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FAQ


Top 5 questions

The new design of the drive with digital decoder in the signal base did not allow for an additional switching unit. We therefore recommend our electronic relay Art. 5552 for the signals Art. 4700/4701 and the relay Art. 5226 for the three-handled signal Art. 4702 for train control. Detailed explanations are included in the respective instructions.
The Commander is designed for the simultaneous automatic control of up to 16 trains on your system.

If faults still occur, please proceed systematically to rectify the fault. First switch a large number of your routes to "Park" and completely delete duplicate routes, routes that are not in use or incompletely programmed routes. Even a route that you do not actually observe or need can disrupt your entire automatic function.
So only programme routes that are needed and then expand your automatic system step by step so that you notice early on when faults occur. A general tip: Do not include too many features such as locomotive sound etc. in your routes. Especially not if you want to create universal routes and use them with very different locomotives. Not all locomotives have the programmed function, such as locomotive sound, on the same function.
The S88 certainly has its own special characteristics. But if you pay attention to these, the S88 bus runs without any problems.

It is easy to test whether the S88 is working correctly. To do this, move a "signalling" vehicle back and forth across the interface of two feedback units. The affected feedback unit should turn red or grey without delay. If it takes too long, your signalling line is faulty. Briefly extinguishing a feedback signal is also a problem, because if the extinguished feedback signal was the only condition for preventing another route, this is then activated without delay. This can lead to points being set in such a way that two trains collide with each other. 
This can prevent clean contact between the track and the vehicle. This is particularly important for small tracks (TT and N) and vehicles with few axles and wheel sliders (i.e. few contact surfaces with the track).
There is a risk of contact interruptions on points, especially at slow speeds, so caution is advised here, although a single locomotive with a few axles is naturally more likely to cause problems than a whole train. Please note that on two-wire tracks, only current-carrying wagons are recognised by current-sensing track occupancy detectors. 
Your routes should therefore only be checked using reliable vehicles or trains. 
Interference can also occur if the flat cable connection is too long, or live cables lie next to or above the S88 flat cable line. Such an arrangement must be avoided at all costs, i.e. S88 cable and track supply or AC cables must be physically separated. The flat cable should not be longer than 1.5-2 metres.
It is generally recommended to install the S88 feedback devices (all without exception) close to the control centre.
Reliable accessories, such as S88 switches that split the line into 3 parts or adapters on shielded network cables, improve behaviour and reliability and prevent malfunctions during operation. Incidentally, the S88 bus is optically isolated in the Commander to improve interference immunity and prevent short circuits. You should also always check whether your points are switching reliably. Faults caused by corroded or damaged limit switches in point machines have almost driven many a model railway enthusiast mad.
Ideally, you should use two Art. 5095 traffic lights with pedestrian lights and LEDs, 2 units, and Art. 5096 pedestrian lights, 4 units, for a complete crossing.

However, it is also possible to link two Art. 5095 without Art. 5096. To do this, proceed as follows:
1. To do this, designate one electronic unit as the "master" and the other as the "slave".
2. The blue cable of the slave is plugged into the blue point with plug contact on the master plug (on some electronics, this is not a point but a blue triangle).
3. For standard operation, connect the blue cable of the master to the earth of the transformer. All other functions that can be triggered via the blue cable are also available as described in the instructions.

New questions

The item 4555 H0 points lantern comes with 2 lantern bodies. These are of different lengths. If trains derail, please check the lantern body used. If you are using the body with approx. 10.5 mm, replace it with the shorter one.
The light decoder must be in DCC mode, i.e. it must have a DCC address programmed so that the CVs can be read out.
The light decoder must be in DCC mode, i.e. it must have a DCC address programmed so that the CVs can be read out.
In general, all Kibri trailers and semi-trailers are suitable for coupling to the CarMotion vehicles.

To retrofit the corresponding functions, you will need, for example, item 8420 H0 Bumper with LED lighting for trailers and semi-trailers.
Trailers and semi-trailers from other manufacturers may require some tinkering.
The magnetic tape retains its magnetic force for life under normal use. 

