Running Bear's May 2024 Coffee Shop


AemJaY1 said:
@bnsf971 xD well my autocorrection did that, i mean a buswire :D but for real. does someone in this forum operate his model railroad trough a buswire? iam still thinking of doing so. so i only have one main cable at the end and this will be plugged in the transformer. but iam not shure if this really works with all the connections on this one cable.
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I pretty much knew that, though it was amusing. Probably more amusing in my head than it really was...
Anyway, it depends on what you mean by bus wire, and what you want to accomplish. Most instances of bus wire are for consistent power delivery. If that's all you want to do, then running feeders from a main heavy gauge wire is a good idea. If you want to control things other than trains, using a command station, through a bus wire, it depends on what you are controlling. Things can get complex quickly if you're trying to control turnouts using a DCC system, and using a bus wire system for those can go South fast. If you are operating, or want to operate, signals and turnouts, it would be a good idea to segregate that from the part that controls the trains.
It's also a really good idea to separate the track on a larger layout into what is referred to as "power districts", similar to block control on an older DC-only system. The reason for that is if there is a problem with a train or track, you can easily isolate the problem to one section of the layout. Then there are boosters, auto-reversing modules, and a host of other complications.
How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?
 
bnsf971 said:
I pretty much knew that, though it was amusing. Probably more amusing in my head than it really was...
Anyway, it depends on what you mean by bus wire, and what you want to accomplish. Most instances of bus wire are for consistent power delivery. If that's all you want to do, then running feeders from a main heavy gauge wire is a good idea. If you want to control things other than trains, using a command station, through a bus wire, it depends on what you are controlling. Things can get complex quickly if you're trying to control turnouts using a DCC system, and using a bus wire system for those can go South fast. If you are operating, or want to operate, signals and turnouts, it would be a good idea to segregate that from the part that controls the trains.
It's also a really good idea to separate the track on a larger layout into what is referred to as "power districts", similar to block control on an older DC-only system. The reason for that is if there is a problem with a train or track, you can easily isolate the problem to one section of the layout. Then there are boosters, auto-reversing modules, and a host of other complications.
How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?
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maybe (just maybe) you have seen my layout post in another section of this forum :)
my idea was, running a bus wire for power the track and the turnouts (all train related things).

what i have:
- 4 turnout motors
- around 10-16 feeder wires

in my head i was thinking, put everything on the bus wire and then run it trough my Z21 DCC Station from Rocco. Control the turnouts and all the locos with the Z21 or my ipad or computer in the end. i only build a shelf layout so not a huge layout, but i want it all DCC. And maybe we have to switch to another thread and not take this over. But i want to go down the rabbit hole as far as i have to, to understand how it works and what i have to do next :)

thnx.
jay

***UPDATE***

After a short break iam realizing, thats not what iam actually doing ahahahaha.
i have 4 switching motors (tortoise) those are going to a "switch" and this switch is then connected to my Z21 Digital Station. So no adding to the bus, only the feeders will go to the mainwire the turnouts are separate.
 
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PRR Modeler said:
John I have had the issue of having to constantly reset the throttle DT402D. In my case it was that the UR-92 had quit working. When I replaced it everything was good.

I don't have a DT602 throttle but have listened to a couple of friends that really dislike it.
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If you are ever in my neighborhood, stop by and I'll buy you a beer. I unpluged the throttle from my central DP-5 and plugged it into another one on my layout. And Presto!, I was able to hit the program button AND call up AD4. Before; trying to program AD4 was impossible. I'm like a little kid in a toy shop now. Turn on the layout power, hit program, and then hit AD4, turn off the power, and start the process over. You don't realize how much aggrivation you have saved me. I would have never thought of the DP-5 as the problem. I will replace it later on this morning...Thanks again
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 63°, may reach 90° today but only 74° tomorrow. Rain is still in the forecast for tomorrow, of course because it's the weekly grocery trek day!

I did finally get all of the Green Peas out of the fridge and processed and into the freezer. I'll go out this morning to see if I can pick another last batch before removing the vines. Processing Broccoli is on tap for today. I picked about 1/3 of the onion crop yesterday; they need at least a week of drying in the sun before I trim them for long term storage. In other action, I used the weedeater around parts of the house where the ground is firm enough that I didn't leave foot indentations. Maybe a bit more today and I will definitely use it around the pool.

Not a lot of action out in the train shed yesterday, mostly adding figures here and there. Added a few more to the Merchant's Row III on the left as I alluded to yesterday.
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Then I added some, including a police officer, to the hotel/apartments.
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Next up was the still wet alleyway between the library and the bar and drug store.
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I then ran trains for a few minutes since they were just waiting to be moved.

