I am about to lay down the track for my reverse loop and have a PSX-AR board on the way.
I understand that there are issues with auto-reversers and NCE Powercab but the PSX-AR is supposed to work fine with the jumper set to 1.27 Amps. We will see. A few questions-
My loop is pretty simple and connects to the same length of mainline track using two turnouts. I understand that I need to gap the track at both ends. Is it OK to do that right at the turnouts? This would leave the gaps even on both rails, not staggered.
My Powercab is still ver 1.28. I didn't get the "free upgrade" from sending the card in that came in the box, and then I dropped off the grid and never bothered to follow up with NCE. Will the PSX-AR be OK without upgrading to 1.65?
Anything to watch out for on the wiring/hookups?
Huntington Junction - Freelance based on the B&O and C&O in coal country before the merger... doing it my way. Now working on phase 3. - Walt
For photos and more: http://www.wkhobbies.com/model-railroad/
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
I have a USB card and JMRI hooked up, also the NCE autoswitch card to disable the main when using the program track.
I've been doing all my loco programming using JMRI. The PSX-AR instructions say that CV49 has to be set from 03 (the default value) to 01 to set the amps to 1.27, or set to 00 in order to use the amp jumpers on the card. Can this be done easily from JMRI or will I have to figure out the sequence using the throttle keypad?
I went ahead and ordered the upgrade chip after my original post.
Also after reading the instructions I guess I'll cut the turnout rails a bit to offset the gaps 1/8" as suggested.
HObbyguyMy loop is pretty simple and connects to the same length of mainline track using two turnouts. I understand that I need to gap the track at both ends. Is it OK to do that right at the turnouts? This would leave the gaps even on both rails, not staggered.
If you are going to use the PSX-AR to actually throw the turnout, I would put the gaps a bit further into the loop. This will give the turnout time to throw. That's going to be more important with a slow-motion machine than with a twin-coil.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Got to say that hooking up the PSX-AR with Powercab was about as easy as it gets. I just wired it up, set CV49 to 1.27 volts using the throttle, and the auto-reverse works perfectly. I am not using any of the advanced functions, at least not yet. Happy just to get my locos turned around without having to handle them.
If you are going to use twin-coil switch machines make sure you use a PSX-ARSC.
The PSX-AR will only throw slow-motion machines.
WS