Subject:
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Re: Lessons learned in pre-school
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Mon, 10 Jan 2005 18:55:53 GMT
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Reply-To:
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CJMASI@*NOGARBAGEPLEASE*RCN.nomorespamCOM
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Viewed:
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2452 times
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Jason J Railton wrote:
> In lugnet.trains, Christopher Masi wrote:
>
> > Since the kids love that full power setting, they would just floor it
> > the second they got to the controller. If that didn't pop a knuckle, and
> > it almost always did, then the second favorite maneuver was more than
> > sufficient to pop a knuckle. The second favorite thing to do was, of
> > course, rapidly change from full power foward to full power reverse and
> > back again. If I didn't get back in time to pop the power supply off the
> > track a teriffic crash resulted. There were more than a couple of times
> > where the engineer got to talk face-to-face with the conductor who was
> > sitting in the caboose. On this day I wished that I had used my high
> > strength train couplers. I stopped using them because they cause
> > problems on the uneven NELUG tables. They would have worked perfectly on
> > the nice level floor of the pre-school.
>
>
> I noticed this and now have a doubly modified controller. A switch in one end
> drops the output voltage over the whole range. A switch in the other end
> engages a full rectifier on the output. These switches are push-type, glued
> into the base of the controller with holes drilled in line with them. You poke
> an axle or goalie-prod in the hole to operate the switch.
>
> Funny thing is, most of the kids using it didn't actually notice that the
> controller couldn't reverse the train, or see anything wrong in that.
>
> The slight complication is that the diodes of the rectifier also drop the output
> voltage, such that if you engage both switches the train barely moves.
>
> The voltage drop of the rectifier isn't quite enough to ensure the trains stay
> on the track though. A rapid stop/start on a corner could dislodge an engine
> that had a few heavy trucks behind it. I'm thinking of adding another diode
> just for safety, but maybe it's more fun with a little bit of an edge to it.
>
> Jason Railton
Those sound like good ideas. they also sound like ideas that are out of
my limited area of expertise.
Chris
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Lessons learned in pre-school
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| (...) I noticed this and now have a doubly modified controller. A switch in one end drops the output voltage over the whole range. A switch in the other end engages a full rectifier on the output. These switches are push-type, glued into the base of (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.trains)
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