Gaugemaster Omni 29 Decoders

[Chrissaf]

Can anyone give me any advice please?

I have bought a pack of 5 Omni 29 decoders for small locos. 

I run an ECOS command controller. 

When I  fit decoders to both Hornby and Bachmann locos the locos run jerkily on their own.

The locos are fine when fitted with other decoders.

I am currently in touch with GM who have recommended I change the address. Done it, no change. Then they asked is the loco net on or off. Never heard of it but my DCC guru suggested it should be RailCom. Have tried RailCom on and off to no avail.

Any ideas please?

[Chrissaf]

Whilst you wait for a reply, perhaps you would spend a few minutes reviewing the TIPs in the TIP page link below:

 

TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

 

See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/

 

[jane1707819582]

Two cv's 30 and 31 appear to offer some adjustment .referred to as stimulation for frequency and level tweek these up and down to see if they effect the motor.reset 8 to CV 8 if you get lost 

[Flashbang]

TBH I honestly don't think this is the correct place to be asking questions about two non Hornby products?  😮

If you Google ECoS Loconet you will learn more about what a loconet is  😎

 

I assume the loco runs correctly on DC with the decoder removed and the DC operation only Blanking plug fitted?   If you don't have a DC controller, use a fresh PP3 9volt battery across the rails (With the DCC system disconnected from the rails and all other locos removed) when the loco is in DC only mode.  You won't be able to control the locos speed, but the loco should and must perform correctly on DC.

 

I may also be worthwhile turning Off Bemf and testing the loco with it turned off.    

Don't forget you can always restore the decoder to its as supplied new default settings including address to 03 usually via CV8 entering a value of 8 but do check the decoders leaflet to ensure CV8/8 is the reset.

 

Gaugemaster are renown for being one of the most helpful retailers, via their Technical Help line. They, IMO, should be your place of all questions.  However, if you're still unable to resolve, then I would call or email Kevin at Coastal DCC http://coastaldcc.co.uk/index.php  and ask his opinion. Again a very knowledgeable DCC person and helpful retailer.

If all else fails try another make of decoder!  😮

 

Edit to correct URL provided.

Second Edit to this post to remove my CV54/55 comment, as I've just downloaded the decoders leaflet and these CVs are not available!

[ColinB]

For risk of being told off, this is my personal opinion, I found that they were not as good as a lot of the other decoders. One of the issues I found was that they were very susceptical to dirty track, more so than say Hornby or Zimo, which probably also explains a bit of the jerkyness. The thing that did surprise me with all these decoders and I have tried quite a few, was how badly some of them coped with dirty track and missing DCC signals. As I say that is just my personal experience, others probably find that they are alright.

[STG]

I've tried these decoders, bought one and fitted it to a locomotive. They generally have very jerky performance compared to other decoders, particularly at slow speed. I swapped the decoder into a locomotive which had a higher motor starting voltage, which meant the jerkiness was less noticeable since it seemed to fade out at higher power

[ColinB]

@Kenfo I think this is the correct place to be asking those sort of questions. You are probably using them to control your locos many of which are probably Hornby. I am always getting pulled up about things I post. If you don't ask how you ever going to know. When I first started on DCC I bought loads of different decoders, a lot of the time to fit in my old Hornby converted locos, I found not only did a lot of them not work very well but quite often they blew up, although the motor currents were supposedly within their specification. So I would have found it very useful if someone had told me the truth. I have tried that decoder of your's in many of my locos and its performance has never been as good as a Horby or Zimo decoder. I don't know why they are marketted as a superior decoder, but perhaps they are meant for the person that likes playing with CVs, personally I don't. The thing I did find out about this decoder is it has motor current limiting. If the motor current is exceeded it switches off and flashes the front and back lights if they are wired up. I found out as the Hornby motor I was testing had accidentally picked up a bit of wire that was occasionally "shorting" it out.

[Flashbang]

@Kenfo.  You have received plenty of guidance both from myself and others too.  