It is only affected by higher temperatures (over 70°) and a larger (stronger) magnetic field.

Art. 509-/-4,-5,-6

To get a functioning diorama mode, you can reproduce the following circuit diagram. The potentiometer settings are important and are also shown below.

Settings for the left-hand timing relay: The left-hand potentiometer is responsible for the stop coil, so the left-hand potentiometer must be set to the left-hand stop (so that the stop coil is activated immediately when the traffic lights change to stop for the cars). The right-hand potentiometer must be set slightly to the right of the left-hand stop (so that the stop coil does not start immediately when the traffic light changes from red to yellow).
Settings for the right-hand timing relay: The potentiometers must be turned further to the right from the left-hand stop as shown in the picture, this enables realistic traffic light control. The potentiometer positions can be adjusted, the difference between the left and right potentiometers should remain approximately the same.
If the potentiometer positions are unfavourable, the left-hand timing relay and therefore the stop coil may no longer be activated due to overlapping potentiometer positions.
Ideally, you should use two Art. 5095 traffic lights with pedestrian lights and LEDs, 2 units, and Art. 5096 pedestrian lights, 4 units, for a complete junction.

However, it is also possible to link two Art. 5095s without Art. 5096. Proceed as follows:
1. designate one electronic unit as the "master" and the other as the "slave". 
2. connect the blue cable of the slave to the blue point with plug contact on the master plug (on some electronics it is not a point, but a blue triangle).
3. for standard operation, connect the blue cable of the master to the earth of the transformer. All other functions that can be triggered via the blue cable are also available as described in the instructions.

Nachfolgend ein Schaltungsbeispiel:

Art. 5549

With the Märklin point machines (e.g. 74491) in conjunction with the Viessmann universal push-button control panel, art. 5549, both LEDs (red and green) light up when feedback is given. 

To rectify the problem, you must solder resistors to the circuit board of item 5549. Please refer to the following sketch:

General information

Die Maße sind: L 37,8 mm x B 18 mm x H 3,75 mm.

The light decoder must be in DCC mode, i.e. it must have a DCC address programmed so that the CVs can be read out.
To increase the volume of external loudspeakers on sound modules, please use an external amplifier. The maximum output power of the sound module is approx. 1W.

To connect an external amplifier, please refer to the following illustration:
Please be sure to adhere to the assignment of the connections on the jack plug!
The item 4555 H0 points lantern comes with 2 lantern bodies. These are of different lengths. If trains derail, please check the lantern body used. If you are using the body with approx. 10.5 mm, replace it with the shorter one.
Viessmann moulded signals with 2 drives require positive switching pulses. It is therefore not possible to switch the signals with all magnetic article decoders (e.g. Lenz, Trix, LDT, Roco, Zimo etc.) as these decoders supply negative switching pulses. Viessmann decoders provide positive switching pulses (e.g. Art. 5211, 52111, 5280).
With many Viessmann products (e.g. moving figures or lights), the brown cable is connected to the + pole in DC operation. If your product does not work, check the polarity.
The light decoder must be in DCC mode, i.e. it must have a DCC address programmed so that the CVs can be read out.

Es wird empfohlen, dass der Abstand zwischen den Displays maximal 60 cm beträgt, wobei das Kabel zwischen dem Display und dem Steuermodul nicht länger als 30 cm sein sollte. Wenn der Abstand größer ist, kann ein störungsfreier Betrieb nicht gewährleistet werden. In Einzelfällen kann es jedoch unter günstigen Umständen möglich sein, größere Abstände von bis zu 1 m oder mehr zu verwenden. Dies muss jedoch im Einzelfall getestet werden.

The registration number for electronic waste is: DE 86057721

CarMotion

In folgendem YouTube Video zeigen wir Ihnen, wie Sie das Gehäuse einfach öffnen können:

If the vehicles are switched off with the magnetic pen or the remote control, they are completely de-energised, so they do not have to be switched off with a switch.

The vehicles can be conveniently switched on using the magnetic pin, the telescopic magnetic rod or the remote control, so that they can also be switched on without removing the vehicles from the system.