Patrick - I have had good luck with rabbits by spreading Blood Meal inside the edges of the garden and scattered about over the rest of it. Rabbits are vegetarians and avoid the blood smell; besides Blood Meal is a great organic fertilizer source for nitrogen loving plants. I usually reapply after heavy rains. Another deterrent is to make a mixture of Tabasco, garlic and vinegar in a blender, and dilute it and spray it on the leaves of affected plants. I now just use chicken wire fencing.cause looks don't count out here.
Guy - Here the deer are not as populous as in your location, but the same remedies that I described to Patrick for rabbits can sometimes work for deer.
I share your thoughts about ships.
John - Good to read that Joan survived the ride. Riding in the car for more than 15 minutes really bothered my wife's knee replacements; she had both done a year apart. It wasn't the titanium hardware, but the muscles.
Mike - I had a friend who liked to use gasoline to start charcoal fires, he always said that he liked the "whoosh" that accompanied it. He did have a similar incident as that, but at least not quite as extensive. He may have had more than one that I didn't know about! And yes he burned himself a couple of times over the years.

Everyone have a great hump day.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
Come on Chad. I was referencing John's situation. He's no way in the capacity or experience to mix DCC products in that sense. I'm sure we could write pages on how to build a DCC system from a handful of resistors, caps, diodes and transistors, but that's not germane to what John is tryin to do.
If ya want to flaunt your in-depth knowledge of DCC for John, great but does it help his current problem? No.
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Cmon Ken. Your reply was a generic statement directed to him but you said

Only digitrax throttles work with digitrax command stations. That part of the signal system is proprietary amongst each DCC vendor. Once the signal is in the rails it is a standardized DCC signal so that all decoders will work.
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That is a pretty direct and generic statement with no caveats directing it to him only. It was background for your later statements.

And then you gave him specific advice. About specific HW.

He has cost restrictions on a solution but it may be that some sort of WiThottle or Loconet based solution may be the easiest for him instead of buying some sort of proprietary (old) Digitrax. I said I was not a Digitrax expert so can't recommend something specific but my comment was merely to provide generic clarification.
 
Good morning everyone!

Looks to be a gorgeous day on tap. Going up to the low 70s.

Mowing and laundry are on the agenda today. Last night was the final extra curricular activity my daughter had. We are officially free of that till the beginning of next year. Hard to believe she will be an 8th grader.

About time to start thinking about getting the pool ready. I usually do it the weekend before, or of Memorial day. Its still going to be too cold to swim until the first or second week of June. Have to let the solar cover so its thing.

Hope everyone has a safe day!
 
and I'm back... a friend just posted this on the book of faces
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Update on Mom. Doing better. Doc is discharging her tomorrow, and will authorize a stay in "healthcare" AKA a nursing home with the idea that she go through physical therapy.

the person I'm working with at the hospital says we'll have about a week to see if Mom is agreeable to staying at the Nursing Home full time before she heads back to her apartment.

I haven't chatted with mom yet. She tends to loose the phone in the hospital bed and ten rings later she's still looking for her glasses to figure out which button to push. Unfortunately, it's a 1.5 hour drive to go see her in person just to chat about the nursing home stay.
 
Good afternoon. It's raining and 83. After a very wet, very dark start, things seem to have calmed down temporarily. Weather service says it's going to start again in an hour or so, and the tornado watch has been changed to a severe thunderstorm watch.
In other news, my replacement iPad has arrived, and I've transferred my stuff to it. In spite of the cost, I opted for their ADD plan, in case I slam it in the car door again...
 
As for tinnitus, in my case it's a phantom sound like an old CRT monitor or television screen, only louder. I spent way too much time around too loud machinery before hearing protection was a thing.
 
Afternoon all! I'm not a regular here at this ol' coffee shop, but I might as well start trying to be.

It's a sunny day here, but got a pleasant cool breeze going. I'm here taking a break from work. In the midst of setting up 570 iPads for the incoming Freshman class. Mind numbing work.

Got some costume work coming up later tonight. It's Renaissance Faire season soon and a friend of mine needs some maintenance done on his.

Really hoping to get some more ground foam put down on the layout tonight as well, but we'll see how much energy I have left after my obligations.

Hope everyone is safe and well! Have a pleasant evening!
 
Afternoon All,

Started out the day getting ready for a walk, but a couple of heavy downpours nixed that idea. As Terry mentioned it poured this morning and although it's quiet here it's supposed to start up again in a bit. Fun times indeed. Good warmup for Hurricane Season and summer.

Mike- The short answer is yes.

Joe- Good luck with the garden.

Bill- Nice photo. If I remember right the trim on the diesel is a bright blue?

David- Nice layout shot.

Willie- Nice work on the layout.

John- You're welcome. Glad I could help.

Troy- Believe me, I feel your pain.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
bnsf971 said:
I spent way too much time around too loud machinery before hearing protection was a thing.
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Yea, I really wish I would have listened to the old timers about how to protect yourself around the shop. When I first started working as a mechanic, I would jump off the front tire of the truck onto the concrete floor. Several told me my knees would be shot by the time I was 50. I was 21 at the time and thought they were crazy. Same thing with the impact and air hammer. The advice was to wear hearing protection. I didn’t heed that advice.

Turns out they were right and they are the first ones I think about if I have sat too long or when getting up from kneeling.
 
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