Hi guys.

As some of you know I mostly have 1-gauge Märklin, and a few years ago I also build a waggon with batteries etc.
to allow me to run "Dead rail" = running the trains without power coming from the tracks

The system is very much home made, in a way quite simple; but at the same time in a way quite complex

Just now, when writing this and trying to find a link to my description, I realize that I've never made a topic describing
what and how I did it; but at least the train can be seen here: https://www.marklin-user...aning-machine#post593289

A few more details can be seen here:

And here:

The "master plan" then were to make a system that would work on original Märklin decoders using Märklin Motorola; you can buy several
dead rail systems; but they all require DCC decoders in the locomotives, and I didn't want to exchange all my existing decoders

Now, with the new 60667 MS2 coming from Märklin, I got this idea, maybe not the cheapest solution; but something that is quite easy
to do, and only using more or less "plug and play" standard parts from Märklin - and you can easily mount the parts and remove them again as needed :

Inside one of the bigger locomotives, you mount a 60112, 60113, 60114 or 60116 Digital Connector Box.

You also mount a 18V Dewalt / Milwaukee / etc. battery to supply power to the Digital Connector Box.

The original power pick up wires in the loco, which normally takes power from the tracks, are re-routed
to take power directly from the Digital Connector Box.

Then a 60117 WLAN receiver box, also mounted in the loco, is connected to the 60112, 60113, 60114 or 60116 Digital Connector Box.

And now you can control your loco from a 60667 WLAN MS2 on any layout without power coming from the tracks,
using all of the existing functions available on the originally installed decoder, no matter which protocol it's using

A lot of smaller details could be interesting / needed, e.g. if running on a layout with live steam locomotives, you might need to disconnect
the original power pickup wires in the loco, since live steam locomotives usually makes a short on the tracks.

It could also be an idea to mount 60112, 60113, 60114 or 60116 Digital Connector Box + battery + 60117 WLAN receiver in a separate
wagon, to make it easy to take the parts out and use them elsewhere; then you just need 2 wires going from wagon to loco.

This has to be tested when 60667 and 60117 are available

Per.

P.S: The next idea, which probably should have it's own topic, and surely requires someone smarter than me, is to make an APP connecting
a smartphone directly to a 60117, making it possible to control the locomotives directly, without the need for a 60667 MS2............

I've done that, and most garden layouts are in the sun

Also, I expect the current needed for a large 1-gauge loco would be more than the receiver can handle; even though I haven't
tested the receiver to it's limits ( Which I can't find documented anywhere ).

However, I have found a way to supply DC directly to the decoders, basically after the rectifier in the decoder, and the digital signal before
the rectifier in the decoder; which means I only need a few mA digital signal, and that part works fine

The downside is that the IR system can only handle 4 functions + lights.

The system you can see in the videos above is actually made this way, the IR transmitter and receiver sits next to each other in the closed wagon,
and the I have relays to "push the buttons" on the transmitter; this way the sun can not disturb, and I have more than 50m. range on the cheap
433MHZ transmitter / receiver system.

The whole idea of my idea above was to use something that I expect to already have, once it's available from Märklin, and then as plug-and-play
install it either next to a layout or inside a locomotive / wagon, depending on where I'm running my trains

A friend of mine, David, has what I believe is the biggest garden layout in Denmark, build for live steam, so no power in the tracks and I think about
400 meters of track, so we need long range remote control.

A video from the opening day of my friends garden layout:

Per.

P.S: The loco and wagon showed above was actually build for David's layout, to drive a track cleaning device, why "the system"
also have a relay-controlled power outlet, to power a rotating brush ( Illustrated by the lamp turning on/off in one of the videos above )