Our CarMotion vehicles are not currently equipped with sound.

However, you can look forward to seeing what innovative ideas we will bring to the market in the future!

Our vehicles also work with the Faller stop points. In this case, the stop points are switched via our time relay so that our vehicles also receive the signal to continue travelling or to stop. This means that traffic light operation can also be realised with our vehicles. In this case, you do not need to install one of our permanent magnets in the route.

You can install a permanent magnet in front of the traffic light with the south pole facing upwards so that the vehicle brakes. However, the vehicle will then always brake, even when the traffic light is green.

You can use the programming device to set the starting speed of the vehicle after starting off, for example.

For junctions, car parks and road changes, you can use commercially available servo junctions.
No, to charge the batteries you need our charger, Art. 8400.
The following commands can be executed via the permanent magnets:

- Stopping with slow deceleration and illumination of the brake lights
- Flashing left & flashing right
- Speed change: braking or accelerating
- Switching on the high beam / rotating roof lights
- Information about lane changes - important for distance control or passing stationary vehicles
- Cancellation of all existing solenoid commands
The individual commands can be set individually (speeds and lengths) via the CarManager: e.g. "Turn right for 20 centimetres and reduce the speed by 10 km/h per second."
The stone art roads can be used together with our CarMotion products. It is not absolutely necessary to replace any existing wire with magnetic tape. However, we recommend using magnetic tape to ensure operational safety. Especially because the guide magnet then does not have to touch the road.
The CarMotion vehicles are compatible with most existing systems (road guidance with contact wire and magnetic tape, points, stop coils, magnetic coils). Existing systems can easily be supplemented with our permanent magnets.
For vehicles without trailers, we recommend a minimum radius of 75 mm. Note: The permanent magnets should not be placed in tight bends. Either before or after the bend (depending on the desired command).
CarManager will also be available for Windows and Mac. You can download the latest version free of charge from our homepage.
Our vehicles are currently only partially compatible with other infrared controls. An IR LED can be used to bring the vehicle to a stop. A sequence of simple magnets can be used to initiate a braking process in advance.
Our IR distance control is currently only partially compatible with other systems. A corresponding update is in progress.
No other track sizes apart from H0 are currently being planned.
We are still working on many innovative ideas for our CarMotion range. You can look forward to seeing what other products we will be introducing in the future!
No, the analogue Faller models cannot recognise the control commands of the permanent magnets Art. 8431. The models stop because they recognise the permanent magnets as a stop command.
The magnetic tape is installed in the system plate using a surface milling machine. Care must be taken to ensure that the magnetic tape is laid flat with the road surface.

It is best to lay the individual magnetic strips "mitred".
If the tapes are laid "butted", polarity reversal can occur if they touch.
A small gap is therefore generally not a problem.
There is no minimum length for the magnetic tape. However, the more pieces of magnetic tape are strung together, the more susceptible the magnetic guidance of the vehicle becomes to interference. As the north and south poles may be reversed at the cut edges or the magnetic field alignment may change, the magnetic guidance of the vehicle may be repelled.

However, the magnetic tape is very flexible and can also be fixed to the underside with white glue or an all-purpose adhesive in very tight curve radii, so that it is not necessary to cut it into pieces.
When using magnetic tapes from other manufacturers, the magnetic tape may affect the sensor in the vehicle differently, e.g. due to different magnetic field strengths.

In this case, it may help to calibrate the magnetic sensor in the vehicle above your magnetic tape, but without any other magnets in the vicinity.
You will find the option for this in the CarManager under "Service".
The value should be 50 % +/- 1 % and the magnet commands should then be recognised correctly.
Depending on the type of magnetic tape, it may be necessary to select slightly larger magnet distances than suggested in the instructions. It is also worth experimenting with the values for the sensitivity of the magnetic sensor. This can be found in the CarManager under "General settings", "Magnetic control".
If you activate the test mode in this menu item, you can also see from the roof indicators (if present) when the vehicle recognises the magnets in the road.
If you observe the following rules, this should be possible without any problems:

