Tried to convert my Stainz to digital

Mike060976 said:
They look worn to me. I have ordered a set of new ones with wheel brushes. The sound is sorted. It was a faulty speaker. I have also ordered a new smoke generator which is good for 22v ( old one was 18v).
If I have still this running problem I will install a power buffer. The funny thing is that it’s mostly on the same one or 2 turnouts. I bought them second hand but never had a problem with DC. The locomotive drives fine one that turnout which is new.
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Problem with the points could be the jumpers that provide power across to the rails the other side of the frog and the moving rails. LGB had 2 ways of doing this, one with pressed flat plate stamped in place the other older version had screws. My plan is always to replace these with jumper wires across to where needed. Bit of a pain but it does make all the difference. As LGB points are not isolating this is a relatively easy job, but you do need a big lumpy soldering iron at least 70watts. Even then solder to the rail webb makes life easier.
 
dunnyrail said:
Problem with the points could be the jumpers that provide power across to the rails the other side of the frog and the moving rails. LGB had 2 ways of doing this, one with pressed flat plate stamped in place the other older version had screws. My plan is always to replace these with jumper wires across to where needed. Bit of a pain but it does make all the difference. As LGB points are not isolating this is a relatively easy job, but you do need a big lumpy soldering iron at least 70watts. Even then solder to the rail webb makes life easier.
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I have done something like this a while ago on a old one which didn’t work when I had DC
 

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If you are having problems with the point blades you may need to make sure that you clean the contact points for the wipers (the one on the right looks particularly dirty) as well as the underside of the point blade. these can be cleaned with a mix of emery paper and contact cleaner.

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craigwrdouglas2 said:
If you are having problems with the point blades you may need to make sure that you clean the contact points for the wipers (the one on the right looks particularly dirty) as well as the underside of the point blade. these can be cleaned with a mix of emery paper and contact cleaner.

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If you do jumpers on each side the cleanliness of the wipers is irrelevant the reason why I do wire jumpers both sides with black wire also after the frog.
 
Mike060976 said:
I have done something like this a while ago on a old one which didn’t work when I had DC
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What size are the turnouts that you are having trouble with?

I have almost entirely 16000 and 18000 switches and I fit all short wheelbase locos with power buffers on their decoders. Some switches just dont work the same and will stall when others dont. Power buffers on the decoders always shorts out that problem.

What voltage are you running on your layout? Sounds like the smoke unit was over-voltaged and burned out. You can dim the voltage on the decoder outputs for that situation.

There's a learning curve to installing decoders. Rarely are you running at 20V in DC, but DCC will provide constant 22V+. You have to observe the rated voltages of all the components and lighting hooked to the decoder and which outputs and what those are set to. Its never just plug and play despite it being called that. Given all the decoder choices out there even 'DCC ready' take some amount of inspection and testing to determine. The way the locos are configured to run in DC does not mean those components can just be ignored and a decoder slapped into it.
 
Diesel2000 said:
What size are the turnouts that you are having trouble with?

I have almost entirely 16000 and 18000 switches and I fit all short wheelbase locos with power buffers on their decoders. Some switches just dont work the same and will stall when others dont. Power buffers on the decoders always shorts out that problem.

What voltage are you running on your layout? Sounds like the smoke unit was over-voltaged and burned out. You can dim the voltage on the decoder outputs for that situation.

There's a learning curve to installing decoders. Rarely are you running at 20V in DC, but DCC will provide constant 22V+. You have to observe the rated voltages of all the components and lighting hooked to the decoder and which outputs and what those are set to. Its never just plug and play despite it being called that. Given all the decoder choices out there even 'DCC ready' take some amount of inspection and testing to determine. The way the locos are configured to run in DC does not mean those components can just be ignored and a decoder slapped into it.
Click to expand...
I have 1 lh and 1 rh radius 1 switch which gives me trouble. I have generally sorted it by replaced the skates and brushes but here and there it's still flickering and resetting but it's a bit better now. I'm running on a 22V PIKO power supply. I also bought a new Seuthe smoke unit which is suitable for up to 22v unlike the previous one which was rated 18v.
I have also a small power buffer coming from MXION but when I had a look how to install it I'm puzzled again. I should use port DEC + / DEC - and I can use A1. But my decoder doesn't have DEC - or A1 (Drive L 2.0). If I put it on A2 will be then the CV still 123 or is it changing? Sorry the questions might sound stupid to you...
 
