Subject:
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Re: Motor control
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Tue, 15 May 2001 12:30:47 GMT
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Viewed:
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1080 times
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In lugnet.trains, Jason J. Railton writes:
> In lugnet.trains, Lester Witter writes:
> > Has anyone considered modifying a train motor so that it can be controlled from
> > an on-board RCX but powered from the tracks? The aux power tap on the top might
> > be used as a connector to an RCX output. Its internal connection to the power
> > tap would be broken and it would be used to control an electronic switch (like
> > an opto-isolator) Is there room in the motor for a small circuit board (I am
> > guessing no).
At least as much room as in an average H0-gauge model train and those are often
with DCC control.
> The biggest problem (as I recall from messages posted posted here) is that
> if you open a motor to modify it, re-assembling it is next to impossible, as
> you can't hold all the internal pieces together while you snap the casing
> back on.
Not quite correct: the 12V motor is very hard to open and especially to close
afterwards, since the housing is under some mechanical stress and only glued
together.
The 5300 train motor has snap hooks (which are - as sold by TLC - a little
deformed by heating) and which can be opened and closed again, if you cut them
partly away.
I have done this long time ago:
http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~rbeneke/lego/9v_12v/9v_12v.html#convert
and Tom has done the same for his DCC project later:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cook_thomas/Trains/DCC/dcc.htm
I myself have thought about dcc, but you would be completely incompatibel to
anybody elses standards. So I would prefer a kind of block control for the
track: the motors would then stay completely unchanged.
Take a look at this plan:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Ben/Test/block_control_sheme.gif
"besetzt" means there is a train on this part of track (marked red: no further
train should be allowed to drive into this block). You will have normal
voltage, half voltage or no voltage: depending on the amount of trains in the
area around a certain section of track (= block).
Instead of 12V and 6V you can also read it 9V and 4.5V. I think this has to be
quite easy to realize: to lower the voltage by 50% is no problem. To detect a
train on track is easy too: you have a kind of short cut (at least very low
resitance) in track, if there is an motor on it. If the track is free, you will
have a rresistance which is extremely high (unlimited).
At each point between two blocks you have to "ask":
is there a train ahead?
at which voltage is this train running?
Depeding on these two questions you have to spend full voltage, half voltage or
no voltage on the block behind.
You can drive at least half the amount of lokos as you have blocks in your
layout.
Sorry for my bad explanation: I know Germans can be quite funny, if they try to
speak or write in English.... ;-)
Leg Godt!
Ben
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Message has 1 Reply:  | | Re: Motor control
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| (...) Just some extra info, how to read this plan: there are 10 lines, which are representing your track oval under 10 certain circumstances with more or less locos on it. (Each "besetzt" means, there is a loco in this block). The oval consists out (...) (24 years ago, 15-May-01, to lugnet.trains)
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Motor control
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| (...) You can quite happily power the motor from the RCX without modification - just don't supply any other power to the track. This will also electrify the track, and power any other motors on it too though. If you break the connections to the (...) (24 years ago, 15-May-01, to lugnet.trains)
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