1. cross the magnetic strips and the tracks as vertically as possible. This prevents unwanted steering movements when the vehicle's magnet crosses the track.
2. fill the gap between the rails either with the magnetic tape or with a slightly thicker iron wire. This might work even better than the magnetic tape. There are always some interference fields around the magnetic tape that can cause unwanted steering movements.
3. pay attention to the distance between the wheels of the rail vehicle and the tape or wire. Make the gap on the rails as small as possible and as large as necessary.
4. take care to avoid short circuits between the rails and the third, live rail if you use iron wire instead of magnetic tape.
We use the guide values for our Vollmer stone art tracks. These have a thickness of 1 - 1.5 mm.
We recommend a minimum radius of 90 mm for trailers/semitrailers.

However, with our new steered rear axle article 8424 we could also achieve 75 mm (as soon as available).
Nevertheless, care must be taken during planning to ensure that the trailer/semitrailer can drive further inwards, or that it must be extended a little.
In general, all Kibri trailers and semi-trailers are suitable for coupling to CarMotion vehicles.

To retrofit the corresponding functions, you will need, for example, item 8420 H0 Bumper with LED lighting for trailers and semi-trailers.
Trailers and semi-trailers from other manufacturers may require some tinkering.

The magnetic tape retains its magnetic force for life under normal use.

It is only affected by higher temperatures (over 70°) and a larger (stronger) magnetic field.
The easiest way to do this is as follows: Switch on the vehicle and hold a magnet near the Hall sensor. If the vehicle remains stationary, this is a north pole. If the vehicle brakes and the brake lights come on, it is a south pole.

The magnetic pin supplied with the vehicles and the remote control magnet are always fitted with the north pole facing outwards. Therefore, if the magnet is attracted, it is a south pole, otherwise it is a north pole.
The permanent magnets Art. 8431 should be placed with their centre 1 - 1.2 cm to the right of the guide wire or the magnetic tape Art. 8430 flat or just below the road surface. If possible, permanent magnets should only be used on straight lines.
With one battery charge, a running time of approx. 4 - 6 hours is possible with normal operation with waiting times and different speeds, and approx. 2 hours at maximum speed (80 km/h).
Check whether the stop points have been installed the wrong way round (up/down) and whether the cables have been connected correctly.

Replace the coil cables. Faller also suggests this on page 28 of their instructions: "If the polarity is reversed, simply swap the two connection cables of the stop point."
When using our Vollmer Steinkunst roads, a gradient of 15 - 20 % is possible, whereby the transitions must be provided with a correspondingly large radius.

If the road surface is smooth, the maximum gradient can be significantly lower.

Commander

The S88 certainly has its own special features. But if you pay attention to these, the S88 bus runs without problems.

It is easy to test whether the S88 is working correctly. To do this, move a "signalling" vehicle back and forth across the interface of two feedback devices. The affected feedback unit should turn red or grey without delay. If it takes too long, your signalling line is faulty. Briefly extinguishing a feedback signal is also a problem, because if the extinguished feedback signal was the only condition for preventing another route, this is then activated without delay. This can lead to points being set in such a way that two trains collide with each other.
This can prevent clean contact between the track and the vehicle. This is particularly important for small tracks (TT and N) and vehicles with few axles and wheel sliders (i.e. few contact surfaces with the track).
There is a risk of contact interruptions on points, especially at low speed, so caution is advised here, although a single locomotive with a few axles is naturally more likely to cause problems than a whole train. Please note that on two-wire tracks, only current-carrying wagons are recognised by current-sensing track occupancy detectors.
Your routes should therefore only be checked with reliable vehicles or trains.
Faults can also occur if the flat cable connection is too long, or live cables lie next to or above the S88 flat cable line. Such an arrangement must be avoided at all costs, i.e. S88 cable and track supply or AC cables must be physically separated. The flat cable should not be longer than 1.5-2 metres.
It is generally recommended to install the S88 feedback units (all without exception) close to the control centre.
Reliable accessories, such as S88 switches that split the line into 3 parts or adapters on shielded network cables, improve behaviour and reliability and prevent malfunctions. Incidentally, the S88 bus is optically isolated in the Commander to improve interference immunity and prevent short circuits. You should also always check whether your points are switching reliably. Faults caused by corroded or damaged limit switches in point machines have almost driven many a model railway enthusiast mad.
The Commander is designed for the simultaneous automatic control of up to 16 trains on your system.