dunnyrail said:
If you do jumpers on each side the cleanliness of the wipers is irrelevant the reason why I do wire jumpers both sides with black wire also after the frog.
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I understand. Need to see how it goes. I have new brushes and skates installed which improved it a bit. I also ordered a small power buffer
 
Mike060976 said:
I have 1 lh and 1 rh radius 1 switch which gives me trouble. I have generally sorted it by replaced the skates and brushes but here and there it's still flickering and resetting but it's a bit better now. I'm running on a 22V PIKO power supply. I also bought a new Seuthe smoke unit which is suitable for up to 22v unlike the previous one which was rated 18v.
I have also a small power buffer coming from MXION but when I had a look how to install it I'm puzzled again. I should use port DEC + / DEC - and I can use A1. But my decoder doesn't have DEC - or A1 (Drive L 2.0). If I put it on A2 will be then the CV still 123 or is it changing? Sorry the questions might sound stupid to you...
Click to expand...
The three pins across the centre of the decoder give Dec+, Dec-, and F1 (which is also A1). - Not in that order!

If you are using F1 for something else, you may need to alter a CV value, in order to use a power buffer.

PhilP.
 
PhilP said:
The three pins across the centre of the decoder give Dec+, Dec-, and F1 (which is also A1). - Not in that order!

If you are using F1 for something else, you may need to alter a CV value, in order to use a power buffer.

PhilP.
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Page 9 of the manual shows the 3 raised pins for DEC+, DEC-, and F1(A1). If this is plugged into the adapter then you will need to trace these to that board via page 12.

You can use any of the A1-6 outputs for white connection from buffer caps by setting the special function CV for that output to 20, per page 47. note that analogue mode must be disabled in CV29 to use the caps per page 22. If using the caps you can only use digital mode.
 
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PhilP said:
The three pins across the centre of the decoder give Dec+, Dec-, and F1 (which is also A1). - Not in that order!

If you are using F1 for something else, you may need to alter a CV value, in order to use a power buffer.

PhilP.
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Hi Phil that’s great. Thank you for your helpful. So if I can connect it with F1 I can use then 123 as per manual.
 
Mike060976 said:
Hi Phil that’s great. Thank you for your helpful. So if I can connect it with F1 I can use then 123 as per manual.
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Replies have probably crossed..

If you are using a function key (possibly F7) to turn the smoke off and on, the F1(A1) output may already be being used for this.

If so change the CV referred to by Deisel2000 and use a spare output.

PhilP
 
I don’t have F buttons on my key (app). It’s on number 1 together with sound on and off. 2 is whistle, 3 is bell etc…
The smoke unit is connected to 2 pins on the old LGB board on the Stainz. So I assume that F1 is free
 
Mike060976 said:
Sorry the questions might sound stupid to you...
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The only stupid question is the one that wasn't asked.
Don't worry we all had to start somewhere and the help on this forum is second to none.
Incidentally my indoor HO layout runs at 22V with a reduction to 12V for the analogue components, mainly solenoids. Most of my locos have a power buffer and I am putting them in the coaches as well to stop the lights flickering.
 
pugwash said:
The only stupid question is the one that wasn't asked.
Don't worry we all had to start somewhere and the help on this forum is second to none.
Incidentally my indoor HO layout runs at 22V with a reduction to 12V for the analogue components, mainly solenoids. Most of my locos have a power buffer and I am putting them in the coaches as well to stop the lights flickering.
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Thank you. I grew up with analogue HO & N trains. I don’t have problems with anything mechanical. Now it’s a new era for me
 
Mike060976 said:
Thank you. I grew up with analogue HO & N trains. I don’t have problems with anything mechanical. Now it’s a new era for me
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Join the club. :)
 
Originally sold as a simple 2 wires pluv in and go, the technology has far surpassed that, and is no longer the simple control system it was. When you get it going properly, it does work well though!
 
Yes I agree. Actually in the beginning I didn’t want to go with DCC but then I wanted additional sounds. Bought a sound tender. However wasn’t happy with that one either because having the same sounds on a small layout every 30 seconds or so drives you mad. When I found a cheap controller I went for it and thought how hard can it be? I already converted my PIKO battery shunter to r/c which was easy. But that is another level. If it works it’s really fun
 
PhilP said:
Replies have probably crossed..

If you are using a function key (possibly F7) to turn the smoke off and on, the F1(A1) output may already be being used for this.

If so change the CV referred to by Deisel2000 and use a spare output.

PhilP
Click to expand...
I was about to say that the key or button number one on my tablet is for the steam and sound. The steam generator is connected to the original board as it was from factory. If number one is off I still can run the locomotive
 
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