What you seem to have failed to understand is most contributors here are Hornby product users. Your DCC control system is not Hornby and your DCC Decoder is not a Hornby product.  Therefore in my view its much like walking into a Ford car dealership and complaining about the performance of your Vauxhall car, you may get suggestions but not necessarily the knowledge about the product needed. Even though you're in a car showroom/garage!  That was the meaning of my comments that you seem to feel are not correct and have rather rudely pointed out!  

I even pointed you in a possible direction including a URL to get some very good advice. Seems to have been lost though in your rantings though!   As its your first time I suggest you may like to think again about posting such rude comments. I will never offer to help you again on here or anywhere else.

 

 

[Chrissaf]

@Kenfo,

Despite my request, you went ahead and made extensive incorrect use of the blue button and duplicated the previous Flash Bang reply twice. I have extracted your embedded reply text and reproduced it below. As I do not have the tools to directly edit within your malformed reply.

 

PS - This forum is not under Flash Bang's jurisdiction as you put it. He is just a normal member.

 

Kenfo's reply text

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Thank you for replying. I must apologise if the content of this forum is under your jurisdiction and you do not think it is the correct place for my question. I must also apologise, yet again, for mis reading and incorrectly interpreting the guidelines on the right hand side of this "your"domain. I inadvertently read "The Hornby Forum is intended for discussion of ALL things model railways" It also goes on to say "Discussion of non -Hornby brands is allowed". Not so it would appear, by your comments, I obviously am unable to understand the English Language, my mistake!

 

Despite that, I thank you for your interest in answering my query but you appear to be so intent on putting me in my place you obviously never showed me the coutesy of actually reading my question. Two of your suggestions, I have already carried out and are clearly stated: namely : I am already in touch with the Technical Department at Gaugemaster and I have already tried other decoders!  TBH, this is the first time I have used this forum and I find your comments rude and condescending.

 

Best Regards.

 

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[Flashbang]

@ColinB  I completely disagree with your comments and they are totally unnecessary. 

I was not being unhelpful or rude in my initial reply nor in my follow up one or in anyway failing to give the OP useful information. Have you actually read them? The fact is he decided to turn on my post in an extremely poorly handled way!  I've even used an analogy of two new cars and dealerships to try and show what I was meaning in a later post. 

The most useful advice the OP can have is to remain with the Technical advice offered by the manufacturers/suppliers of the decoders or to contact, as I politely suggest, a third party DCC specialist. 

He later posted after having a go at me, stating  "I have already tried other decoders!". Note his opening comments were that he had 5 x GM decoders. My advice clearly stated was to try another make. Not the same type i.e a Hornby one if need be.

[ColinB]

Yes, I did read them. For me the subject is closed. Actually it did me a favour, I have one of these decoders, I bought it because it was small and I wanted it to fit into my Adams loco. Not only did it not fit, but ran very poorly in every other loco I have tried it in. Considering it was more expensive than my choice of decoder, to say the least I was very surprised. I think I also had issues changing the address on the Elite with this one. I just use it now for testing that the loco is wired up correctly, before I put an expensive sound decoder in.

[Howbi]

Coincidently I have the Omni29 8 pin direct decoder fitted in to an Oxford Adam's Radial and I have to say it functions very well. Whilst it will not creep very well the very slow running is good..........HB

[ColinB]

In mine it was too tall, in the end I used a loksound normal decoder. Originally I gather it was a 6 pin version rewired for 8 pin, I got out of a loco I was adding sound to for someone else. They seem to only do them in Germany, but because of the short wire and small size it fitted well. 

[Howbi]

What utter nonsense.........HB

[RDS]

@kenfo

I have to say, you are treading a very fine line, with some strange views for a new member.  

 

Flashbang is a long standing, well respected and very valuable member of this Forum.  His reference to Car Dealers is absolutely correct.

 

You are right, in that you are allowed to discuss other manufacturers on this Forum but as has been stated above, it is a Hornby Forum and therefore not really the best place to ask questions about other products.

