ECoS Route Selection Problem. Starter for 10...:-)

[gordon s]

I'm in the throes of building a mimic/control panel for ET and am looking to make it a route selection panel where led's will show the full route selected.

 

Here is the panel.

 

 

There are four main running lines and each line can access every platform. The green route lights showing on each platform is the issue I'm trying to overcome. Because every line has a route into every platform, I only want the green platform lights to come on as part of the route and go off if no route is selected.

 

After much pondering, I thought I had found an easy solution. Make the green led's for each platform an accessory and feed the DCC address into an NCE Switch 8 to switch the leds on and off. Success and all worked fine.

 

Into the ECoS where I set up the lights as a lamp symbol and then made them part of each route. Every platform has a route button to select line 1, 2, 3 or 4 and that works perfectly.

 

.....but I've now run into an issue and not sure how I can resolve it.

 

Here's the problem.

 

 

 

I have line 1 into platform 1, line 2 into platform 2, line 3 into platform 4 and line 4 into the goods relief road 7. All lights are on and the full route for each line is illuminated. Perfect.

 

The problem I have run into is here.

 

 

Changing lines 2 and 4 into platforms 3 and 6 has illuminated the lights correctly, but even though there is no route selected in the goods relief 7, platform 2 and platform 4, the lights are still on. I suspect this is a quirk of the ECoS route setting where the new route overwrites the old and without a new instruction, it just leaves the lights on.

 

I have gone into the route programming settings and tried switching the required platform on and all the others off. The problem is then if you select line 1/platform 1 after other routes had been set, it switches off all the other platform lights even though trains were running into those lines as the latest route overwrites an earlier one.

 

I could simply set up the lights as their own route button in the ECoS and switch them on and off manually each time, but would prefer an automatic solution.

 

Any ideas how to resolve this in the ECoS?

 

Thanks in advance for any possible ECoS/DCC solution. 

 

Edited August 5, 2020 by gordon s

[Jeremy Cumberland]

I have no idea how ECoS works and I can offer no personal experience, but it is a general principle of railway signalling that once a route is set it needs to be released or cancelled before a conflicting route can be set up, and I don't see why a model should be any different (or, indeed, how it could be any different, unless you want to risk points changing under a train). Thus in the scenario you describe, you can set your four routes in the top picture without any problem because none of them conflict with any of the others.

 

Hoiwever, to set line 2 into platform 3 should first require line 2 into platform 2 to be released or cancelled. Similarly, to set line 4 into platform 6 should first require line 4 into goods relief 7 to be released or cancelled. It seems your system allows you to set the routes without having cancelled the previous route (which is something I would be very wary of), but it leaves those parts of the original route which are not directly affected by the change still set.

 

In general routes are released by the passage of a train, which in the prototype is done by track circuits. This might be done all at once, or it might be done in stages. To use a train routed from line 1 to platform 1 as an example, it might be that once this train has been detected in platform 1 and the line immediately before platform 1 is seen to be unoccupied, then the route from line 1 to platform 1 is released, and you can now route a following train from line 1 into platform 3  (assuming there are no other conflicting routes). Alternatively, each set of points might have its own track circuit, and as the train progresses it releases each set of points in turn. Once the track circuit at the first set of points changes to unoccupied, this releases that part of the route so that you could, should you wish, route a following train from line 1 into platform 3, even though the first train has not yet entered the station.

[gordon s]

Thanks Jeremy, I shall need some time to think about the implications of what you are suggesting, so bear with me.  I’ve had my ECoS Less than a year, so am still learning what it does do and what it doesn’t. Overall I’m very pleased with it, but of course the deeper you delve into systems the more complex they become.

 

The route setting facility is very good at first sight, but I now realise the latest route overwrites the first in areas where turnouts are required for several routes. It appears they don’t return afterwards to their previous state and you can find turnouts can be out of position.
 

You can probably see I have four independent loops and ‘straight ahead’ should always be the default position. What I have noticed are situations where lines cross over others. 1-1, 2-2 and so on are no problem, but move from 1-4 and you can end up with turnouts out of position if the next route doesn’t require them. At least the mimic panel with led routes will immediately flag up any errors and It will be much simpler to spot problem areas, but it would be so much better to have a foolproof electronic system, rather than rely on operator intervention.

 

I have set up one button which resets every turnout to its normal position and it has crossed my mind of having some form of reset button for each line so that once the route has been set and used, a further touch on the screen will reset them.

It may even be I have to abandon the whole route setting idea and either move to manual control via the ECoS or move to switches on the mimic panel itself.

 

The easiest solution re the leds is simply to have manual control, but that still leaves the turnout issues. I have no doubt a small BLT would be simple for this controller, but with 70 routes and 45 turnouts it clearly needs a lot more work.

 

Unfortunately I can’t find much beyond the basics on Google so it’s hard to get info unless others have had the same issues.
 

I’ll get there, but it may take a little time.....