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Dapol track cleaner

I know I'm not the first to get one of these and I think my first impressions may not add an awful lot to the sum of human knowledge, but here goes anyway.

  • The bogie pickups made intermittent contact, I had to stretch the springs a little and in the end I suspect good old fashioned wire would be more effective.
  • The hoover mode is surprisingly effective but the motor unit is not a close fit in the body so dust ends up in the electronics; if you don't want that then add some kind of airtight seal.
  • Why is it purple? Mine will of course be sprayed yellow at the earliest opportunity...

I like this tool, it is unquestionably what I need with well over 100m of track to keep clean. With only a few minor tweaks I expect it to do the job very well. Guy

Reply to
Just zis Guy, you know?
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Has anyone used one of these on a garden railway? Can it cope with that level of dirt?

Reply to
Spyke

Bird poop and leaves?

Reply to
MartinS

Obviously the leaves and other large bits of debris need removing by hand, but a fairly thick layer of grime does build up pretty quickly, and it's a pain to remove it all using a track rubber.

Reply to
Spyke

Do you have DCC? It seems to me that this particular unit needs a Gold decoder and a USP module (for what seem to me to be obvious reasons). Guy

Reply to
Just zis Guy, you know?

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote

Why's that - it doesn't seem at all obvious to me?

John.

Reply to
John Turner

When you're on a dirty bit of track, the place where you want the motor to keep running is exactly the place it doesn't keep running when there's no USP :-) Guy

Reply to
Just zis Guy, you know?

Is a USP same as UPS ? You could run the cleaner more often so track doesnt get that dirty.

Cheers, Simon

Reply to
simon

USP is the Lenz name for their short-life UPS, yes. I clean it pretty frequently, but I have a lot of track so occasional buildup of crud (especially in hidden sections) is hard to avoid. Guy

Reply to
Just zis Guy, you know?

If your track is that bad, I doubt the Tomix (Dapol) will clean it unless you've got it on grinder mode.

In my expirience, bad running is due to momentary small splots of dirt, not a thick gloopy layer of grime. A vehicle with a large number of pickups (eg. four axles) will go over the dirt, but one with fewer will have problems.

If one really needs the Gold+Power module for a track clearner, then I suggest battery powering the Tomix on NiMH rechargeables as cheaper and not requiring any layout power - half a dozen rechargeables in a battery cradle (Maplin or any other electronics supplier) and a brand-new wagon to carry them is going to be far less than £70.

- Nigel

Reply to
Nigel Cliffe

No it isn't.

USP is "Uninterruptible Signal Processing", in Lenz talk, and is the technique whereby some lenz decoders can still receive the DCC data signal through dirt. It's done by capacitive coupling and is no help in getting power to the decoder. Not much use on it's own, however.

The UPS is the power 1 module and is what gives the backup power over dirty track. This is useful on it's own.

Combine the two and you can drive onto dirty track and rather than just keep going (with the backup power) the decoder will still respond to commands to, e.g. reverse. Lenz demonstrate this by driving a loco over a sheet of paper stopping, and reversing.

Any decoder can be backed up by capacitors. Zimo even give you convenient solder pads to connect to. Zimo decoders also have a neat trick when stopping. If the track signal is lost they will creep forward using the backup supply until they are receiving valid commands again. That way a stationary loco dosesn't get stuck on dirty track.

Adding more pickups is the real solution in most cases, IMHO.

MBQ

Reply to
manatbandq

No it isn't.

USP is "Uninterruptible Signal Processing", in Lenz talk, and is the technique whereby some lenz decoders can still receive the DCC data signal through dirt. It's done by capacitive coupling and is no help in getting power to the decoder. Not much use on it's own, however.

The UPS is the power 1 module and is what gives the backup power over dirty track. This is useful on it's own.

Combine the two and you can drive onto dirty track and rather than just keep going (with the backup power) the decoder will still respond to commands to, e.g. reverse. Lenz demonstrate this by driving a loco over a sheet of paper stopping, and reversing.

Any decoder can be backed up by capacitors. Zimo even give you convenient solder pads to connect to. Zimo decoders also have a neat trick when stopping. If the track signal is lost they will creep forward using the backup supply until they are receiving valid commands again. That way a stationary loco dosesn't get stuck on dirty track.

Adding more pickups is the real solution in most cases, IMHO.

MBQ

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Or going like a bat out of hell with lots of wieght :-)

cheers, Simon

Reply to
simon

That sounds more like the real thing!

Reply to
MartinS

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote

These are not traction units and need to be hauled by a powered loco, so if anything is going to need that USP it will be the hauling loco.

John.

Reply to
John Turner

d'oh, schoolboy error. USP only works with the Power Thingy, which confused me. I like the sound of the Zimo decoders, I might try one.

I should stick to talking about SANs and virtual infrastructure, I know what I'm talking about there :-) Guy

Reply to
Just zis Guy, you know?

I've not found a better decoder than Zimo. Documentation is superb, ever decoder has at least six function outputs (even the one which fits in N scale). Most can have a function output drive a servo - working reversing gear on your locos !

I can only see one reason why one would buy Lenz in comparison if the prices are similar, and that is the automatic shuttle feature which is handy if wanting a totally automatic DMU (or similar). The prices of Zimo is similar to Lenz for the sizes of chip I use.

Reply to
Nigel Cliffe

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