[96RAF]

I have to agree with Flashbang in that his advice was to try to steer the OP elsewhere as a Hornby forum may not give the OP the best response. The car analogy has been used effectively before in much the same circumstances where other make kit is concerned.

 

I find the Op attitude to be be aggressive and attacking.

 

It does not help when others needlessly join in the discussion to attack the helper. The disagreement if any is between the OP and the advisor and there is a proper procedure in place on the forum for progressing that if necessary.

 

Forum rules dictate in general what is and what isn’t allowed to be discussed and personal attacks is one of those definitely not allowed, so please pipe down and keep your comments on track with the subject under discussion. Further aggressive posts will be removed without notice, including the previous inclusions.

 

@Kenfo specifically...

As far as I can see Flashbang has never alluded to being part of the Hornby forum administration. Community Moderators on this forum are clearly identified by a red title beneath their username to the side of each post.

[Fishmanoz]

Whilst I run the risk of being seen as part of the "mates' club", might I reflect on how this post has developed with a view to seeing if we can now be more kind to each other leading into the "festive season".  And might I start by observing that, if Hornby's since-departed dedicated forum administrator Adam had still been on duty, I believe this topic would have been shut down by now.  Simple reason is the question has been asked and answered and subsequent posts are detracting from rather than adding to technical and observational replies.

 

Returning to my reflection - new contributor Ken (I'm Aussie, I like to abbreviate names of more than one syllable and lengthen those with only one, my apologies) has asked a simple question about performance of a Gaugemaster decoder. He's received a number of useful replies, one in particular listing a range of adjustments he might make to improve performance and observations from others with experience using the decoder, more bad experiences than good.

 

But there's more.  Ken's first reply is from Chris, a highly experienced forum moderator, giving the same reply he gives to many - steer clear of the blue button when replying.  Chris is one of our more technically competent contributors with excellent documentation skills that show in his replies. All the blue button achieves in 99% of cases is duplicating in a yellow box someone's previous reply, often also trapping their own content in the box.  Ken misses this tip, and in his first reply uses the blue button, adds his reply below, then copies and pastes the yellow box contents and adds it again below his own reply.  Chris, as a matter of clarity and good content, removes Ken's reply with its duplicated content and adds back Ken's contribution on its own such that it is easier for contributors to see.

 

But there's more - Ken's most technically detailed reply comes early on from Flashbang, one of our more knowledgeable contributors.  In my opinion, Flashbang comes in the top 3 for overall model railway knowledge on the forum, particularly DCC knowledge.  His technical reply is thorough and to the point.  However his first line reflects on what many know to be the case - often this forum is deficient in knowledge of non-Hornby products when compared to other forums, hence asking on these other forums can often lead to better advice than this one.  With hindsight, Flashbang might agree that he could have worded this line better, but that is up to him.

 

From this point in my opinion, replies go downhill.  They are either further clarification of the lesser knowledge of non-Hornby products on the forum or, more seriously, claims and counter-claims that replies might be interpreted as being abusive, or in fact are abusive.

 

In my lengthy experience on this forum, I have rarely seen contributors setting out to be abusive and, when it occurs, it is usually shut down by forum administration very quickly.  I don't believe any contributor to this thread intended to be abusive, only that some on reflection  might have chosen their words more carefully, taking into account that intention behind the message can be misinterpreted when only the written word is available.

 

So returning to my first point, could we all try to be a little kinder to each other?  This has not been a good year for many reasons but that does not excuse as from being at the least polite, even when we disagree with others.  

Finally, others may disagree with what I've said above and wish to express their views in further replies.  They may even think this is Fishy attempting to claim the moral high ground, but that is not my intention.  However, I think I have said all I wish to on this topic, so please accept my apologies if I don't reply further.

[96RAF]

Well said Fishy.

There is a fine line between allowing heated discussion and binning controversial posts. If you miss that immediate opportunity the topic goes downhill.

Let us now consider this topic locked and as Com Mods cannot do that, we have to rely on members toeing the line and not adding any more.

Thank you.