Seacommander

Please could somebody identify a pipe that was loose in the box of a recently purchased used model . I have searched the body and chassis all over but cannot find any places where the ends of the pipe (if indeed it is a pipe) might locate.

Deepest condolences to Chrissaf's family. A great loss to this community too. Long may he be with us in the form of all of his knowledgeable contributions being preserved - an invaluable reference source.

Thanks very much 96RAF.

Is a self test on power up possible with the Select in similar fashion to that available for the Elite?

After much deliberating and trying out different couplings I settled on Kadees for my layout. They will give me the convenience of remote coupling and uncoupling mimicking as far as possible authentic marshalling operations. I tried out the between tracks Kadee delayed uncoupling magnet but like you have discovered the clearance between the magnet and curved pin on the coupling is rather too close especially for the Kadee NEM pocket couplings. I came across this video on Youtube which shows a very neat method of using small (3x10mm) cylindrical neodymium magnets. After several rounds of prototyping on a small length of track I settled on using the 3x10mm magnets (found on Ebay at a very reasonable price - the link in the comments on the Youtube page is out of date). I made a perspex jig that enabled me to accurately and consistently drill a line of holes midway between the sleepers on Peco code 100 track. A couple of 'pins' (suitably sized nails cut to length) to slip into the first holes drilled guard against slippage of the jig. The optimum insertion depth of the magnets for my rolling stock was to push the magnets into the holes until the head of the magnets were flush with the top of the sleepers. It should just be a simple job with some suitably coloured paint and a top up of ballast to disguise the magnets. I plan to use 4 magnets per row as shown in the photograph.

John Humphrys of the Hornby technical team very kindly followed up this enquiry with the electronics team and the supplier of the Elite and came up with a figure of 220 mA.

Thanks for the additional information 96RAF. From your description my Elite must be one of the older ones with 2 Expressnet ports. I will raise a query with Hornby. Thanks again for your time.

Thanks 96RAF. I have rechecked the quiescent current a couple of more times with my digital multimeter and my old faithful analogue meter and both read between 400 - 408 mA. Any other offerings from forum members would be much appreciated. Just a note to add that it is only curiosity behind this question. My Elite is working perfectly - the only times it throws a wobbly is when I do something wrong.

I am interested to know what the quiescent current consumption of an Elite is ie with no locos, accessories or DC auxiliary components in circuit. I measured mine using a readily available budget combined ammeter/voltmeter which showed around 200 mA and my digital multimeter which was nearer to 400 mA. Thank for your help.

Standard it may be Colin - but a devil of a job to find a supplier.

A double success. Yourspares: https://www.yourspares.co.uk/Search.aspx?search_keywords=Plastic+DC+Power+Chassis+Socket+-+F341EA%09YS119258%09&source=header including free postage and following another line of contact including Simon Kohler of recent TV fame, Hornby supplied a brand new socket FOC. So in the end Hornby turned up trumps and of course get a big thank you from me.

Thanks for the suggestions 96RAF. No joy from Hornby I am afraid to say. Will give Lendon's a call tomorrow.

Do any of the Hornby analogue controllers have a power input socket the same size as the one on an Elite or Select?

Thank you all very much for confirming the correct dimensions and suggesting suitable suppliers - much appreciated.

I would be grateful if somebody could point me in the right direction to find a supplier of a panel mounted power input socket and matching plug of the dimensions for the Elite/Select units. If my measurements are correct the pin is 3mm diameter and the outer diameter of the plug is 6.5mm and about 10mm long. They seem to be as rare if not rarer than the proverbial hen's teeth.

Thanks Going Spare. Great photo resource. Another job to add to the list - change to wheels!.

My layout relies on track electrical continuity being based on a mixture of droppers and rail joiners. I have never had a problem with PVA causing an interruption in supply. Like Chrissaf I too use a fine pipette to accurately place the PVA and then clean off the top of the track before drying with a small piece of absorbent balsa wood followed by immediately running a loco to pick out any problem spots. I have never had a problem with continuity being interrupted by PVA seeping into the track to joiner area. A good tight fitting joiner is going to lightly cut into the side of the rail preventing any capillary action. It is worth trying to clean the inside top corners of each rail since the inner edge of the wheel flange to rail contact is also an important route for track to loco current flow. Another thing to try is to very closely observe a moving loco to see if at any point there is movement in the whole loco that might indicate that a wheel is coming into contact with a small piece of ballast just sufficient to lift a wheel off the track. The movement is likely to be very small. I have found this to be an infrequent but nevertheless real cause of a loco coming to a halt. If you believe that a rail joiner is the culprit then I would suggest using a tiny screwdriver to try and slide the joiner back and forth to dislodge any dried PVA. This will of course only work where the joiner has not been spot welded to the track as can be found in ready formed pieces of track.

