Jeeze.

As many people will attest to, I'm no corporate brown-noser.

But, do you think a post in all caps will improve customer service, or make people want to help more?

Polite requests, positive feedback when something good happens, and objective, constructive criticism when things don't go right, this stuff works.

Do you like being yelled at? Does it make you like the person yelling? Do you feel like going out of your way to help someone yelling at you?

Honestly consider those questions.

Regards, Greg

I've been on the Aristo forum plenty, never heard that the 75 MHz units are sensitive to power interruptions, nor any complaints from them being used on board in that manner.

The negatives I have heard are poor range, sensitivity to interference, and they only have a 2.5 amp capacity, so people blow them up when THEY make a mistake in wiring.

A good antenna and a fuse to the motor will usually solve the problems, and locating the receiver away from the motor or any "weird" electronics.

PB+J asked about track power. Not wanting to start a war, but why do the battery guys always come back with "go battery?", instead of helping the poor guy?

Grumpy: you are reading an instruction manual for installing the Aristocraft plug in decoder in an Aristocraft loco.

That's why it reads that way. When this product was created, there were no other locos with a compatible socket. Now there is the K27 with a compatible socket. No other locos have this.

Regards, Greg

Call or email TOC on the Johnson bar. I know he mentioned this to me before on the K, as I posted earlier. You need to ask him, don't wait for him to pop up here... you could also go to LSC and ask.

Regards, Greg

Thanks Tony, that clarifies Dave's statement.

Regards, Greg

Nick get your software updated.

There is no hardware problem in your QSI if the lights work in DC, since they are being controlled by the QSI. Since the QSI hardware is powering the lights, the hardware is working.

Page 11 of the QSI manual states "If you set your controller to 14 speed step operation without reconfiguring your Quantup system to the same speed steps in CV29, your Directional Lighting will not operate correctly".

Upgrade your firmware and set things according to the manual.

Be sure to get the BIG manual, it is 267 pages long, get version 4.2.0 from the QSI solutions site.

Regards, Greg

Just happened to be on the phone with Dave Goodsen when I read this post. He says, yes, loose screws have been observed. The counterweights are held on with Philips screws, you should be able to see them and tighten them.

I don't have any information about the tender.

Regards, Greg

That's as new as it comes.

The fact that the lights work for Bud, means it's not a version issue, there is either power or not on the lighting outputs. So, I would suspect problems with the transistors on the board.

If the decoder had a problem, then Bud's solution would not have worked either.

Suspecting that since the K is pretty new, I would guess that Bachmann does not have the tools to rework the SMT (surface mount) transistors, so his "fix" was the most expedient.

But, it seems that the system works, as Stan has evidenced. So anyone with problems with the QSI and lights should contact Bachmann, or do what Bud did.

Regards, Greg

A simple, inexpensive fish scale hooked to the tender coupler will measure drawbar pull.

Stan, you raise an interesting point.

I think that as long as simple DC track power (voltage on track varies) exists this will be  a question with no answer.

Ideally, the speed of the loco over the working voltage range would match the prototype. That would give you optimal control by giving you the highest "resolution" on your throttle.

But then comes the problem of double-heading locos on simple track power. In this case, you would probably like all locos (that would be reasonably doubleheaded or mu'd) to run at the same speed for a given voltage (assume current is unlimited).

Of course, combining a slower steamer with a passenger diesel is not unheard of.

This just won't have a good solution for simple track power.

What is happening though, is that I see a trend in remote control systems to support speed tables, where actual speed vs. throttle setting/speed step can be customized.

For me, in DCC, my druthers would be that all locos are geared/powered to match prototype, and that the typical max voltage would run the loco just a bit of prototype maximum (giving some headroom for voltage losses, speed matching, etc.)

But my druthers are not right for everyone, so the "right" answer must be somewhere between "true prototype" and "warp 1".

Clearly a 100 smph narrow gauge loco does not make sense.

Only time will sort this out, but looking at other scales, more reasonable top speeds have been an evolution. I remember some of my N scale stuff that would hit 260 smph. 

Regards, Greg

When you get a chance, you might want to set your unit to report the firmware version (Bud and Stan).

It's cv 56.255 and you need to turn on at least bit 1, see section 5.8.13 in the manual. (CV 49 = 255, cv 56 = 2)

Turning on all bits will play a lot of information... the firmware version will say something like "seven point one point 6" for 7-1-6.

Current firmware versions are around 7-20-0 by the way.

Interested in the results. I will add that I have had the lighting circuit fail in one QSI system, but that was a hard failure, never worked again.

Regards, Greg

Yep, pretty familiar with motors in that sense. (I like torque!)

The point was given the SAME motor, the effect of gearing, and that electronics alone will not do the same thing as gearing.

Any chance you can do a drawbar pull on your loco on level, clean track?  (also type of track makes a difference).

Regards, Greg

Stan, so you have a QSI and a K right now? Can you give the software version (it's a F10 command), maybe that will straighten this out.

Interesting that both an Aristo TE and the QSI were reported with the same problem.

Regards, Greg

Nickle metal hydride is slightly smaller for the same capacity as nicad.

Lithium ion is WAY smaller for the same capacity as nicad.

The only thing "larger" is lead-acid technology, i.e. gel cells.

Perhaps Dave was comparing something else or was referencing a particulary TYPE of nicad.

I have to agree with Brian on this point.

Regards,  Greg

There's something wrong here. One person can't pull a few coaches up a 2% and another can pull 8 cars up a 4%.

I think we need to get consensus on the actual drawbar pull, and compare it to other locos before saying that something is wrong.

Note: I do NOT disbelieve Tony or Bud!

On the gear ratio, Stan, you quote running light. The point that was being made is pulling power, and that the gear ratio is too tall.

Running light is no test at all for a locomotive, they will go "straight up" with no load.

But first things first, like I said, what is the AVERAGE pulling power of K's? Maybe a few people can submit some more data. There CLEARLY is a disparity between what Tony reported and Bud reported.

Regards, Greg

p.s. proper gearing is more than just pulling power, and electronics cannot compensate completely for an inappropriate gear ratio... otherwise our cars would not need transmissions, just a bigger computer!

The noise in reverse might be mitigated by repositioning the johnson bar!

Seriously I have heard that the position of the reversing gear linkage affects operation and noise.

TOC would know for sure.

Regards, Greg

I think Bud has the best idea. The lights on the K are not connected to the decoder, but to a transistor that works as a current limiter.

The transistors are connected to the socket. The voltages to turn the transistors on and off are not the same as having a LED or lamp connected directly. (or it might be that they require the opposite polarity signal).

The other alternative would be to fool with the transistors and change the circuitry. I would not recommend this, since they are surface mount, and you would have to change the transistor and the resistors.

Regards, Greg