johndon Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 I'm working on a layout that uses DCC and has a turntable. The turntable motion is driven, completely independently of the DCC, via an Arduino Uno with two buttons, one turns the table 180 degrees clockwise and the other turns it 180 degrees anti-clockwise. Is there a way, when one of the buttons is pressed and the turntable starts to move to kill the DCC power to the rails on the turntable then turn it back again once the turntable has finished moving? John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Most people want to keep the power on as this supplies the lights and sound. If you get an auto-reverser unit and feed the TT deck through this then you will be able to drive off and on without any shorts removing the need to turn off the power. Possibly the cheapest one is from Block Signalling 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndon Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 Lights and sound aren't an issue here, neither is the auto reverser as that is already handled, the idea is to ensure that the rails are dead while the turntable is in motion. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 58 minutes ago, johndon said: I'm working on a layout that uses DCC and has a turntable. The turntable motion is driven, completely independently of the DCC, via an Arduino Uno with two buttons, one turns the table 180 degrees clockwise and the other turns it 180 degrees anti-clockwise. Is there a way, when one of the buttons is pressed and the turntable starts to move to kill the DCC power to the rails on the turntable then turn it back again once the turntable has finished moving? If that is your requirement, then a relay board (lots on Ebay) could cut the power to one of the track feeds to the turntable, and turn it back on again when rotation has completed. Easy enough to attach to your Arduino and to add as a couple of extra lines of code. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndon Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 Thanks Nigel, much appreciated. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium JimFin Posted February 21, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2020 Depending on how you are providing power to the turntable bed, mechanically, use wipers to pick up from the main track to the rail on the turntable bed or design the feed commutator to do that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 I would suggest running the DCC feed through the contacts of a relay, the coil of which would be pulled in via the TT rotation switch circuitry and kill the DCC. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Can someone enlighten me as to why you would want to remove the power from the turntable please? I can see a reason on DC, but not with DCC :( Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndon Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 1 hour ago, WIMorrison said: Can someone enlighten me as to why you would want to remove the power from the turntable please? I can see a reason on DC, but not with DCC We want to be absolutely certain that there is no chance of locos moving when the table is in motion. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Same reason as JohnDon, the turntable on Burntisland 1883 (inside a roundhouse engine shed) is disconnected when in motion so there is no chance of locos moving accidentally. We also only power the connecting roads which are aligned with the stationary turntable, and only power when the cameras and lights are switched on so the operator can see what's happening via the camera, have further interlocks to stop things running into other moving items. - Nigel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted February 22, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 22, 2020 You could use a DPDT switch. Run one side of the power to the turntable through one side of the DPDT and run the track power to the deck through the other end of the other side. On my DC layout, I used a variation as I ran the TT motor from the track throttle. It still allowed me to run locos into the pit! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndon Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 5 hours ago, BR60103 said: You could use a DPDT switch. Run one side of the power to the turntable through one side of the DPDT and run the track power to the deck through the other end of the other side. On my DC layout, I used a variation as I ran the TT motor from the track throttle. It still allowed me to run locos into the pit! We’ve already got a switch but figured we might be able to get rid of it if it could be controlled by the Arduino. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndon Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 5 hours ago, BR60103 said: You could use a DPDT switch. Run one side of the power to the turntable through one side of the DPDT and run the track power to the deck through the other end of the other side. On my DC layout, I used a variation as I ran the TT motor from the track throttle. It still allowed me to run locos into the pit! We’ve already got a switch but figured we might be able to get rid of it if it could be controlled by the Arduino. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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