Subject:
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Re: Train control (was Re: Small Park)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.org.us.indylug
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Date:
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Thu, 1 Aug 2002 15:10:56 GMT
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Viewed:
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377 times
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> I own I think 8 working micro-motors, which is enough for one level
> crossing and 6 points. Anyone want to donate more to the effort? Of
> course, I only have 2 RCX, so I can only control 6 motors independently.
>
> Oh, Steve H., my design would work fine with a mana, but I haven't
> actually tried it. Maybe that's how I can overcome my micro-motor and
> output limitations. Downside is the size of the mana--it would have to
> be covered with terrain or a building.
I'm with Steve M. on this. If we can use regular motors, it would be better. I just happen to think, the reason for using Manas' was (in my mind) so we could control them from across the table. Given that Steve has many extra motors, just for controlling switches, it wouldn't be hard to run wires from each switch, back to a 'control' area. It would just take a little work extending the standard LEGO wires.
> I haven't thought much about WHY we need to control the points. "Because
> we can is my first inkling."
Isn't that enough?
>
> Looks like I'll be using reed switches to detect train cars. If any of
> you who are not "rubbish at soldering" want to make a few, here are the
> instructions:
> http://news.lugnet.com/trains/?n=16943. I'll probably make a few anyway,
> just to prove to myself I can do it. Does anyone know the
> characteristics of reed switches? I mean, it the resistance essentially
> zero and infinity, or does it vary with the strength of the magnetic
Yes, zero to infinity. You should be able to multiplex them like regular touch sensors. In fact, they should work better.
> As for the human interface to the control system (which we would need
> for demo option 5), I don't have enough polarity switches to make a good
> human interface out of hardware, so I guess it'll have to be done in
> software. Anybody got a screen shot of a modern train control console?
> Maybe I could model that on a laptop.
Here's a quick idea (that will take a while to explain). First, I don't have the drawing of the layout (and I don't want to DL the software here), so I don't remember the exact layout, however...
IF there are two loops where we can run two trains, and there are two cross-overs (each crossover has two switches) then we should be able to control the whole thing with one RCX. (there may be another train controlled manually in the layout)
The two switches at each crossover are wired together, so they run at the same time. I have an amplifier from HiTechnic that makes it possible to control two channels from one motor output, so one output on the RCX could control all the switches. Then, the other two outputs could control the trains. With reed switches, to follow the location of the trains, the RCX could be programmed to drive the trains, and once in a while, switch the tracks their on.
This may require changes to the layout. I'm not sure. It may be OK to have the 'show' layout much different from Steve's home layout. We may not want to have all three tracks connected, like Steve wants at home.
What do you think?
Steve (H)
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Train control (was Re: Small Park)
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| (...) Our group (NALUG) just did this for our upcoming show in September. We turned a bunch of short Lego wires into a bunch of long sorta-Lego wires, and ran them back to a central control board. We did a trial run of our entire layout for various (...) (22 years ago, 1-Aug-02, to lugnet.org.us.indylug)
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