Control Panel ~ Cable Provider

 Constructing a Cable to Connect the Control Panel to the Layout.

A quick disconnect cable will allow the control panel to be removed from the layout to ease the transporting of the layout.

Recently I have installed the Octocoder and Singlet servo decoder and controllers to the control panel. Now I need to wire the controllers to the turnout servos on the layout. This is what this cable will be for.

This is the 37 pin twist-on cable connector that I'll be using for the cable. I'll only be using 24 of the pins for the turnout control. The remaining pins will be used for anything else on the layout that needs to connect to the control panel such as the on/off switch for the streetlights.

But first- I need to mount the connector to the layout. So I fabricated this wooden mount that will mount under the layout. The small part of the connector (center) fits into the hole in the mount and screws on. Wires from the servos (and anything else) connect to those pins. The larger part of the connector (right) twists on to it.

Now comes the fun part:

Soldering on the servo wires. But here's the problem. Whoever originally bought this connector installed the pins before the wires were soldered on (I got this connector second or third hand). So I have to solder the wires on in very tight quarters.

Dense. My first try I started with pin #1. But after the first row of wires were installed I wasn't able to access the second row. So I de-soldered the wires and started again. This time I started with the last pin and worked backwards. Which worked just fine. But keeping track of what wires are where is now a challenge!

Gold pins. According to the NASA tutorial I watched on soldering connector pins, the gold from the pins need to be removed first. Which I tried but failed at. But I'm not building a rocket ship- my layout isn't going to be exposed to the extreme conditions of avionics, so I decided to just leave the gold. A stripe of melted gold can be seen in the solder in the photo on the left. Hopefully this won't come back to bite me. If one of those wires detach from the center of the wire bundle there isn't room to solder it back on. Unless maybe I can fit my resistance soldering electrodes in there like this cool "old school" video demonstrates.

A Pin Designation Chart to help keep track of what wires go where. The turnouts are named (e.g. 1AR = 1st turnout, Block "A", Right turn) that coincide with their names with the Railroad & Co program. And where on the Octocoder the wires plug in to.:

And we got a cable! It's kind of messy, so....

Tucking the wires into this Split Wire Loom should make it all neat.

Much better. Let's plug it in...

Under the layout shot. Success- It's in there! But the cable is only half of it. Now comes wiring the receptacle. The servo wires will radiate out from here to the turnouts as they are installed. A lot of work that will never be seen. But it will be felt. Each trolley navigating its own route should be very cool to see.

Yes sir! 

Very cool to see.

Dandy

DCC Turnout Control

 With the Success of Automating the Control of the Streetcars, I'm Moving Ahead with the Automation of Route Control.

This means replacing the old NJ International Twin Coil 'Snap' Switch Machines with Servos and Decoders.

Tam Valley's Singlet II Servo Decoder with Servo oughta do it.  I have 8 turnouts on the layout so to drive all these servos I will use...

    Tam Valley Depot Octopus with OctoCoder. The Octopus allows for the manual control of the turnouts while the Octocoder allows Loconet to communicate to the servos decoders which will make computer control of the turnouts possible.  I lucked out as one of these setups will power up to 8 Singlets. 

Control panel with controllers installed. It's not lit up yet since I haven't installed the servo's yet.

    The instructions state that its best for the input wires to be short and the servo wires to be long. So I installed the Octopus inside the control panel next to the servo controllers.

    Under the layout, DCC turnout control will simplify this wiring substantially when I replace the twin-coil switch machines (four of which are visible in this shot) with servos. Each servo will have just 3 wires compared to the 7 required for each of these machines! The capacitor on the lower left will also be eliminated. The cable left of center is DCC from the command station to the overhead trolley wires and BDL168s block occupancy detectors. A couple of wires from this will go back to the Octocoder allowing for Loconet communication with the turnouts. The twin cables in the center was the turnout wiring to the old DC control panel. These will be replaced by a removable cable from the new control panel for the servo wires.

    The control panel is built to be removeable so that the layout can be more easily moved. So a connector is needed for the cable from the control panel to the servos. John McWhirter was generous enough to gift me this one (Thanks John!). Wires from the Octopus will connect to the large end of this. The small end is attached under the layout and wires from the servos will connect to it.

Alright- I've got a lot of dewiring and new wiring to do. So lets fire up the soldering iron and get to it!

Yes sir! Get to it!

