Signal Lights Demonstration Video Time Duration: - 38 sec. Use the right hand mouse button for video control.

Transcription

1 Tip: - Working Turntable Signals and Cabin Lights using Gold TC7.0F1 and Above Hi All, At long last I completed the project to have working signals and cabin lights on my turntable. This is a record of the process to modify the existing non working signals lights supplied with the turntable, to have working LED lights, put in switchable cabin lights, all controlled by a LokPilot Fx V3.0 decoder and to use it with TrainController. Systems Tested: - Uhlenbrock Intellibox and ESU ECoS Update : The LokPilot Fx V3.0 decoder failed today and was replaced by a LokPilot Fx V4.0 See pages 6 to 7 for further information. Red lights flash with the turntable bridge in motion and white lights signal entry or exit from the bridge. Notice that no light can be seen on the back of the signal head at the rear of the turntable as it has been covered with thin black card. Signal Lights Demonstration Video Time Duration: - 38 sec. Use the right hand mouse button for video control. 1

2 Modify Existing Signal Mast. This was the most time consuming part of the project and also the most difficult as it required fine soldering skills. 1. I drilled holes by hand from the front of the signal for each light using a 0.8mm drill held in a pin vice, there is a small indent moulded into the plastic to indicate the centre of the signal light. 2. For the top right hand light two holes are required and because they are so close together I made a slot by removing the small piece between the holes. 3. From the back of the signal I enlarged the holes with a 1.5mm drill making sure I only drilled in by about 0.6mm just enough for the LED lens to sit in. Wiring diagram viewed from the back of the signal. All LED s are 0603 size. R= red, W = white The enamelled copper wire is 0.25mm All resistors are 1k /0.6W and are mounted under the bridge. 4. I cut 4x 200mm lengths of enamelled copper wire and tinned the ends using a 450 deg. Iron with a solder bubble on the tip to burn off the enamel and tin the wire ends which were trimmed to length as required. 5. I laid out the LED s on some Blue Tak with the correct orientation and distance and soldered the lengths of enamelled copper wire with a temperature of 320 deg. as in the above diagram. 6. With all wires temporary connected to the LokPilot decoder via the required resistors I tested the LED s worked. 7. Using a small amount of hot melt glue at the back of the signal mast I then pushed the wired LED s into position. Ensure the red and white LED s that are very close together (top left, rear view) have a very small gap so the cathodes of each LED don t touch. 8. The wires were then routed along the back of the mast, held top and bottom by masking tape. I used white glue and painted over the wires and the back of the mast. 9. With the glue dry I then removed the masking tape and painted on another coat of white glue. 10. Once the glue is dry I then painted the wires dark grey with acrylic paint. 2

3 Modifications to the Turntable Bridge I removed the turntable bridge cabin and drilled a 0.8mm hole just behind each of the signal mast mounting holes (see red arrow). For the cabin lights I used a 1.0mm hole (see blue arrow) I drilled from the top side in the bottom left corner to ensure the cables were positioned in the corner of the cabin and wouldn t be very visible from the outside. Note: - In the photo above you will notice I have labelled the copper wires with each function, more on this later in the text. For cable access from the decoder to the resistors I used a 1.5mm hole (see yellow arrow) make sure cables clear motor slide area. 4x 1k resistors where mounted on Vero board (10 holes x 6 foil strips) Make sure the copper foil is drilled/cut under each resistor. The Vero board is glued into position by hot melt glue. For the power feed, red wire to the decoder I made a small thin plate from brass with a 3.5mm hole and soldered a 50mm length red wire to it and inserted the wire through the hole below. This location is where the centre rail location pin on the underneath positions the centre rail and would also serve as a positive location to hold the brass plate. 3

