Deltang RC Trains install help

[alex_rowe]

Hi folks,

Progress! Somewhat.

I’ve braved opening my new loco, and have swapped out the RH factory receiver out and plugged in the RC Trains Rx102.

My observations:

The servos twitch - microscopically but almost constantly.

The regulator is half open when the Tx22 transmitter is in the “Speed” central detent (12 o clock position).

Is this a sensible way to operate, given that other battery powered locos on different Selecta channels will be full speed reverse at the steam loco’s setting of regulator closed? I’ve tried to change the Neutral/Centre position so that 12 o’clock on the transmitter is regulator off, but it doesn’t adjust far enough for that.

I await your wisdom! “At least I’m having a go.”


Alex

[tom_tom_go]

Hi Alex,

I have started you a new thread so others can help.

Make sure the battery you are using is healthy and fully charged. What battery is fitted incidentally as it may not be suitable for the Rx.

Are the servos under tension? Try them on their own to see if they twitch.

I bought the Tx24 as it is meant for live steam use so not sure about the Tx22 and adjusting the centre position. Mine is set up so full left the regulator is closed and then full right is open.

Maybe Rik can advise, where art thou Rik?

[alex_rowe]

Thanks for this, Tom.

I may go down the route of getting a separate transmitter for the live steam. The Selecta idea is great but I feel probably more suited to operating similar locos on battery power.

I’ll get back in touch when it’s Slomo time - with photos of progress.

Onwards and upwards!


Alex

[ge_rik]

Hi Alex

Hmmmmm.......

No idea why the servos are twitching. They shouldn't. As Tom suggests, is the rx battery pack fully charged?

The regulator servo will respond to the full sweep of the speed knob and so will be half-on at the midway point. Some of my (former) customers with live steamers used to set up all their battery loco receivers so they were 'low off' rather than 'centre off' and use the reversing switch for direction so all their locos (battery and steam) operated in the same way.

Rik

[alex_rowe]

Hi Rik,

Thanks for the reply. I like the sense of the speed knob, it mirrors the control of the regulator itself (even in the direction - closed is full clockwise, unlike some seem to have it set up).

I'll experiment with the twitching. I fired it up again yesterday and, though I wasn't looking for it, I didn't notice anything.

Next step is, as I say, fitting the slomo. Maybe later a working whistle and chuffer like so many seem to, but for now, I'm marvelling at the glory of a real live steam loco that I always wanted to own

[ge_rik]

Hi Rik,

Thanks for the reply. I like the sense of the speed knob, it mirrors the control of the regulator itself (even in the direction - closed is full clockwise, unlike some seem to have it set up).

I'll experiment with the twitching. I fired it up again yesterday and, though I wasn't looking for it, I didn't notice anything.

Next step is, as I say, fitting the slomo. Maybe later a working whistle and chuffer like so many seem to, but for now, I'm marvelling at the glory of a real live steam loco that I always wanted to own

Hi Alex

Sounds promising. I think it makes sense for the 'regulator' control on the Tx to mirror that on a real loco. I did consider finding someone to manufacture a lever based knob for me to simulate a regulator before I handed over RC Trains to Phil. I seem to recall 'Scalespeed' having a regulator type of lever on their transformer controllers several decades ago - so someone must have made them at some time.

All water under the bridge now

Let me know how you get on. Hope it works out for you

Rik

[metalmuncher]

Maybe a bit late, but thought I would put my experiences here in case it helps. When setting up a Ragleth with 2 channel RC I had twitching issues, when the regulator servo moved the reverser would twitch. Putting a few turns of the regulator servo wire around a ferrite torus salvaged from an old power supply pretty much solved it. The ferrite ring had to be a bit on the larger side to fit the servo connector through the hole, but I think you can get smaller clip on ones to save a bit of space.

