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Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.


gordon s
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16 hours ago, gordon s said:

Thought I'd add decoders to my Bachmann DMU's.

The trailer car was a real pain. It has a 6 pin DC/DCC plug 

 

.....and here's the rub. Turns out the interior lights are permanently on.

Thank you for advance warning of the pain I’m going to have too.  I did the power car and haven’t git round to the trailers.

I have some DCC concepts hard wire function only decoders so I’ll have to investigate carefully and decide where I’m going to do the “damage” to insert.

Paul.

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16 hours ago, BoD said:

 

Could have been worse...

 

…… it could have been the 7th green

Could have been a golf buggy on the green!

:-o

Paul.

Edited by 5BarVT
Seeing sense!
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33 minutes ago, hayfield said:

Snap

 

Went to bed last night thinking hard what day it is, not worked for 3 weeks, retiring in 4 weeks with no sign of returning, lack of sport and other activities to indicate what day it is. Still if I start a job I don't have to worry about finishing it within a certain time. Trying to fit in DIY/gardening in the morning and modelmaking in the afternoon, just need a plan and perhaps a few time based goals

It’s difficult.  

For us, Sunday is a different day to the rest of the week and we’re trying to keep it that way.  On-line church service, eat at lunch time, same meal as a normal Sunday.

It does help; as it provides an anchor to the week, but even so, by Thursday and Friday I was getting really confused about which day it was!

Paul.

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1 hour ago, gordon s said:

Here it’s not unusual for courses to have several old public footpaths either cross the course or run around the perimeter. Much edited

Hi Gordon

 

Where I use to live there was a play as you pay course that had several well marked old public rights of way. I use to walk my dogs there. I would wait until they played their shots if they were lined up to do so and if I was already on part of the pathway that was in the line of fire most golfers would wait until I was out the way. Others would really eff and jeff at me. They would change their tune when they were searching for the ball in the ditch or hedge. I would let my two Labradors off  their leads and say "Go find". Within a few minutes and four or five balls later they had their ball so they could continue to play.

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Past the point of no return and only one screw dropped on the carpet.....DSCF0687.jpg.a4b3bccaa92a7555209e7bc705ff2337.jpg

 

You can see the underside of the 8 pin socket on the left. Having checked things with my basic knowledge, there are several connections between the tall spring strips either side of the decoder and the board components, Rather than break a track and b*gger everything up, I'm thinking along the lines of insulating tape on the ends of the spring strips to the roof and then connecting a pair of wires (the blue plus one other function wire)  directly to the roof. I've put a meter across the springs and there is 14.4v constant. I'm assuming one of the functions will support that and allow the lights to be switched on and off.

 

Does that make sense?

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Put the decoder in place and checked F1 which is across the blue and green wires. It's showing a switchable 17.9v so OK, other than the increased voltage. I don't want to blow all the LED's, so wondered if anyone has done this before.....

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Hi Gordon,

I would guess that the LEDs are fed through a bridge rectifier so as they work on DC too.  Surprised that the chip output is higher but I suppose it depends on how it generates is DC power to work.  Could be a different form factor though.  There should be some level of tolerance in the LEDs for driving off ‘12V DC’ that is a lot higher.  If you’re still worried, how about series diodes?

Paul.

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Thanks for that. I’m really not that clued up in electronics. All my work was in electro-mechanical, so whilst I have an understanding of voltages etc and basic wiring, once it gets into the circuit itself, I’m out of my depth.

 

If lights can be dimmed via changing CV values, is that an option?
 

I’m sure I read somewhere it doesn’t change the voltage but the ‘on time’, so that may be a non starter.

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2 minutes ago, gordon s said:

I’m sure I read somewhere it doesn’t change the voltage but the ‘on time’, so that may be a non starter.

Dead right: would just blow them up over a slightly longer period!  Thus diodes to drop the voltage.

Paul.

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A few years back I bought a RRampmeter and I’m embarrassed to say that it never really got used. After a chat with Nigel on another thread on the same subject, I checked the voltages again with what I’m told is a much more accurate way of measuring DCC voltages. The track measured 18v, so no real change, but the voltage across the two upright springs measured 8.5v, not the 14.4v from my Wavetek meter. I then hooked up the leads between the springs and the roof lighting and the lights came on with a current draw of 0.01A.

 

I guess the next thing is to check the Function output voltage of the decoder with the RRampmeter..

 

Whilst it was a shame it didn’t get used several years ago, it was always planned to be part of the final layout to check all was well. Glad I didn’t sell it now.

 

It’s gone 4pm now, so time for a beer.....

Edited by gordon s
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On 05/04/2020 at 15:17, BoD said:

Might it be easier to break into one of the wires in the roof and insert  a latching reed switch.  

Put a small magnet on a strip, wave it over the roof and those lights will turn on and off.

