May Update

May has been once again a slow month for modeling as I have been supporting my wife following the successful major surgery.  Once again absolutely no time in the train room but I did get to build some of the production PCB's and the Control Board Power Supplies . I also completed a new LaunchPad project "Double Slip Indications".  My "A Modelers Life" tee shirts arrived, we had a running session at Wayne's and I did some research on couplers for him.

Production PCB's 

Following their arrival I have mounted all the soldered components and have commenced programming the microprocessors for the Top Level signals.  During the construction I documented the component installation process for later reference.

Dual Block Direction Sensing (DBDS) modules

Construction of 12 PCB's has been completed

Connection details documented

PCB Test Bed  completed and labelled.

All of these modules have been completed and tested ready for mounting on the Control Board.

Standard Signal Control Modules (SSCM's)

12 Modules have been completed.

Junction Control Modules (JCTM's)

10 modules have been completed and are awaiting microprocessors to be programmed and fitted.

Control Board Power Supplies

Utilising an old HP Laptop Power Supply (19V 4.62 Amp) and some 3 Amp (continuous) DC-DC voltage regulators I have established the three voltages of 12V, 5V & 3.3V I need.

I am interested to know the voltage and amperage for each sections which are:

• 12V - Signal Heads, Three Light Signal Modules & Dual Block Direction Sensing Modules
• 5 V - Reference voltage for meters
• 3.3V - Standard Signal Control Modules (SSCM's) and Junction Control Modules (JCTM's)

I made a frame for the 12V & 3.3V meters and mounted them.

Double Slip Indications

The first two double slips I installed were Peco "Insulfrog" (no live frog switching) but the last two I installed are "Electrofrog" (live frog switching). I utilised the principles outlined by Rob Paisley in his 2 Sets Of 2 Inputs To 4 Discrete Outputs Circuit as I had the point motor switched contacts available for the switched Inputs.

12V DC switched version

The Electrofrog double slips require the point motor switched contacts for the frog polarity so a different solution is required. In the diagram below the red wire is the frog and A1 & A2 and B1 & B2 (yellow and blue) are the track bus feeds.

DCC Live frog circuit
R3 (330 ohm 1/4W), R5 (1k0 1/4W), R6 (47k 1/4W), U3 (Optocoupler K1010B), Diode 1N4001

The Board with two modules under construction.

I just need to add the 18V AC accessory input, four diodes (1N4001), a supply capacitor (1000µf
50V), a voltage regulator (UA78M33CKCS) and a regulator capacitor (10µf 50V) in the space at the top to get the required 3.3V for the MCU and output LED's.

Here is a better explanation..

A Modelers Life Tee Shirts

Mine have arrived!

If you have not listed before you can find the podcast on Facebook here or you can download the last episode from:

iTunes here:

https://itunes.apple.com/…/episode-21-lex-park…/id905596672…

Stitcher Radio here:

http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=60644&refid=stpr

Or download it directly to your computer here:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/model…/Lex_Parker_-_Part_Three.mp3

Thanks for an entertaining show Lionel, Jim & the mail-room boy Bruce. I look forward to every episode whether it be a Guest, Viewer Mail or Kelly Questions.

The Monday Crew commence running sessions at Wayne's

On Thursday 28 May we commenced monthly Ops sessions at Wayne's layout which has significantly longer mainline running than any other we have operated on.  We commenced with an overview of the track plan, followed by running two Budd cars one from each end with a cross to provide some familiarisation.  When this was completed the Train Orders and Car Cards were explained and we ran 8 or 10 trains with the fast clock just "ticking over" so an idea of what we were doing and the relative times compared to the sections of the timetable printed on the Train Orders could be judged.

The layout area is roughly 40 x 14 feet.

We held a debrief over coffee/tea/wine and biscuits and the consensus was a very enjoyable session with "lots to learn".

Thanks Wayne for a great afternoon and I look forward to the future monthly running sessions.

Coupler Research

Wayne had some IHC coaches that require Kadee couplers so I found this for him.

Well that's it for this month and I should get more "hobby time" from now on but will not be back to "normal" for some months until my wife has fully recovered and we have sorted all the stuff from combining the two residential locations.

Thanks again to those that continue to help me achieve my ambitions and hello once again to all my followers!

Till the end of June 2015.

-ooOOOoo-

April Update

April has been a different time for me with ups and downs with my wife having major surgery so not much has gotten done - Absolutely no time in the train room.  After her my wife's surgery and whilst she was still in hospital Rossco (Aka Ros from Oz) came over for a bite and we had a few bottles of wine and spent the entire evening catching up on the Train Masters TV shows - thanks Rossco I had a great night and a great nights sleep too!