[ge_rik]

Maybe a bit late, but thought I would put my experiences here in case it helps. When setting up a Ragleth with 2 channel RC I had twitching issues, when the regulator servo moved the reverser would twitch. Putting a few turns of the regulator servo wire around a ferrite torus salvaged from an old power supply pretty much solved it. The ferrite ring had to be a bit on the larger side to fit the servo connector through the hole, but I think you can get smaller clip on ones to save a bit of space.

That's useful to know. I'll pass that tip on to Phil (my successor at RC Trains). Thanks

Rik

[alex_rowe]

A week on, and I’ve fired up the loco three times.

The twitching is still there, but it’s very slight (you hear it more than see it) and while the servos are being manipulated they don’t twitch; in fact, being moved seems to snap them out of their twitching, for a while.

I’ll report further.

On another note - can I reverse the reverser switch? At the moment it is in the opposite sense - switch to the right makes the engine move backwards, instead of forwards.

Thanks for all your input, folks. What a healthy forum!

Alex

[GTB]

On another note - can I reverse the reverser switch? At the moment it is in the opposite sense - switch to the right makes the engine move backwards, instead of forwards.

You can do it two easy ways.......

- rearrange the linkage between the servo and reverser by moving the servo arm to 180 deg from where it is now.

- use a servo reverser. These are a special servo lead with some circuitry in it which tells the servo to rotate the other way. It just plugs in btween the reciever and the servo. Widely available at shops that specialise in r/c models, or online.

Or if you are using Deltang receivers, you can program the receiver to run a particular servo in reverse. That's if you are clever enough to understand their programming instructions and not screw up the programming.........

Regards,
Graeme

[ge_rik]

A week on, and I’ve fired up the loco three times.

The twitching is still there, but it’s very slight (you hear it more than see it) and while the servos are being manipulated they don’t twitch; in fact, being moved seems to snap them out of their twitching, for a while.

I’ll report further.

On another note - can I reverse the reverser switch? At the moment it is in the opposite sense - switch to the right makes the engine move backwards, instead of forwards.

Thanks for all your input, folks. What a healthy forum!

Alex

As Graeme says, you can do it mechanically, by adding some external electronics or by reprogramming the rx. The instructions for reprogramming are a bit convoluted but like most things, once you've done it for the first time it's then quite easy. I've extracted the relevant steps from the Deltang website (it can be a bit difficult to figure them out).

Assuming you have the reverser servo connected to Pin 3 (counting from the LHS). You'll need to free up pins 4,6,7 so if you have the power lead connected to one of these pins then move it to Pin 2

• Turn off the Rx
  Put the small (red) bind plug on Signal pins 6 & 7 (this tells the Rx you want to make a change to Ch3 - ie the reverser)
  Switch Rx on. Led will flash every 1/2 second.
  Remove bind plug.
  Switch Tx on. Led will flash once every 2s until it locks on to the Tx signal and then stay off. A servo on the chosen Pin can then be controlled with the Tx so you can check the changes are what you want.
  To make channel direction 'reversed', use the large (black) bind plug to connect the Pin4 signal pin to negative.
  Changes are saved whenever you remove a plug.
  Switch the Rx off and on to use all outputs normally.

Hope that makes some sort of sense

Rik

[tom_tom_go]

I would want to get the twitching issue fixed first before doing anything else as it's not right that it is happening.

Do the servos twitch when not connected to any linkage? If they do then providing your battery is alright I would suspect you have a faulty Rx and would contact your supplier to get it replaced.

[alex_rowe]

Rik - thanks for this extract from the website. It does make sense now. It helps to think of each component of the programming in turn; compartmentalise it. I’ll let you know when it’s successful, subject to...

Tom - also thanks for drawing me back to this issue. I’ll stop messing with smoke and steam for a bit and investigate this, starting with the easy stuff first, i.e. batteries. Once I’ve got the results of testing I’ll report back.

What a helpful and well-spirited forum this is. Don’t tell the rest of the internet!!