Just starting out in G gauge

I know it's already been suggested, but if you get yourself down to the nearest G Scale or 16mm group, you'll not only get a lot of advice, but also a lot of hands on help as well. There's always someone around who's more than willing to show you what to do
 
Re the socket and plug on the back of your control unit, there shouldn't be anything special about it - as long as you get the right type and size of plug to fit the socket, then just connect the two wires from the plug to the track - one of the things about DCC is that nothing between the control station and the track is polarity-sensitive, so you don't have to worry which way round you connect the wires.....

However I would also second (third? Fourth?) Paul's comment yet again - one of the best things about G scale and Garden railways in general is the sociability, people love to help out and you'll always find someone willing to help you through any problems!

Jon.
 
Thank you for your comments. Unfortunately it is impossible for me to mix with other people. Which is why I tend to plough my own furrow with all its frustrations.
I seem to have got myself back to the situation I was nearly 2 years ago. I have been able to wire up the E-Z to a length of track and with a meter confirmed I have output from the controller when in the analogue position.
However, I am unable to get any response from my locomotive. With the E-Z set to no 10, "Analogue" the voltage varies when I adjust the control knob but no movement from the locomotive.I'm sure the locomotive is OK.
In any position 1 to 9 there is no reading on my meter at all.
I'd like to remove the DCC element off the locomotive but I don't feel confident enough to start undoing screws. Your further help would be greatly appreciated.
Sarah Winfield
 
So your readings on the rails seem proper, if you are measuring DC voltage, you should see something on "address 10"... 1 to 9 would be DCC operation, but you should see a constant AC voltage, even though your meter will not read the voltage accurately.

So that part seems fine.

I'm thinking your DCC loco may not be configured to respond to DC... this is a setting in the decoder in the loco, and DC mode is often disabled to help certain situations.

It's CV29 that will need looking at, and you need a programming track, and the manual indicates what it takes to "make" one... then you can set CVs...

Greg
 
I have 2 meters. An analogue swinging needle type. It measures ohms, DCV 10 to 1000 and ACV 10 to 1000. My digital meter measures ohms, V 200m to 500 and V with a little squiggle 500 to 200 and A plus some other figures. Am I able to read the output of the E-Z when in position 1 to 9, not analogue, please?.
 
Sarah, can I ask a very basic question about your Stainz - apologies if you've answered it before - are you sure that it actually has a DCC decoder in it? Were you told it had one when you bought it?
A lot of beginners can easily get confused when a loco is said to be somthing like "DCC ready" - all that means is that it is "ready" for the installation of a DCC decoder, NOT that it is actually fitted with one.

Do you have any way of taking photos and uploading them to the forum? Can you take a snap with your phone and then get it onto your computer, and then onto GSC?
If there is any way you can do that, then a photo of the UNDERSIDE of the Stainz might help us to help you.....

Jon.
 
So if you are in the "10" mode, it is putting something close to DC on the rails. for the first meter DCV - DC Volts... is appropriate... the ACV will probably react on positions 1 through 10 but remember that it will be a constant voltage regardless of throttle speed setting.

On the digital meter the squiggle ~ means Alternating Current, it represents the voltage alternating from minus to zero to plus to zero...

Now if there is a DCC decoder in the loco, AND if the decoder is not programmed to run on DC, this is still possible... BUT you need to know the address of the loco, and then set your system to "talk" to that address... this could be endless... it's much better to either determine the DCC address or set the DCC address to something known.

As the question was asked recently, is there a DCC decoder in there for sure?

I know you are looking for the easiest and quickest path, but honestly random experimentation usually is fruitless, and without a deterministic set of steps to find the problem, you may never find the problem and end up frustrated. I'm a step by step guy, and it's worked for a long time.

Greg


Sarah Winfield said:
I have 2 meters. An analogue swinging needle type. It measures ohms, DCV 10 to 1000 and ACV 10 to 1000. My digital meter measures ohms, V 200m to 500 and V with a little squiggle 500 to 200 and A plus some other figures. Am I able to read the output of the E-Z when in position 1 to 9, not analogue, please?.
Click to expand...
 
Just a thing about your multimeters, they may not register AC volts whilst set on DC, or DC volts set on AC. If you're not getting a reading on 1-9 which should be AC, make sure your Meyer is set on AC. I'm sure you have done so, but even the most experienced sparky has made that mistake!
 
Zerogee said:
Sarah, can I ask a very basic question about your Stainz - apologies if you've answered it before - are you sure that it actually has a DCC decoder in it? Were you told it had one when you bought it?
A lot of beginners can easily get confused when a loco is said to be somthing like "DCC ready" - all that means is that it is "ready" for the installation of a DCC decoder, NOT that it is actually fitted with one.

Do you have any way of taking photos and uploading them to the forum? Can you take a snap with your phone and then get it onto your computer, and then onto GSC?
If there is any way you can do that, then a photo of the UNDERSIDE of the Stainz might help us to help you.....

Jon.
Click to expand...

That is the most logical piece of advice I've seen on this thread. Reading between the lines, far too many of the 'opinions' have been too technical, and beyond the comprehension of 'beginner'.
The analogy is the bloke who bought 'Computors for Numbskulls' and found that it blazed straight away into files and storage et al, when all he wanted to know was how to turn the damned thing on.
 
I'll take some photographs tomorrow and post them to the forum, I'll also determine the make and model of the decoder.
In the meantime thank you for all your help and suggestions
Sarah Winfield
 
Before I begin today's trials and tribulations in my determined attempt to have a locomotive moving along the track, would members advise me whether the "Analogue Locomotive Operation" output from the E-Z is the same as the output from a DC controller please? I'm pretty sure I had the locomotive working 2 years ago with my Gaugemaster Series P controller.
 
