RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted March 3, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 3, 2014 I am seriously considering using servos on the next layout. Will be interested to see how they perform over a few shows. Have you had to reset them at any point after using them? See you at Warley - we will be there with Banbury.. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted March 3, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2014 ...Have you had to reset them at any point after using them?... I've not had to make any changes to them so far but then again they have only done one show under exhibition conditions. This weekend will be a bigger test with 21 servos in use for two days. The way i'm using them they are very much like Tortoises with a springy actuator wire through a fulcrum. This means the actual throw positions of the servos are less critical. We shall see! Looking forward to Warley. Cheers Dave 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PhilH Posted March 3, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 3, 2014 Don't forget some spare micro switches.... ..and the beer... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornish trains jez Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 ..and the beer... Never forget the beer! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bibby Line Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Don't forget some spare micro switches.... ..and the beer... I thought that the new operating rules forbade all access to beer! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PhilH Posted March 3, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 3, 2014 I think the new timetable demands it.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted March 4, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 4, 2014 (edited) Looking forward to seeing what Phil's "new" timetable has to offer.Gratuitous shots taken while testing this afternoon. Only cameraphone jobbies so quality is none too fine...Lots more to do.CheersDave Edited September 7, 2017 by eldavo 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted October 28, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 28, 2014 (edited) Waton has been sat in the workshop since March being (mostly) ignored. All the remaining Conrad point motors have been replaced with servos and attendant Arduino boards controlling them. They seem to work.Originally the next outing was to be Warley but a late booking for High Wycombe was taken so the layout will be out for a day this coming Saturday. This will give the new actuators a good shake down. In addition I have also been a bit worried about the prototype control panel which is still in use for the scenic section. As can clearly be seen this is a problem waiting to happen...Originally I had intended to replace this with an interlocked leverframe and I even built a 14 lever MSE kit but I didn't like it as it seemed a bit crude mechanically. Also I have observed that the level of concentration required by operators using a leverframe style control panel is pretty high if mistakes are to be avoided. Maybe something else would be better.So maybe a route setting scheme would be better. The track plan is simple enough after all. Enter control panel MkII.There is a button for each possible destination; Birmingham, Walsall, Derby, Nuneaton, the two platforms plus the goods relief road. To select a route the operator simply pushes the starting point button then the end point button. There is also a route clear button, a flashing LED error indicator and a number of LEDs that provide route set feedback.Rather surprisingly there are 20 possible valid route settings from the 7 buttons. So what goes on beneath the panel?This will need a bit of electronic gadgetry. The buttons and LEDs are connected to a bit of circuit board that currently has a bunch of pin headers, a couple of shift registers and some resistors. The latter are for a future gizmo that may be revealed later. The shift registers are used for lighting the route setting feedback LEDs.The pin headers are used for mounting yet another Arduino board. This time a larger Mega 2560 board.This toy is programmed with all the logic for the panel. Currently it has been tested and controls the points and signals but a set of relay modules for controlling the section feeds haven't turned up yet so work has stalled. If they don't turn up tomorrow it looks like we will be using the old panel for High Wycombe.CheersDave Edited September 7, 2017 by eldavo 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted November 10, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 10, 2014 (edited) Well we survived the day at High Wycombe using the old control panel without too many problems despite the wiring (and hangovers!). Of course the relay modules I had been waiting for arrived on the following Monday morning. What a surprise.Six relay modules each containing two single pole 5volt relays and attendant driver circuitry have been duly glued to a bit of ply and fitted as a second removable module below the control panel. Each relay switches power to a single DC power section and is controlled by a digital output from the Arduino being switched to 0 volts. The relay modules work nicely and at £1.69 each including postage cost less than I could have bought the components for!I had a problem with the Arduino board not working when powered from my 12volt supply to its Vin connection even though it worked fine if connected to the PC via a USB cable. Eventually I bought another one and this works fine so I can only conclude that I messed it up during one of my many prototyping exercises. I also had to rewire the blue LEDs as running 2 in series dimmed them too much although the yellow ones are fine wired this way. This of course led to me breaking the odd one or two!For now all seems well though I need to do some reliability testing before Warley, exactly what I had hoped a day out to High Wycombe would have provided. Here are a couple of shots of the panel in place in Waton's "black box" control centre. If an Eastbound route e.g. Birmingham to Derby is selected yellow LEDs confirm this like so:If a Westbound route is set e.g. Nuneaton to Birmingham via platform 2, then the feedback is in blue.Lots more to do but at last some progress.CheersDave Edited September 7, 2017 by eldavo 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDM34046 Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Nice to see Waton at Warley 2014!! Here are some of my best photos 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted November 23, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 23, 2014 (edited) Thanks for posting the pics Luke.At Warley the Waton fiddleyard had sprouted some rather strange 5volt catenary!CheersDave Edited September 7, 2017 by eldavo 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted November 26, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 26, 2014 (edited) There is now a gantry at each end of the fiddleyard with one of these mounted atop...CheersDave Edited September 7, 2017 by eldavo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ian Posted November 26, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 26, 2014 There is now a gantry at each end of the fiddleyard with one of these mounted atop... Cheers Dave An RFID reader by the looks of it. Working arrivals/departure board or automatic routing, Dave? