I was switching an industry with a Walthers Plymouth using one of my Cab-06's, the one with a line on the rheostat knob. Trouble is, when I tried to stop the locomotive it kept going, both when it was in reverse and forward. Had to hit the opposite direction on the CAb-06 to stop the Plymouth. I tried to run another locomotive with the cab, and it appears to run the other loco with no problem, it stops when the knob is all the way over counterclockwise. Is this a decoder problem?
Bear "It's all about having fun."
Is the track in that area maybe dirty? The Plymouth has a keep-alive built in, so if it didn;t see the speed 0 command, it would just keep right on going. Mine runs for several feet - off the rails and on the plastic sheet on top of my workbench! Does it happen consistently on all parts of your layout? What about when you use the big throttle, does it stop when commanded from that one?
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Randy, you da man! The track is dirty, in fact I have been cleaning track for the past couple of days, but did not reach that industry section yet. On the dirty track, the big throttle is hit or miss. I moved the Playmouth to a section of track that was just cleaned this morning and both the big throttle and the Cab-06 work fine.
Conclusion: dirty track. Back to the denatured alcohol and elbow grease.
But your response begs the question as to what is a keep alive, and why is there one?
bearman But your response begs the question as to what is a keep alive, and why is there one?
A "keep alive" (KA - Trademarked by TCS) is a super-capacitor connected to (or built into) a decoder so that a locomotive can glide over "interruptions" in continuity on your track due to dirtiness or isolation (e.g. a dead turnout frog). The smaller keep alives can power for 1-2 secs; while larger ones can go for upwards of 20 secs.
My MTH 20th Century Limited passenger cars came with keep alive modules. It takes about 1 min. for the caps to charge up but there is ZERO flicker as it travels around the layout. When power to the layout is turned off, it takes about 5 mins. before the LEDs go completely black.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
At this point, all I can contribute is that the Keep Alive in my Plymouth apparently is not only alive but doing very well.
That little short guy needs all the help it can get to run over even the tiniest bit of dirt. But I really think it has too much. Headlights on, full throttle, I can lift it off the rails and put it on my work bench and I have to pick it up a few times and move it back because it runs out of workbench. The new runs ar supposedly coming with ESU Lokpilot decoders. If they are using ESU's 3 wire power pack, it will be possible to set how long it keeps going via a CV. The ESU 3 wire types allow the decoder to shut off the power after a set amount of time, even if there is still charge left in the capacitor. This way you don't have a loco take off rampaging across your landscape if it derails.
Some day if I feel ambitious enough I may try to get sound in this little thing.
Sound would be nice, but is there room in the shell for a speaker.
Well, those little GE 25 tonners from Grandt Line are even smaller, and they have been done with sound...