Railpro and kaydee remote. Coupler

[A and D Railroad]

I have seen posts or videos about how to make Kaydee remote couplers work with railpro .  Can anyone point me to or give me information  about how to make this work ?

[fianet]

I would also like to know this but for (G) Large scale

[G8B4Life]

I'm going to assume the OP meant haven't and not have.

If your looking for onboard uncoupling I can't really offer much except what I have seen in person exactly once, a long time ago (we're talking early 2000's) when someone did it with DCC. Basically the person had put a small solenoid inside the locomotive hooked up to function output. The solenoid was attached to the KD's "air hose" with fine string. When the solenoid was actuated it pulled the coupler open. As I've never seen anyone do this again I'm assuming it wasn't worth the effort.

If you wanted to control an uncoupling magnet under the track, an accessory module could probably be used but you'd have to leave the loco control screen to activate the magnet, then leave the accessory screen to move the train, then go back to the accessory to turn off the magnet, then go back to to controlling your train. Doesn't sound like much fun to me that way.

In large scale, well unfortunately I can offer nothing on that one, I don't even know what sort of couplers people use in that scale.

- Tim

[Gibs]

I'm away up north ATM, but I'll answer this when I'm back home and can use my PC. So till then, happy running trains.

[Gibs]

Sorry about the delay. Its been hectic over here of late.

Ok, remote Kadee Couplers and RailPro in HO Scale.
If you use the Subarashi Models Remote Coupler it couldn't be simpler. Its pretty much the same as they show in their PDF for the ESU loksound  series of decoders.
By this I mean the wiring, not the decoder setup. Connect one side (+) to the Blue wire on the LM-3/S. The other side to any OUTPUT wire ( - ) from the LM-3/S that would have otherwise been used for a light output. And FFS do NOT connect it to the white INPUT or it will go BOOOM! If you want to use only one coupler make sure its on the end of the Loco that you will always do the switching from. If you install two (one at each end), then you can either do a parallel setup or a dedicated output per each remote coupler as you deem fit. I would recommend one output per coupler as the load (current) will be be on the high side with two in parallel. If you really must have two couplers on one output, use a small micro relay to do the heavy lifting (switching from track power) if you can fit one inside your Loco. But I really really recommend one out put per coupler, just as in the PDF. If your not getting enough Head movement on the coupler then you will need to install a relay for track power of the coupler (micro 12v relay).

https://www.smart-coupler.com/_files/ugd/6a2e0c_2681f152da044b2784efb3f3c017dad9.pdf

Now to set the LM up via the HC. Select the LOCO LIGHT icon (Front or Rear as you see fit), select MOMENTARY switching, select the correct OUTPUT wire colour, rename icon to Coupler and save.
One remote coupler installed.
You will loose a light output to do this of coarse but if this is done on a Shunter - well they don't need all the fancy lighting.
The only thing I wish Ring would do, is enable a sound to be COUPLED ( lol ) to a Switching Action and not just to a sound only function.  Better yet make all Switching be enable to do both at the same time and have any Icon you like. That way you could use the coupler sound file at the same time.
Last thing, Do NOT energize the coupler for a long period, 3-5 seconds at most or you will burn it out.

Remote Coupling G Scale.
You will need to buy a Phoenix Knuckle Coupler.
http://www.phoenixsound.com/products/knuckle.html
Quite a few places sell them.
Now you can use their Remote Coupler Driver Board if you so wish and switch it via an output from the LM-3G or you could directly run the coupler from the LM-3G, either way 5V is required as a minimum and like the HO scale you can install same way. Again if Head movement is low of the Coupler then you may need to switch track power - with a relay as above (but 5V instead).
http://www.phoenixsound.com/products/couplerbd.html
Not sure as to how long you can keep power applied to this coupler but like its HO counterpart, I'd keep it short.


As always this is advice only and I'm not responsible for any damage that you may cause to any of your own items.

[ON28]

Pretty cool. Does that coupler use memory wire? I recall an article in MR years ago about using memory wire to control crossing gates.

[Gibs]

Honestly, not sure, never pulled one apart. It does state do not open or you will destroy the coupler.... so maybe.