I am hoping that some of our forum members might be able to tell me whether the full size wagon would have had spoked, solid disc or holed disc wheels. The commonly available Hornby Dublo version carrying the running number B459325 has spoked wheels but quite how much attention was paid to this sort of detail when the model was produced (50s & 60s ?) is debatable. I have searched for photographs of an original full sized wagon but have drawn a blank. It maybe of course that the Hornby Dublo version was somewhat freelance in design. Thanks in advance for any help.

Good luck Brew Man; I hope it all gets sorted out. Some of these things can get very frustrating. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I traced my Elite's similar display problem to a fluorescent light switching on that was plugged into a twin outlet that also had my Elite connected. I suspected transients to be the problem when the starter was striking. I connected a scope to the low voltage output of my power supply and captured an example of the transients which I believe were upsetting my Elite. Hopefully the image I attach will be displayed - if not I will need some help.

Hello Brew Man. Just wondering if you have solved the abnormal behaviour of your Elite

There have been quite a number of references on the forum about the value of using an oscilloscope for identifying the cause of problems sometimes encountered with DCC operation. Buying an oscilloscope for maybe just limited use is a big decision to make when we are all tempted by so many other things to buy for our layouts. It only just came to my attention that there are several apps available for iPads and iPhones to enable them to operate as an oscilloscope. Has anybody here tried one and if so how user friendly are they?

Just out of curiosity, as per my earlier post in this thread, I plugged my Elite and bench mounted fluorescent lamp into neighbouring wall sockets. I waited for the Elite to boot up and then switched on the lamp - as had happened in the past, the Elite display immediately corrupted to only showing the time. 96RAF talks about stray RF - I am unconvinced that stray RF is the problem but would suggest that the opening of the contacts in the starter when the lamp is switched on creates a momentary high voltage spike in the mains supply (in much the same way that the opening of the points in older petrol engines created a spike to feed the low tension of the ignition coil). The spike will necessarily appear across the Elite power supply and possibly cause an error in the controller that manifests itself as a corrupted display. Numerous similar breaking of contacts occur in households from the simple action of turning lights on and off, heating thermostats cutting in and out, similarly for fridge and freezer thermostats etc etc which might possibly have a similar effect. I will connect my oscilloscope across the low voltage output of the Elite power supply to see if a spike occurs when the lamp is switched on. I can also check the DCC side of things on the track but suspect that (hopefully) the snubber/terminator, sorts out any spikes.

Another thought to add to all that has been said and discussed. Some time ago my Elite exhibited a similar error ie elements of the display would disappear but the locos kept running. I eventually discovered the problem to be associated with my bench mounted magnifying fluorescent lamp that was plugged into the same twin wall outlet as the Elite. Every so often when switching on the lamp the display was affected - even after fitting a surge arrester to the mains outlet for the Elite (the DCC BUS is fitted with a snubber/terminator). I assumed that on starting up the lamp was causing a surge/ripple on the mains possibly affecting the low voltage feed to the controller. Ever since using a more distant outlet on the ring main the Elite has been stable.

For the record, I use a CDU that I consider to be inexpensive compared with branded products: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252833225672?hash=item3ade08dbc8:g:r10AAOSw6EhfQX1r and use the Auxiliary 12v DC output from my Elite to power it. I don't have to pause midway when operating the switch - a continuous steady move over about a half to one second is all that is required to reliably switch my Peco solenoid point motors.

Contrary to some views expressed here, and elsewhere scattered throughout this forum, Hornby R044 passing contact switches work well with a CDU. I use them with a CDU and the only times there are problems it is user error. I suspect the people that decry them also run their locomotives at a scale speed in excess of Mach 1. I agree they can switch unreliably if you move the lever from one direction to another at the speed of light but if used akin to the steady movement of the full size levers they work absolutely fine. With regard to price, they can be picked up secondhand quite cheaply on online auction sites, model railway exhibitions etc. I treat them with a contact cleaning spray and almost without fail they can be restored to excellent working condition.