Minic Motorway

[douglee]

Hi Jon,
I have only just seen the post, (Been away (floating in North Wales)).
It is amazing what a coat of paint can do isn't it?
That trailer looks OK.

Good effort.

Good luck
Doug

[jbilton]

Hi Jon,
I have only just seen the post, (Been away (floating in North Wales)).
It is amazing what a coat of paint can do isn't it?
That trailer looks OK.

Good effort.

Good luck
Doug

Hi
Thanks Doug .... hope the weather didn't spoil the holiday too much.

Cheers
Jon

[douglee]

Hi Jon,
Ok.
As for the weather, you must have seen the reports?
Although luckily 'for us' we were either high enough to be clear of floods or on the edges of the storms.
Some of the weather patterns were specular to see (no consolation to those caught in them though) we still managed to get out and about. Went on the Welsh Highland Railway, Canarfon to Porthmadoc this is the first year there has been a full route time tabled service. A really great ride using ex-South African Garret locos. They really work hard on the climb out of Porthmadoc, they sound great.
At least we know the Motorhome dosen't leak.

Good luck
Doug

[rufuskins]

Welcome back Doug, and I assume you've returned to the Isle of Man to sign up for one of the available "slots" on the proposed space flights!

I know it's off topic but I did include a reference to "slots"!

Alec

[douglee]

Hi Alec,
Don't laugh............................................I've seen the elastic band.
Even further off topic.

July the 8th Conway:- Were you and Rufus out side the newsagents opposite the railway station about midday? By the time I drove round the one-way whoever it was had gone.

Good luck
Doug

[nutterjknights]

I know there is a thread on here about Minic Motorway, but its locked and i wanted to ask some questions about it.

1) Who has a set that works?
2) Would it be possible to convert it to use DCC?

[Easilyconfused]

If you find a thread locked you can always ask if it can be reopened. The auto-locker is there to stop people mindlessly bumping threads from years ago. Since you wanted to ask a perfectly valid pair of questions rather than "does anybody know when this is being released ?" on some 8 year old vapourware route it is a simple matter to merge the 2 threads.

[jbilton]

I know there is a thread on here about Minic Motorway, but its locked and i wanted to ask some questions about it.

1) Who has a set that works?
2) Would it be possible to convert it to use DCC?

Hi

I run this system....its 12v DC ....however it maybe difficult to install a decoder in the smaller vehicles.... but there would be room in the buses, coaches and lorries.

Cheers
Jon

[nutterjknights]

Hi

I run this system....its 12v DC ....however it maybe difficult to install a decoder in the smaller vehicles.... but there would be room in the buses, coaches and lorries.

Cheers
Jon

even if you use an "z" gauge size decoder?

[jbilton]

Hi

I run this system....its 12v DC ....however it maybe difficult to install a decoder in the smaller vehicles.... but there would be room in the buses, coaches and lorries.

Cheers
Jon

even if you use an "z" gauge size decoder?

Hi

Well if they are really small .... but there's not a lot of space say in a Porsche .



a good site

http://www.minicmotorways.org.uk/list.htm





Cheers
Jon

[nutterjknights]

John,

I have just received http://www.minicmotorways.org.uk/abus.htm from e-bay! Hope to make it DCC and will let you know how it goes!

[PeterPeddlesden]

The first consideration is the amount of current the motor draws under load. That will determine which size of decoder to use.

"N" / "Z" decoders max out at 500mA and then auto shutdown until you reprogam the error register to clear the error.

Second consideration is the electrical isolation of the motor from the pickups. With early trains (not sure on minic cars), one pickup was connected to the chassis and one motor connection was bonded to the chassis.
You would need to find a way to isolate the motor completely from the pickups and chassis.

Assuming that the motor current drain is not an issue and that you can electrically isolate the motor from the chassis, then there are a number of small decoders that would likely fit the cars.
Digitrax make several small wired decoders. DN143 for example is just 9.14mm x 13.97mm x 3.3mm.

Hi

I run this system....its 12v DC ....however it maybe difficult to install a decoder in the smaller vehicles.... but there would be room in the buses, coaches and lorries.

Cheers
Jon

even if you use an "z" gauge size decoder?

[nutterjknights]

Thanks, I will take apart the bus I have and see how the motor is, but as the chassis is plastic I am sure there would be no problem with the isolation factor