 

https://www.layouts4u.net/electrical-items/switches/latching-reed-switch

 

That's an excellent idea, also very similar to the solution from Mckinley Railway,

 

                here’s a link to the youTube video from Mckinley Railway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgQvAbusjsw

 

 

                together with the screen shot of the circuit diagram as drawn by J Pilborough

 

 

Magnet Switchable Brake Van Lamp Circuit Diagram.jpg

Edited by Ian_H
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Thanks Ian. I'll take a look at the video to see what was done.

 

I've been meaning to update the last week or so, but enjoying the time pottering around. I did manage to sort the Derby Lightweight and now have internal lights that be turned off, but now have external lights that have been dimmed considerably. There's more info on what was done here...

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/67429-Bachmann-derby-lightweight-interior-lights/

 

In the end it was quite straightforward and just involved cutting a few tracks and connecting wires to the right place. 

 

In no particular order, I've been pulling out loco's, deciding which to keep and fitting decoders. Some like those with tender mounted sockets, took a few minutes. The split chassis Bachmann J39 took a little while longer......but worth it as it runs well and will pull anything.

 

Started thinking about a 'normal' control panel as my eyesight and fingers are not ideal for the ECoS schematic diagram. Various people are chipping in with ideas (apologies for the awful pun) so that needs further investigation.

 

Hope you are all keeping well and avoiding contact with others. What would we do without RMweb?.....

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5 minutes ago, gordon s said:

Started thinking about a 'normal' control panel as my eyesight and fingers are not ideal for the ECoS schematic diagram.

I use an NCE Mini Panel activated by normal push-buttons on a mimic diagram. Not sure whether it works on DCC systems other than NCE though.

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Thanks St E....

 

I started looking at that option last night as BoD had suggested something similar. Each push button panel will handle 8 turnouts and I suspect they will allow crossovers to be operated by one switch as per the NCE Switch 8's. If that is the case then 5 panels would do plus the switches and led's.

 

I'm also looking at the DCC Concepts offering. I got a bit confused over their mimic panels as I thought they were switches not just display led's. They do have another option available, so I'll take a look at those after Easter.

 

Of course there is nothing wrong with the ECoS if you are happy tapping away with a fairy wand. Probably second nature to those much younger, but I think I prefer thumping a button....

 

The ECoS display works from a square grid, so you are also limited how it can be displayed. Mentally I have to compare this schematic....

 

DSCF0756.jpg.927d2459fb5090632e5daad75709a4d0.jpg

 

...with the reality of ET approach which looks like this.

 

sketchboard_2020_03_27_1921_04.jpg.13b4d0da358cffc9d20ee8df8942dbcc.jpg

 

 

As I said, it will suit some, but trying to interpret the schematic into the reality of ET is not second nature. Perhaps it will grow on me....

 

The display is roughly 150mm x 90mm, whereas I can make a control panel any size to suit. Early days....

Edited by gordon s
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What about one of those screen magnifiers that people use for reading or sewing.

Something like this.

 

 

Doesn't solve the straight line representation but if it doesn't work you could always take up embroidery.

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54 minutes ago, gordon s said:

Of course there is nothing wrong with the ECoS if you are happy tapping away with a fairy wand. Probably second nature to those much younger, but I think I prefer thumping a button....

 

Hi Gordon,

 

My recollection is that most steam trains were controlled using a device like this:

 

file.php?id=17384&t=1

 

Kits and parts available from the Scalefour Soc. Designed to have microswitches attached for electrical control. More pics and info:

 

 https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=60237#p60237

 

smile.gif

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

Edited by martin_wynne
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I've sinned again. Fixed my 108 so had to give it a run. Only problem I took the view I couldn't run it alone, so invited 5 mates.

 

Another DMU on local service, a B1 on a 5 coach suburban, two long freights behind a J39 and a WD and a Class 24 on a fast through train.

 

I was back playing trains in the privacy of my own home and no one got hurt. I need some counselling quickly or this will get out of hand.

 

You have to love DCC when you can have six trains all running at once through 2 controllers and one fat controller who's had too much food and beer and no golfing exercise.......

Edited by gordon s
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Hi Gordon,

 

I noticed some of your photos have the over-exposed foreground problem, similar to some of John's photos in his Stoke Courtenay topic. It's a common problem on layout photographs and often difficult to avoid.

 

I've tried to make myself useful by creating a Windows utility program to do something about it. It has worked out quite well, or at least I think so. Here for example is the result on one of your photos:

 

Before:

 

et_org1.jpg.7c5a61035669f731745ac75dc348ead7.jpg

 

After:

 

et_mod1.jpg.517c8f598832d5989cbe8074b4ccd3a7.jpg

 

More about this at: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/112547-stoke-courtenay/&do=findComment&comment=3921727

 

Happy to make it available for anyone who wants it.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

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