Sarah Winfield said:
Before I begin today's trials and tribulations in my determined attempt to have a locomotive moving along the track, would members advise me whether the "Analogue Locomotive Operation" output from the E-Z is the same as the output from a DC controller please? I'm pretty sure I had the locomotive working 2 years ago with my Gaugemaster Series P controller.
Click to expand...

Yes, you did have the loco running - see post 9 this thread https://www.gscalecentral.net/threads/continuing-my-effort-to-have-a-small-layout.307565/

If you haven't run the loco for a couple of years, in my experience it will not run smoothly when you first try it out again. It may need a little gentle help to get going, but if you can get it going and run it backwards and forwards for a while (either on a straight length of track or on a circle/oval, it should settle down and run smoothly. However, if your layout is still the short window ledge one, then there may not be enough room for the loco to get going properly for this process of settling in to start.

Also, check that the skates are clean and shiny and the same with the backs of the wheels.

I hope this helps.
 
Sarah Winfield said:
Before I begin today's trials and tribulations in my determined attempt to have a locomotive moving along the track, would members advise me whether the "Analogue Locomotive Operation" output from the E-Z is the same as the output from a DC controller please? I'm pretty sure I had the locomotive working 2 years ago with my Gaugemaster Series P controller.
Click to expand...

From where I am sitting you have 2 elements to your issue.
1 The loco
2 The controller
Using the half split rule of logical fault finding, I would test the loco on DC first.

The simplest way to test a DC loco is turn it upside down and connect wires, using any method that is available (alligator clips winding wires around them etc), to the pickups.

Next connect a battery (a 9V one will do for a short test) or if you still have it, the Gaugemaster controller, to the wires (use the hand to terminal method for the battery or add a switch to the circuit) and see if the wheels move.

If wheels do not move issue is on the loco.

Knowing not a thing about your controller, I would connect your analogue (with a needle) multimeter across its output, with the meter set to DC setting and observing polarity, to see if the voltage varies. If there is a varying voltage then you know the output is varying DC.

Next connect the loco pickups (loco tested previously) to the controller output and when operated then the loco wheels should move.

As suggested earlier check for a DCC to analogue switch on the loco if the wheels do not move.

My limited knowledge of DCC leads me to believe that there is a constant DC voltage with control information superimposed on it (I will leave that area to the experts on here to further clarify) so I will not comment on that part of the problem.

As you are familiar with multimeters I am surmising that you have some form of working knowledge of electricity/electronics.​
 
GAP said:
From where I am sitting you have 2 elements to your issue.
1 The loco
2 The controller
Using the half split rule of logical fault finding, I would test the loco on DC first.

The simplest way to test a DC loco is turn it upside down and connect wires, using any method that is available (alligator clips winding wires around them etc), to the pickups.

Next connect a battery (a 9V one will do for a short test) or if you still have it, the Gaugemaster controller, to the wires (use the hand to terminal method for the battery or add a switch to the circuit) and see if the wheels move.

If wheels do not move issue is on the loco.

Knowing not a thing about your controller, I would connect your analogue (with a needle) multimeter across its output, with the meter set to DC setting and observing polarity, to see if the voltage varies. If there is a varying voltage then you know the output is varying DC.

Next connect the loco pickups (loco tested previously) to the controller output and when operated then the loco wheels should move.

As suggested earlier check for a DCC to analogue switch on the loco if the wheels do not move.

My limited knowledge of DCC leads me to believe that there is a constant DC voltage with control information superimposed on it (I will leave that area to the experts on here to further clarify) so I will not comment on that part of the problem.

As you are familiar with multimeters I am surmising that you have some form of working knowledge of electricity/electronics.​
Click to expand...

The wheels in the air test is an excellent place to start.

When I can get the time, Sarah, I will look through your posts from two years ago because some of what you are saying sounds familiar.
 
GAP, thank you for post. I'm going to follow through with your advice. However, there are 3 elements to my issues, the 3rd element is me! I'll let you know how I get on.
Playmofire, thank you for your offer but it should be me who back-reads my previous posts and members replies. I can't even recall when I had it working 2 years ago whether it was with my Gaugemaster or my E-Z.
 
Sarah Winfield said:
GAP, thank you for post. I'm going to follow through with your advice. However, there are 3 elements to my issues, the 3rd element is me! I'll let you know how I get on.
Playmofire, thank you for your offer but it should be me who back-reads my previous posts and members replies. I can't even recall when I had it working 2 years ago whether it was with my Gaugemaster or my E-Z.
Click to expand...

I think both at different times. I would back the Gaugemaster as the better controller.

I'm quite happy to look through your posts in the next day or so; it may be that if we both look through one may see something the other missed
 
Latest update with some positive results.
After trying various combinations to eliminate where the problem lay I finally got my Stainz working and with the E-Z controller! :-)
It is Station 2 on the E-Z and my locomotive purrs (or perhaps growls) along in either direction. Even with my dirty track there isn't any hesitation.
I feel awfully humble and grateful to everyone who has helped me. I am now back at the stage I was 2 years ago except I now have 3 pieces of rolling stock to make playing trains a little more interesting.
Thank you.
Sarah Winfield
 
Playmofire. I've just received notification of your last post. It hasn't appeared on the forum yet but you, hopefully will have seen my positive update. Thanks.
Sarah Winfield
 
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