Dandy

BDL168's ~The Robots Are Taking Over Our Jobs!

 Transitioning the Layout to Automated Operation.

    There doesn't seem to be any definitive how-to's when it comes to automating a layout. So I'm just going to figure it out as I go.

The first logical step seems to be Block Occupancy Detection. So let's start with that.

     A couple of Digitrax BDL168 LocoNet Occupancy Detectors should work for this.  Fortunately the track on the layout is already divided into electrical blocks from its DC cab control days. Later the blocks were "tied together" electrically when the layout was converted to DCC. Now I will "untie" the blocks electrically so that each block could then be wired individually to the BDL168's.

The control panel  illustrates the location of the 32 detected blocks. Each block is labeled with a city block letter and sequence number. One BDL168 will detect 16 blocks, so two are required for this layout (How's that for a perfect fit!). The intersection itself is its own block and does not need to be detected.

Rather than trying to wire the BDL168 while it's mounted under the layout, I temporarily mounted its 44 pin connector to a spare piece of plywood and wired it right there on the workbench. The other end of the wires are connected to terminal strips where the wires from the electrical blocks will be connected.

The wires had to be pre-tinned and then hammered into the shape of the holes they slide into.

Looking up underneath the layout (tap to enlarge photo). The 44 pin connector is mounted on the underside of the tabletop and the terminal strips are mounted to a joist with wires from the blocks routing in to the bottom row. The black and white wires on the far right are 14vDC (Digitrax PS14) power supply. The green wire in the center of all those wires is "ground" from the command station and the black wire next to it is the LocoNet connection.  The BDL168 (green circuit board) is plugged in to the connector. LocoNet cables plug in at the far left, one to the command station and the other to the second BDL168. The rainbow ribbon cable is for RX4 Transponder detectors, which it turns out, are unnecessary since the computer keeps track of what cars are where, and, the decoders I'm using don't transpond! But I digress...

So I fired up the layout, some lights flashed on the BDL168's, and I ran some cars around as if nothing had changed. Which is good. It means power is going from the command station, through the BDL168's to all the blocks. But are the BDL168"s detecting? I won't know that until a computer interface is established so a computer program can read the LocoNet information.

So the next logical step seems to be establishing a computer interface with the layout.

Yes sir! Establish a computer interface!

Dandy

New Auxiliary Control Panel

A Quick and Dirty Control Panel for the New DCC Turnout Controls.

The old DC NJ International Turnout Machines are being replaced by Tam Valley Depot Singlet DCC Decoder and Servo Drivers. So as a result a new control panel is required for the Fascia Decoders.

Control Panels are way easier to make these days with a computer and printer compared to the old mask and paint method.

This new panel is drawn with the free vector graphics program Inkscape. This time I included labeling for the electrical isolated blocks as well as a letter designation for each of the four city blocks.

The drawing was then printed out and glued to 1/8" Masonite Board. And then drilled to accommodate the Servo Decoders. Done! Easy peasy. Well... except now comes the wiring!

This new auxiliary panel provides a manual way to control the turnouts since primary control of the layout will be controlled by the computer. But I know computers, and my experience with computers has taught me that a manual alternative would be a wise thing. Yes sir! A wise alternative!

Dandy

Operating System

Just a quick shot of the temporary control panel for the layout.

This simple set up is what I used while building the layout. I didn't want to invest any more money into the layout until I knew if it was going to work or not. So I used basic DC and a control panel built the old fashioned way:

Masonite cut to size.
Spray paint line color (cream).
Use tape to mask off route.
Spray paint main color (green).
Peel off tape revealing line color.
Drill for and install push buttons and indicator lights.
Dry transfers for street names.

These days its so much easier to build a control panel by designing one on a computer and simply printing it out and gluing it onto Masonite or Acrylic. Or, with the capabilities of DCC, a lot of folks are foregoing with control panels all together.

Electrical blocks are indicated (along with the direction of travel) by the gaps in the lines. So as you can see, this layout will eventually be able to accommodate a lot of cars!

These buttons control the NJ International switch machines. The switch machines have a bank of electrical tabs that power the indicator lights in the control panel. This has proven to be most troublesome and are the cause of almost all electrical shorts. Since the layout has proven itself and actually works, The NJ International switch machines are going to be replaced with servos which require a different type of switch. So like I said, this control panel is temporary. Yes sir. Its only temporary.

Dandy