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MERG block cutout - first "production" version


RedgateModels

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After what seems an age I have a working MERG DCO6 block cutout pcb up and running. The previous versions I have put together and are successfully working on Summat Colliery used my own etched PCBs but this one is using Trevor Stockhill's "stealth black" pcb - double sided, plated through holes, gold flashed and black solder resist.

 

blogentry-6717-0-18184700-1352192509_thumb.jpg

 

There are however a couple of problems with version A of this PCB - there is a resistor missing from the remote shutdown input circuitry and the legend for the MOSFETS U1 and U2 show them fitted the wrong way round.

 

I don't use the remote shutdown (you can see that the terminal block is not even there on the left of the PCB) but the MOSFETS had to be reversed to get the PCB up and running.

 

The final stages of testing of this design will be to make sure it works with Hornby DCC systems. I'm planning to send it to traction of this parish for tests. Once this is completed it should not be long until this circuit is made available as a full blown MERG kit :)

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Afraid I can't claim the accolades for this PCB version. Looks more like the style of Trevor Stockhill's boards.

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Go on then, what does it do?

 

I'm quite interested in what electronics can bring to my trainset, but I stood at a MERG stand at a show recently and it could have all been in Martian, for what I understood of it.

 

Sorry if I seem a bit dim!!

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  • RMweb Gold

It sits in between the DCC controller/booster and the track. When it detects a short circuit (loco running into an incorrectly set turnout for example) it cuts the DCC signal to the track. Once the short is removed it automatically restores the signal. So ... if you have turnouts controlled from the DCC handset these are fed BEFORE the DCO6 so you still have control of the turnout even when the track is shorted ;)

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