I've had a Piko Central Station (35010), a Radio Module (35012) and 3 x Navigators (35011) for about 10 years now and the whole system has always worked perfectly on my lightly-used indoor layout. Yesterday, the Radio Module failed.
I'm sure it is Radio Module failure as I have connected each of the Navigators to the Central Station using the hard wire option (bus cable) and they all work pefectly. I've also removed the Radio circuit board from its housing and swapped the bus cable itself but the fault persists. Sometimes the Navigators show 'RC disabled' and sometimes the radio aerial symbol in top right shows no / low signal - even with the Navigator held close to the aerial.
From the RC config menu on the Navigators I see that these are 433Mz units (which I thought were bomb-proof) which seems to have been replaced these days by 2.4Mz units (which I understand are far from bomb-proof!). So I've got a whole load of questions for you experts out there:
1. Anyone know whether the 35012 units can be repaired and / or a potential source for a pre-owned unit?
2. How similar are the Massoth and Piko systems? (I understand Massoth made the Piko units.) Might I have the option to try to source a Massoth 433Mz Radio Module which would work with the Piko Central station?
3. If I ended up going for a new 2.4Mz Piko (Version 2) Radio Module and new Navigators, would they work OK with my Piko Central Station?
4. Depending on the answers to 1 - 3 above, I can see the Nuclear Option being replacement of the whole DCC power system. If I had to go that way, what systems would people recommend?
Thanks in advance for any help.
I'm sure it is Radio Module failure as I have connected each of the Navigators to the Central Station using the hard wire option (bus cable) and they all work pefectly. I've also removed the Radio circuit board from its housing and swapped the bus cable itself but the fault persists. Sometimes the Navigators show 'RC disabled' and sometimes the radio aerial symbol in top right shows no / low signal - even with the Navigator held close to the aerial.
From the RC config menu on the Navigators I see that these are 433Mz units (which I thought were bomb-proof) which seems to have been replaced these days by 2.4Mz units (which I understand are far from bomb-proof!). So I've got a whole load of questions for you experts out there:
1. Anyone know whether the 35012 units can be repaired and / or a potential source for a pre-owned unit?
2. How similar are the Massoth and Piko systems? (I understand Massoth made the Piko units.) Might I have the option to try to source a Massoth 433Mz Radio Module which would work with the Piko Central station?
3. If I ended up going for a new 2.4Mz Piko (Version 2) Radio Module and new Navigators, would they work OK with my Piko Central Station?
4. Depending on the answers to 1 - 3 above, I can see the Nuclear Option being replacement of the whole DCC power system. If I had to go that way, what systems would people recommend?
Thanks in advance for any help.
