DCCconcepts
Perth, WA

 

[Avionyx]

QUOTE (Richard Johnson @ 5 Nov 2007, 13:42) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The suggestion for a coupler dependent switch is clever in a way BUT it will be much, much, much harder to do than suggested, especially in N!

Sorry Richard, I missed the part where Harkins77 said he was modelling in N Gauge.
In that case I might agree that the solution I suggested could be possibly too fiddly to be viable in this gauge - still possible, but not a task I would relish!

All the best,

Alex

 

[Richard Johnson]

[quote name='Avionyx' date='5 Nov 2007, 23:10' post='38755']
Sorry Richard, I missed the part where Harkins77 said he was modelling in N Gauge.
In that case I might agree that the solution I suggested could be possibly too fiddly to be viable in this gauge - still possible, but not a task I would relish!

All the best,

Alex

***No need to apologise Alex, It is an interesting concept and idea that could in fact be made to work. Sometimes great things come from different approaches, so keep them coming .

...but... as one who both builds loco's and does complex installation as part of the business I run, I'm very sure its way beyond the ability of most modellers and even for the expert, would be quite a challenge to do subtly and reliably, especially when compared to simply activating a function and rewiring a couple of LEDs

kind regards

Richard