The Chronicles of Canary Sidings - the Tale of an Untidy Workbench

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Dave Holt

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Yes, you probably have.
However, all those circuit boards in the control panels are totally mind blowing and way beyond my understanding. Hats off to an electronics wizard.
Dave.
 
Herb Garden

Herb Garden

Western Thunderer
Dave Holt said:
Yes, you probably have.
However, all those circuit boards in the control panels are totally mind blowing and way beyond my understanding. Hats off to an electronics wizard.
Dave.
Click to expand...
It's kind of you to say so Dave.... But I don't think I am....

Decided to power up the board and run a test loco round this evening. Connected everything up and the command station had a flashing red light on it. That's funny I thought, disconnected the track power.... Still flashing.... Checked the voltage on the transformer and all is well. Checked the voltage on the track output and bang! Smoke lots of smoke.....

After a pause to gather my wits I decided to see if my spare command station had any issues. Risky I know but I couldn't think what else to do having checked the transformer over.

It came up with the same error so I quickly switched it off again.

Over supper I worked it out. I had wired the transformer into the track output and visa versa.... Stupid boy!

With the car having it's MOT spending spree and a blown up command station it's going to be a expensive weekend!
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Ouch!

just to understand (I also use Lenz)

you connected the transformer power to J&K rather than U&V?

I guess the chips are pretty standard, will you be able to replace them yourself, or is it going back to Herr Lenz?
 
Herb Garden

Herb Garden

Western Thunderer
simond said:
you connected the transformer power to J&K rather than U&V?
Click to expand...
Yes by accident then tried to check the voltage across the output and slipped

simond said:
will you be able to replace them yourself, or is it going back to Herr Lenz?
Click to expand...
To be honest I don't know.... I'm not sure I want to replace myself but I'm in two minds about bothering to repair it. I originally invested in lenz equipment because at the time it offered the most in terms of flexibility and features. However as time went on I found I wasn't interested in the complex features and things like automatic control.

The thing I like most about my DCC setup is the ergonomics of the roco multimaus hand controller. It's just a nice thing to use.

I don't do lights, sound or other features so I just want a system that is nice to drive. All programming I do through decoder pro and a sprogg. So do I just invest in a stack of old roco amplifiers and be done with it to run the main layout? Undecided at the moment.
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
I too use a red Multimaus, and agree that they are ergonomic & well designed, but I also have the LAN/USB interface, which allows the laptop / JMRI to interface, and that allows use of WiThrottle, which is also very convenient.

this, coupled with the LH100 which is always plugged in, and a spare LH90 is complete overkill for a loco shed, but one day…
 
Herb Garden

Herb Garden

Western Thunderer
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After a day of decorating it's good to get back to the layout. Even if it took me a while to solder up this connector for track feeds.

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So this is the station board with it's box in place and some of the connectors allready in place including the track feed you saw in the earlier picture now with it's red housing on
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
I’ve got a pal, whose garden layout I help maintain.

He used “the roll of red wire til it ran out, then I used the green”, making fault finding an entertaining pastime.

all orange? :)
 
Herb Garden

Herb Garden

Western Thunderer
simond said:
I’ve got a pal, whose garden layout I help maintain.

He used “the roll of red wire til it ran out, then I used the green”, making fault finding an entertaining pastime.

all orange? :)
Click to expand...
All orange indeed. All the orange wires are the nominal +16vac feeds to the track I've put all of those on one connector and all the nominal -16vac (blue) on another connector. Reduces the risk of shorts until the feeds are in the enclosure
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Ah, I get that. I use red & black in the same way, however I used junction blocks under the layout to distribute the power to the tracks, these being connected by 16A cable as busbars. I‘m interested to understand why you’ve brought the DCC track feeds back to the control box.

Are there section switches there?
 
Herb Garden

Herb Garden

Western Thunderer
simond said:
Ah, I get that. I use red & black in the same way, however I used junction blocks under the layout to distribute the power to the tracks, these being connected by 16A cable as busbars. I‘m interested to understand why you’ve brought the DCC track feeds back to the control box.

Are there section switches there?
Click to expand...
There aren't any section switches but there are the various relays for switching crossing polarity.

I've also brought the track feeds back to the control box to protect the power distribution. A lot of this control system design is about protecting circuits.

Thirdly the bus harness comes into the box to distribute coms and 12vdc so with the 16vac being on the same bus harnesses it seems logical to break out from the bus at this point rather do it separately
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Ta.

I’ve elected to switch crossings locally. The loco shed only has 6 frogs, and they’re switched by the Tortoises (though one of them has become unreliable, and may need adjustment, replacement, a relay or a juicer). The intent for the layout when I get the extension built is to use servos and microswitches, again locally.

good to see others‘ approaches.
 
Herb Garden

Herb Garden

Western Thunderer
simond said:
Ta.

I’ve elected to switch crossings locally. The loco shed only has 6 frogs, and they’re switched by the Tortoises (though one of them has become unreliable, and may need adjustment, replacement, a relay or a juicer). The intent for the layout when I get the extension built is to use servos and microswitches, again locally.

good to see others‘ approaches.
Click to expand...
Aye theres different approaches to the problem and no right or wrong answers.

Can I ask is your layout a home setup or a portable affair?
 
Herb Garden

Herb Garden

Western Thunderer
So progress....

Or rather we have running trains
IMG_20240828_113119492.jpg
The layout is now back together and connected up. DCC is on without issue this time... Phew!

IMG_20240828_113130502.jpg
Once again the planet has been providing initial test power.

IMG_20240901_094518425.jpg
Wiring and polarity has all been checked and apart from one faulty autofrog unit all is working well... Also the coupling magnets are being tested with some appropriateish wagons.

Unfortunately testing has thrown up some issues with track alignment.... IMG_20240901_094656378.jpg
And drivers skill.... Or lack of it...

IMG_20240901_140623632.jpg
151 has now also been refitted with her decoder so we have at least one appropriate locomotive.

IMG_20240901_140636536.jpg
Although this has demonstrated that I really need to install lighting soon as it's pretty gloomy on the layout

IMG_20240901_091357798.jpg
So as well as lights the other main job is linking the point wires to the servo motors.... To do this I've put together this collection of angle cranks to change from vertical to horizontal rodding

Oh and I really need to sort a back scene pronto....
 
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