The Production PCB's have arrived and I have started assembly of the Dual Block Direction Sensing (DBDS) modules required for the top level of my layout which is to be the first installation to be completed.

The Top Level Signals controls assembly planning is complete and the construction commenced. Ralph DeBlasi has started a video series called Sayer Shops on YouTube and Pierre has missed out once again on his training - sorry mate!

Production PCB's 

They have arrived!

Dual Block Direction Sensing (DBDS) modules

Let the assembly begin....

Top Level Signals

Signal number nomenclature had to be determined and consolidated with direction sensing feeds to determine wire numbering between "section nodes" and the central signal controls. Block occupancy will be another "set of wires" to be run between the DCC Booster control boards and the central signal controls. Similarly the turnout states will be provided from the existing central control panel connections.

Design Details

Here is the logical progression of developing the wiring looms from the central control board.  There are four distinct groups of wires 1) the individual signal head (RYG - 4 wires)  2) Photo Transistors for Direction sensing 3) Block Occupancy  & 4) Turnout states.

These diagrams below cover Block numbering & Turnout numbering

Electrical Blocks

Electrical Blocks and Turnouts

Photo transistor direction sensors

Signal Head Designations

Grouping of wire runs to Section nodes

Signal Controls Physical Layout Planning

The plan is something like this...

Physical Layout Construction

Signal Head RYG wiring
3 Light Signal Module to RJ45 plug and "signal common" wires installed
Block occupied and links to adjacent "Yellow control" outstanding

Sayer Shops

Ralph DeBlasi the owner Lehigh Valley - Wyoming Division has started a "how to" weathering series on YouTube so I have found the paint like he is using from BNA MODEL WORLD (based in Melbourne with good freight prices) and have gotten the basic set of colours that he proposes o use.

He has posted some photos of his models on his Facebook page that look really great so I look forward to learning how Ralph does things and giving it a go sometime soon.



Once again I am not sure just how much "hobby time" I will get for the next month or two whilst my wife convalesces but I am sure there will be some....

That's it for this month.

Thanks again to those that continue to help me achieve my ambitions and hello once again to all my followers!

Till the end of May 2015.

-ooOOOoo-

March Update

This post is a bit late as March has been a different time for me with ups and downs...  Dad's 100th Birthday was a high point but finding out my wife is up for surgery was a substantial low.

This month I attended Wayne's first running session I had a nice afternoon that lasted over two hours. I got a wayside freight and ended up with more than 20 cars and at the first station without a cross and with slack in the schedule I was able to block the cars. The rest was plain sailing. Nice to meet some new people and catch up with a modeler I had not seen for over two decades!

The new Prototype PCB's have arrived and I have assembled and tested them subsequently placing the bulk order to meet the needs of Wayne & I.  Wayne & I have decided that the top level of my layout will be the first installation to be completed.

Some of the crew came and helped to finish the sealing up the train room.

Pierre had another training session but with the other happenings he has missed out on any more - sorry mate!

Prototype PCB's 

The Standard Signal Control Modules (SSCM), Junction Modules (JCTM) and Input Isolator Modules have arrived and I got busy and added the components.

Standard Signal Control Module

The second production prototypes (Version 1.4) has arrived and I have modified the previous ones (Version 0.97). The new versions are considerably smaller than the previous ones.

Upon examination of Wayne's layout there are a number of situations where the passing siding has additional turnouts either leading to stub tracks or other yard tracks.  With Version 1.4 there are four additional configurable inputs on the east and west controllers that can be used to cater for these eventualities.  I have amended the C++ code for the micro controllers and they have tested OK.

The top two are Version 0.97 and the bottom one is Version 1.4

Testing the SSCM

Junction Control Module

The production prototypes have arrived and I have built four units.

Each of the units will be configured for its actual configuration on the layout. The basic configuration takes 5 turnouts in a junction as shown below.

Three additional configurable inputs have been included on the micro controller which assesses and determines the "allowable routes (A-G)" and based on its C++ coding the "Active route" is passed to the East and West Controllers that determine which signals require a "Red" condition.  These "Red" conditions are fed into the standard 3 Light Signal Modules which control each individual signal head.

Input Isolation Module

The design had a flaw so each block of 10 now does 9!

Two completed modules caters for 36 inputs

Sealing the Train Room

Thanks to Ross, Rossco (aka Ros from Oz) and Chris for completing the cladding.  Now I need to get some paint and finished it off.  I still need to put some expanding foam into the flutes in the Bondeck between the brickwork and the underside of the upper story floor.

I am not sure just how much "hobby time" I will get for the next month or two but I am sure there will be some....

That's it for this month.

Thanks again to those that continue to help me achieve my ambitions and hello once again to all my followers!

Till the end of April 2015.

-ooOOOoo-