December 2007 Progress

Merry Christmas

 

Open House

This November we once again hosted an open house. These three pictures were taken by my good friend Craig Brantley

 

Dave R came over to help with the open house. We are programming a locomotive.

 

 

Wes M came over to help with the open house. Here he is skillfully running the limited.

 

With the room full of visitors, Barry B was one of the many visitors. Here he watches as I tinker with a switch as one of his modeling buddies, Ward, looks on.

 

On the layout, I've added permanent trackage to Fidalgo continued switching over to DCC, installing sound decoders.

 

 

Fidalgo Progress

Track Work

Here are pictures of Fidalgo trackage. The track is in and wired. Switch machines are connected and all that is left is to debug and tweak the track before moving on to painting and Ballast.

 

Additional Pictures of Fidalgo trackage will be shown next update when there is some ballast and ground cover.

Structures

Here five of the new structures under construction for the town of Fidalgo. This group of buildings are all plaster castings from Downtown Deco.

This is a DPM kit under construction.

 

 

 

Installing decoders

Neither wiring track, nor connecting Tortoiuse switch machines nor Installing sound decoders are the subject of interesting pictures. In the end there is no visual change for the hours of work invested. Rather than show a bunch of opened up locos with messy wiring, here are pictures of the decoders I'm using.

The Purple decoder is a Tsunami and the white one is similar to the DSX.

This is a Lenz Gold that I rather like. I use it with engines that draw over an amp but less than 2.5. This is a Lenz Gold-Maxi, I'm using in larger locos with a high current draw, especially the Y-1 electrics.

 

I really like the Soundtraxx Tsunami decoder but heed the warning of one amp maximum motor draw. most of my locos draw over an amp and require a second decoder to drive the motor. This arrangement is called dual decoders and means forfeiting the Tsunami's Dynamic Digital Exhaust feature.

To power the motor I've tried several decoders and learned lessons I'll share. With Dual Decoders, I program the motor decoder to a primary address of one and the sound decoder to two. This is in every engine so I can remember it. Then I program both to the loco's number for the extended address. That way by changing CV 29 I can program either decoder without effecting the other. I can get away with the same primary address in every loco because it is only set to one engine at a time as I'm programming it. This was not my Idea, I read it in an article by Don Fiehmann but it really works well.

Since the DDE feature was not being used, I tried a Soundtraxx DSX sound only decoder. What a disappointment! Perhaps IF I had tried it after only hearding PFM sound it might have been acceptable. In fairness, I also installed a DSX in an Atlas SW-8 switcher and I'm very pleased with it. Now if only I could find a reasonably priced box cab electric sound decoder.

To drive the motor, ten Digitrxx DH123D, (i.5 amp 2.0 max) decoders were purchased. I bought ten because there was a price break at that quantity. I figured I would be using them in dual decoder applications and in the Z-1 and Y-1 electrics. I don't believe the Digitraxx amp rating is accurate. Although my amp meter showed the engines drawing just over an amp, eventually all the DH 123D's were fried. Each went quickly without warning, just a puff of smoke. I also found the instruction manual much more complicated than necessary. I guess if I had a Phd from MIT ---- but I digress. I have not used a Digitraxx product since.

Next I tried an MRC 3 Amp decoder (Sale price from Micro-mark). These also burnt up before the three amp threshold was reached. they seemed to be level one or two decoders and were tough to program because not much programming infomation is furnished. They also did not have all the features I wanted.

Next I tried a Lenz Gold and found a winner. They are rated at 1.8 amps and are a bit more expensive. But rather than burning up, they just stop when they get too hot. All you have to do is wait a few minutes and then reset CV 30. For locos that seemed to get hot too often I've Swapped out the Gold for a Lenz Gold Maxi and have not had any trouble. When you factor in the cost a fried decoder vs just resetting it, these are much more reasonably priced.

I guess I could have tried NCE or TCS products, but once I find something I'm happy with I quit looking. QSI is releasing what they call a Magnum decoder that is rated for 2.7 amps. They also list a GG-1 electric as coming. Time should tell.................

 

 

 


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