If faults nevertheless occur, please proceed systematically to rectify the fault. First switch a large part of your routes to "Park" and completely delete duplicate routes, routes that are not in use or incompletely programmed routes. Even a route that you do not actually observe or need can disrupt your entire automatic function.
Therefore, only programme routes that are needed and then expand your automatic system step by step so that you notice early on when faults occur. A general tip: Do not include too many features such as locomotive sound etc. in your routes. Especially not if you want to create universal routes and use them with very different locomotives. Not all locomotives have the programmed function, such as locomotive sound, on the same function.

Digital Form Main Signals

The two blue control lines (with green and red markings) are no longer required on the track after a digital address has been assigned; remove these two control lines from the track and insulate them.
The cooling surface in the signal base must not be covered.

Here is the default table:

CV Default Value
42 70
43 60
51 135
52 145
53 160
These newly designed shaped signals can be switched both digitally and analogue. An electronic limit switch is integrated so that switching with continuous current is also possible.
The new design of the drive with digital decoder in the signal base did not allow for an additional switching unit. We therefore recommend our electronic relay Art. 5552 for the signals Art. 4700/4701 and the relay Art. 5226 for the three-handled signal Art. 4702 for train control. Detailed explanations are included in the respective instructions.

Decoder

CV 29 is used to set 6 properties in our locomotive decoders (5240, 5241, 5244, 5245):

• The direction of travel (normal or reverse direction). 
• The number of speed steps (14 speed steps or 28 and 128 speed steps).
• Digital and/or analogue operation.
• Railcom off or on.
• Motor characteristic (calculated from CV 2,5,6 or in CV 67  - 94).
• Short or long address.
These 6 properties are each set in 6 bits (bits 0-5, see Figure 1). Each bit has a corresponding value depending on the desired setting.


Shuttle train control Art. 5214

Reasons for malfunctions of the shuttle train control:

• The "Speed" setting control is turned to zero (left stop). It is used to set the driving speed of the shuttle vehicle and should be set to at least centre control during the first attempts. - You have forgotten to connect the two sockets "3" and "4" to each other. Otherwise the shuttle vehicle will stop at the terminus station, as the control system then waits for a manual start impulse from the push-buttons that can be connected to sockets "5" and "6".
• The disconnection point required at each terminus station was not carefully designed. The respective track manufacturers offer special insulating connectors for this purpose.
• The connection cables to the track were swapped. The connections must be made as shown in Fig. 3 (or Fig. 4 for LGB) of the operating instructions. The position of the track separation points must also correspond to the previously mentioned illustrations. In the direction of travel "towards the buffer stop" they must always be on the right (or left for LGB).
• The track or the end sections have not been correctly separated from the rest of the layout. Insulating rail connectors are required on both sides. Alternatively, you can put insulating hardening glue in the rail slots. It is worth checking with a measuring device.
This is a sign that the control unit recognises both terminus stations as occupied. This can have the following causes:

• There is another current-carrying vehicle in the other terminus station, e.g. a locomotive or an illuminated wagon.
• The two rail profiles of the supposedly unoccupied terminus station are bridged by moisture. This can occur in particular with ballasted tracks in damp rooms or in outdoor installations. In this case, reduce the sensitivity of the track occupancy detectors. This can be done by using a 10 kOhm/0.25 W resistor (colour coding brown-black-orange-gold) from socket 3 to socket 9 and from socket 3 to socket 12 of the electronics. These resistors can be ordered from our customer service department by calling 06452/934031.

Shuttle train control for alternating current tracks, Art. 5204

Point Machines

The point machines have a motorised drive which requires electronics for control. The digital decoder is included in the electronics and can therefore not be separated. Analogue control is also possible without the integrated digital decoder using a push-button control panel (e.g. Art. 5547).

Delivery without a digital decoder would not offer any price advantages.