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted November 27, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 27, 2014 (edited) Close Ian. They are indeed RFID tag readers and arrivals/departures information was one of the things I had in mind to implement but not yet. Primarily these are being used as part of a sound system. Each of the trains on the layout is equipped with a 12mm glass tube RFID tag that allows it to be uniquely identified whenever it moves out of or into the fiddleyard. Here's a schematic of the system as it stands today... Rather than trying to fit a DCC sound decoder and speaker to all these somewhat small N gauge beasties I have implemented a sound system on my laptop PC which feeds speakers under the layout. The route setting panel described earlier also includes a voltage sensor that allows the Arduino controlling things to measure the output of the DC controller used to drive the trains. It also has serial connections to the RFID readers at each end of the fiddleyard. The Arduino sends a message to the PC, via a serial interface over a USB connection, whenever the throttle output changes, an RFID tag passes under one of the readers or when a route is set or cleared. A piece of software written in Java runs on the PC and listens for these messages. Using the information received the program is able to decide what train is moving on or off the scenic section of the layout and what sounds to play. For each train type a number of different sound recordings are used to create the effects of different speeds and behaviour. For diesels currently an 8 notch model is used with sound clips giving prime mover ramp up and down between 8 different engine run levels. Using the route setting information the system is able to cope with simultaneous train sounds so that if a train is left in the goods relief line or one of the platforms and is passed by another train the stationary train will have diesel idling or hissing and spitting sounds while the moving train has the full range of sounds. Anybody visiting Warley over the weekend may have noticed a bod hunched over a laptop keyboard coding all this stuff and debugging it while others ran the trains! All good fun. Cheers Dave Edited September 7, 2017 by eldavo 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ian Posted November 27, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 27, 2014 Blimey Dave! That's impressive - I shall look forward to seeing it in action at some point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
griffo Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Hi there, just about to order some conrads, I don't suppose yours are for sale? Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted December 11, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 11, 2014 (edited) Hi there, just about to order some conrads, I don't suppose yours are for sale? Bill I'm sure something could be arranged. I've got a bag of a couple of dozen low mileage jobbies including a couple never used sitting around on my workbench. I'll PM you. Cheers Dave Edited December 11, 2014 by eldavo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
griffo Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Hi Dave, did you get my reply to your PM? Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted September 3, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 3, 2015 Anyone visiting the Andover exhibition this weekend feel free to stop by for a chat. Waton will hopefully be doing what it ought to! Cheers Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted December 8, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 8, 2015 Waton is off to RailexNE in Newcastle this weekend. This is the furthest North we have ventured so we may need interpreters but feel free to stop by for a chat. If you don't recognise the layout you'll be able to recognise us. A bunch of southern softies huddled up under puffer jackets, hats, gloves and scarves! Cheers Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted December 8, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 8, 2015 Waton is off to RailexNE in Newcastle this weekend. This is the furthest North we have ventured so we may need interpreters but feel free to stop by for a chat. If you don't recognise the layout you'll be able to recognise us. A bunch of southern softies huddled up under puffer jackets, hats, gloves and scarves! Cheers Dave and drinking beer with no head on it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted December 8, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 8, 2015 and drinking beer with no head on it We're flexible. We can cope with a head on our beer. We even managed to eat Staffordshire oatcakes for breakfast once! Cheers Dave (Who has just spent the afternoon cleaning lots of little wheels) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 Waton is off to RailexNE in Newcastle this weekend. This is the furthest North we have ventured so we may need interpreters but feel free to stop by for a chat. If you don't recognise the layout you'll be able to recognise us. A bunch of southern softies huddled up under puffer jackets, hats, gloves and scarves! Cheers Dave You might look a little out of place out in the evening. Girls in stilletto's, short mini skirts and not much else, no matter what the weather is. Better take yourself some shorts and T shirts in case you venture out......... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted December 10, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 10, 2015 You might look a little out of place out in the evening. Girls in stilletto's, short mini skirts and not much else, no matter what the weather is. Better take yourself some shorts and T shirts in case you venture out......... We do like visiting Newcastle. The beer is good aswell. My other half gets the shivers when she see the way the girls dress up there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penlan Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 (edited) We do like visiting Newcastle. ........ gets the shivers when ..... see the way the girls dress up there. My impression was a little less than more, but shivers, so that's what that feeling was, admittedly not earth moving, but certainly an agreeable tremble, before, let alone after an Ale or three. Edited December 10, 2015 by Penlan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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