Dynamis and flourescent lights ?

[Rangerover1944]

First off I'm glad to be back, been lurking though, left model railroading for about 2 years, kinda burned out for awhile and pursued other interests, LOL guitars and singing country music all over West Virginia, love it and made a lot of knew friends and met a few model railroaders along the way too! A lot of train songs. Here's my concern, I really want to upgrade from EZ Command to Dynamis and the only reason is to be able to use more of the functions and other goodies in my sound decoder loco's and engines. I have been programming cv's with the Digitrax PR 3 on a mobile programing track. I don't operate more than 3 trains at one time, but could do 6, but I like the idea of 4 digit address's and 40 entry's. My concern is in the title I've read on some forums that flourescent lights interfere with the transmitter signals. If that is the case does anyone know of a filter either for the lights or the DCC command station that I can use? Thanx in advance, Jim (Rangerover)

[richg]

I did a quick Google search for bachmann dynamis fluorescent lights and some have issues. A couple people switched to a different brand of fluorescent lights and some switched to regular incandescent bulbs.

Do a Google search for bachmann dynamis fluorescent lights. You will get quite a few hits.

I was in maintenance some years ago and tubular filters are available for these lamps as some people eyes are affected by the lamps. Electrical supply houses carry the filters.
Infra red and florescent lamps do not always mix well.

Rich

[Rangerover1944]

Thanks Rich, I read the few forums that some folks seem to have a problem, the few forums there are, are all from the UK. I tried searching on the "other" very popular train forum, the magazine some of us subscribe to, and there was not even a mention of it being a problem on any of the thousands of topics on their site. I can pick one up brand new for $113.00 I found on a supplier site that I use. I don't want to use his name, but he only sells Bachmann and Stewart.  I already have the bachmann 5 amp booster and 3 of the reverse loop mods, that work flawlessly, and never had and problem in the 7 years minus 2 that I used EZ.  Thanks again, Jim

[Jerrys HO]

Jim

A friend of mine uses dynamis and has no problems with his fluorescent lights interfering. He has 3 8ft above each of his 4x8 sheets.

I am also like you as I use all Bachmann EZ Track and switches with no problems after tweeking everything.

I am wanting to upgrade to the Dynamis for the same reasons. I would be interested in where you found it for that price. I don't believe there's any rule on this forum for advertising hits.

Jerry

[Rangerover1944]

Hello Jerry "The Favorite Spot" there is a website and the price is $107.00 plus $14.79 shipping, that's to my address in West Virginia, his store is in Texas, and he charges exact shipping to your location. I've purchased a lot of goodies from him in the past and he sells on eBay so you can check out his feedback, which is excellent. On eBay his selling price is a few dollars more. Check it out:

http://www.thefavoritespot.com/p-2775-spectrum-ez-command-control-system-digital-dynamis-wireless-infrared-system-36505.aspx

Jim

[Jerrys HO]

Thanks Jim

I did not even think about checking them. I have an account with them and purchased quite a lot. Great place for Bachmann products. Ray there is a super guy to deal with. Thanks again
Jerry

[richg]

Thanks Rich, I read the few forums that some folks seem to have a problem, the few forums there are, are all from the UK. I tried searching on the "other" very popular train forum, the magazine some of us subscribe to, and there was not even a mention of it being a problem on any of the thousands of topics on their site. I can pick one up brand new for $113.00 I found on a supplier site that I use. I don't want to use his name, but he only sells Bachmann and Stewart.  I already have the bachmann 5 amp booster and 3 of the reverse loop mods, that work flawlessly, and never had and problem in the 7 years minus 2 that I used EZ.  Thanks again, Jim

I finally took more time to read up and I do see it seems to happen in the UK. I believe thy use 50 hz but might not be a reason for interference. I have not heard of any issues with US users but have never looked into the Dynamis very much.

Rich

[Rangerover1944]

Hi Rich, while I was reading the reponses on the web search, I kinda caught on and remembered that their electrical delivery system is kind of different than on this side of the pond.

[poliss]

My pal Dave uses the Dynamis. He has no problems with the flourescent standard tubes from B&Q.

[rbryce1]

Interestingly enough, we just converted the overhead light fixture in the room where our train is located to the new energy saving florescent light bulbs and since then have had nothing but signal problems. Did not correlate the two until reading these posts all over the internet.  They are not the only lights in the room, which may be why the problem does not occur all the time. This evening, I am going to try standard light bulbs again, and if this solves the problem, I will post it.

Some of the reading I have done on line about this problem seems to indicate the florescent light mixes with the IR signal, and the Dynamis receiver cannot understand the combined or mixed signal it is receiving and just ignores it.

Some have also corrected this problem by going to florescent lights that contain starters, which may indicate the newer bulbs which do not need starters emit a different type of signal or a much higher level of florescent particles than the ones which require starters.

Sometimes it works fine and other times it will not lock a signal to save it's life. Just sits there blinking green at me. Then after a while, and the time period is never the same, the system just comes to life.

Another solution I will be investigating is that some said they solved the problem by eliminating an extension cord between the wall outlet and the Dynamis. When plugged into an extension cord, they had problems and when plugged directly into the wall, the problem went away. Possibly a poorly made connection in the extension cord, most likely made in fricken China.

Either way, I intend to find out this evening, as this problem is making me want to sell Dynamis.

[richg]

The late 1990's I was working as a maintenance mechanic and the factory had offices with florescent lights. A couple office workers got headaches from these lights so I installed red filters on the four foot lamps which seemed to have taken care of the problem. The filters are thin plastic tubes. No idea if this would help with the Dynamis issue.

Rich

[Ken G Price]

Interestingly enough, we just converted the overhead light fixture in the room where our train is located to the new energy saving florescent light bulbs and since then have had nothing but signal problems. 

Are the fixtures also new? If not the new tubes along with the old fixtures may cause the problem.
Have you tried locating the Dynamis system in a different part of the room?
Or is that not possible with it?

Well, that's all I've got.

[rbryce1]

Well, here it is. 

The room I have the train set up in has 3 light circuits, none of which are tube lights.  The first circuit has 3 recessed can lights with standard flood bulbs, the second has 3 recessed can lights with energy saving flourescent screw in bulbs and the third is a ceiling/fan light with 3 energy saving flourescent screw in bulbs.

I went home and turned on my Dynamis with all the room lights off.  Powered right up instantly with a strong steady signal.

I then turned on the first set of recessed lights with the standard bulbs.  No change at all.

Next, I turned on the second set of recessed lights, the one with the energy saving flourescent type bulbs, and the signal immediately started fluctuating, and flucuated more rapidly as the bulb warmed up, then was completely lost after about 20 seconds.  When I turned off the light, the signal did not come back until I waited about a full minute.

Next I turned off all the recessed lights and turned on the ceiling/fan light.  Turned on the Dynamis and nothing at all.

Again turned on only the recessed lights with the standard bulbs and POW, everything worked fine.

Replaced the 3 energy saving bulbs in the ceiling/fan light and turned it on with the non-flourescent recessed lights and the system still works fine.

Flourescent lighting DOES affect some Backmann Dynamis units, and in my case, the problem is totally solved by using non-flourescent lighting.  I just will not use (and do not need to use) the 3 recessed flourescent type lights while running the train.

[richg]

My complements. Excellent trouble shooting with details.

Rich