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dynamis in a garden


silverking
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HELP PLEASE

I am in the process of build the Whitewater Railway and while I was having minute off from deforesting the garden I thought as you do I'll try Dynamis I wished I hadn't it seems about as much good as a chocolate toasting fork. Can anybody out there offer any help or advice.One of the problems is it's range (about 5ft and then no signal) is this a suitable for outdoors or has it got to on e-bay

regards Mick aka silverking.

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Thanks ba14eagle

My local dealer thinks dynamis is the BEE'S KNEES. So it's back to the old faithful Select until I can find a better system. What is the prefered system. I would welcome any and all sugestions.

Regards Mick aka silverking.

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Ive used the Dymanis on a friend's indoor railway and sure enough, it does a good job, at a reasonable price, so it was a disappointment when it was unsuitable for outdoors.

As I have a very basic approach :oops: to operating my railway - no fancy control by iphone / ipad here - I chose to use the Hornby Elite. A system that doesnt seem to be very popoular, but works for me - only complaint I have is that the 2nd dial is a bit redundant, as you only have one screen upon which to select your loco. I have thought about using a Select as a slave controller, but that would involve re-assigning 2 digit addresses to my loco's - too much like work now :!:

Iain

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Hello b14eagle

Thanks for your comments and the idea they gave me. Let me run this past you. You said Elite as master Select as slave so what if two Select were fed from the same transformer using a common feed, i.e. parallel feed. Then 2 track feeds again parallel common to the track - result 2 individual control knobs each with its own screen, this should in theory give you twice the capacity of one select for programming locos. Regards Mick aka Silverking

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Hi Mick, if you want to go radio control in DCC why not try Gauge Master Prodigy Radio. Your local bloke who thinks that Dynamis is the bee knees would probably think were a 'few sandwiches short of a picnic' for wanting a OO garden railway. The radio Gauge Master MAY suit your needs.

Roy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Guys

Have been doing some research on the guagemaster prodigy wireless system and I think it is the way for me to go. I would be grateful if anybody out there could give me a few pointers as to any possible pitfalls, at this stage I ought to say I am not a computer freak all I want is to put the base station in the garage and wander around the garden with a handset or sit on my railway seat and drive some trains.

Regards Mick aka silverking

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On a recent trip to gaugemaster the sales guy reckoned that when they first got the Prodigy they experimented with the range and found that it would still work the layout from Ford station platform ! Looking at this setup myself although might get a basic system them upgrade.

Anything infer red is useless for out door operation unless your very close to the receiver.

Some here are using i phone apps to operate layouts, but it all goes over my head !

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Presumably you already have a PC or laptop and a wi-fi router. If you also have a iPhone or Android smart phone, the cheapest way into full functioned radio controlled DCC is with Hornby eLink at around £70.

Quite a few assumptions there I agree but something worth considering.

Having said that, I do personally prefer to twiddle a knob rather than slide my finger around a touchscreen phone when driving trains. The Gaugemaster Prodigy system should do all that you require and very easily.

Dave W

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Hi Dave

Thanks for the reply. I am very much like you when it comes to control (IF THERE'S A KNOB TO BE TWIDDLED TWIDDLE IT). I will have to talk to my son about all the techno bits cos I aint got no fancy phone but we have got a lap top,a pc and a wireless router so I suppose it's just a matter of putting the right bits in the right order.I'll keep you posted if thats ok?

Regards Mick

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Hey Jimbob

Got my replies in the wrong order but I got there. Have got to e-mail Guagemaster to see the difference between prodigy and prodigy radio ie can I add a few techno bits of my own and get the same result as with prodigy radio. Will update asap.

Regards Mick.

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  • 2 years later...

Sorry for reactivating this topic after so long. Last my Bachman Command DCC system went up in smoke, puff of smoke, dead as a dodo. I had promised my self a wireless system, Gaugemaster or NCE but......Well desperate for a new controller l resorted to E Bay and for an extra £20 l could get Dynamis instead of a comand. Yes l know all the problems about outside use but it gave me untethered operation in the shed and that was good enough for me. Done some limited operation and it seems ok. This has now snowballed and a hopefully bargin buy has seen the arrival of a pro box and two wireless recivers plus another hand set and contoller which was unexpected as the listing wasnt clear about that. Not set it all up yet but given the lengh of time since the last comment here has anyone had a better experince with one now?

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  • 6 months later...

Never let an old thread die! Now for my sins l am the proud owner of Samsung tablet. Am looking right in thinking that you cannot use a tablet in conjunction with a Dynamis (with probox) for computer control?

Still don't think the Dynamis is best suited for the garden but an upgrade is still away off yet but computer control could save it yet.

Please remember last am a tech idiot.

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Dynamis outside won't work, because it uses LED's to transmit the information and the sun has a little more power than an LED.

So you either need a Radio system or a wired system. Using a tablet / phone outside may work if it uses Wifi to an in the shed control box, and you can see the screen in the sun.

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As you say infra red is not very good in the garden. It's not that that causes me trouble ito Dynamis''s ability to show a short circuit every time a wheel sparks stopping everything or shows one when it's sitting there doing Nothing!

Anyway that's all in the past l hope. Waiting to push the "purchase" button on a Z21 system in the new year. Had an unexpected windfall coupled with my mobile provider up grading me with a tablet+ smartphone so it's all win win on that front.

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  • 2 years later...

Long time since anyone posted here so l hope someone notices the smoke signals !

I am still ploding along with the old style Dynamis, you know the one that was supposed to do everything the new one now does but didn't. 

Anyway, the handset keeps showing a "short" and stopping everything. Switched to DC controller and no problems there, back to DCC and up it pops again. Tried differant locos, problem still there, even disconnected track into sections but no change. Nothing on the track to cause it either. 

Any suggestions ?

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The Dynamis Command Station seems to have a choice of track connections, either plug in, or screw terminals in a green connector. My Z21 unit uses a similar but probably smaller green connector and I once discovered a tiny single strand of multi-core flex was touching the opposite side resulting in a short. I suggest you examine this very carefully, with a magnifying glass if necessary. If the problem is not there, check the other end of the cable as well.

Hope this helps.

1.048611hiw.jpg.12f5cae367d9214b8c464c1119a0c5c7.jpg

Edited by Riddles
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