4 Modifications to the Turntable Bridge continued For the middle section of the turntable I mounted a Vero board (5 holes x 9 foil strips) as a wire interconnection strip board, this was glued to the bridge deck by hot melt glue. The wires from the LokPilot Fx V3.0 decoder were soldered to the strip board and the decoder is held in place with some double sided tape. The red and black wires (orange circle) are temporary connections just so I can program the decoder. The red wire (see red arrow) from the brass plate is disconnected at the moment to allow decoder programming. The black wire (see black arrow) is soldered to ground rail of the bridge and is disconnected at the moment to allow decoder programming. The other rail is used for an s88 contact (yellow arrow) See CV and colour table below. Five wires (ESU decoder wire) run from the strip board in the ESU colours for the decoder functions (F1, F2, F3, F4 and +Pole) to the resistors under the turntable bridge cabin. Note how I have routed the wires to clear the commutator mount (see blue arrow) Four wires (ESU decoder wire) run from the strip board in the ESU colours for the decoder functions (F1, F2, F3, and +Pole) to the resistors under the turntable bridge opposite the bridge cabin (see white arrow) 4

5 CV Settings and Wire Colours for LokPilot Fx V3.0 Function CV Value Description Colour 1 90 Decoder Address Blink Light Frequency Aux 1/F Red Lights Phase 1 Green Aux 2/F Red Lights Phase 2 Violet Aux 3/F White Lights Orange Aux 4/F Cabin Lights Grey Ground Black Centre Rail Red + Pole Blue Head Light (not used) White Rear Light (not used) Yellow All CV s where programmed on the ECoS using the DCC option on the Programming Track which was connected to the red and black wires on the bridge (see orange circle page 4) Have the LED s temporary connected with clear identification on the wires to aid programming. 3x 1k resistors where mounted on Vero board (10 holes x 4 foil strips) Make sure the copper foil is drilled/cut under each resistor. The Vero board was glued at the position shown by hot melt glue. Once the Decoder is programmed it s time to complete the wiring. 5

6 CV Values for the LokPilot Fx V4 To obtain correct CV values I used LokProgrammer with firmware The supplied project file turntable_lights_4_9_9163.esux can be used as an example. Warning: Make sure you read the ESU decoder instructions before programming any CV s [Index:0 (CV31=0, CV32=0)] CV# Name Range Value Default 1 Primary Address Frequency for Blinking Effects ( sec x value) Function Control Settings [Index:4096 (CV31=16, CV32=0)] Function Mode Select Brightness 0-31 Special Function Output CV# Value CV# Value CV# Value Head Light[1] Not Used 259 *1 262 * *0 Rear Light[1] Not Used 267 *1 270 * *0 Aux1[1] Red Flash Phase Aux2[1] Red Flash Phase Aux3 White Lights 291 * Aux4 Cabin Lights 299 *1 302 * Please note any Value = *xx means the default value wasn t changed. The Index settings CV31 and CV32 must be changed when doing direct CV programming. All CV s where programmed on the ECoS Wire Colours for LokPilot Fx V4.0 Function Description Colour Aux 1/F1 Red Lights Phase 1 Green Aux 2/F2 Red Lights Phase 2 Violet Aux 3/F3 White Lights Orange Aux 4/F4 Cabin Lights Grey Ground Black Centre Rail Red + Pole Blue Head Light (not used) White Rear Light (not used) Yellow The wire colours for the V4.0 Fx decoder remain the same. 6

7 LokProgrammer Work Around For outputs AUX1[1] and AUX2[1] select LED mode before selecting Output mode (effect) as the LED mode option for special functions is missing when the Output mode (effect) Flash Light is selected. For AUX1[1] Flash light (Phase 1) leave the Alternate Phase box un-ticked. For AUX2[1] Flash light (Phase 2) the Alternate Phase box should be ticked 7

8 Final Wiring F3 F2 F1 + The red arrow indicates the 0.8mm hole just behind the signal mast and the yellow arrow indicates where a 1.5mm hole is drilled close to the deck (the hole size could be smaller but I required a longer drill to reach the rib.) Take one wire at a time from the signal mast, remove the wire identity then thread the wire through the hole (red arrow) from the top of the turntable deck then through the hole (yellow arrow), now re identify the wire once again. Repeat the process for the remaining 3 wires making sure you identify each wire as you go. Now with all wires treaded through both holes pull all wires at the red arrow until you can plug in the signal mast to its mounting hole on the topside of the deck. Make a wire loop as shown, remove one wire identity at a time, cut wire to length, tin the end of the wire and solder to the Vero board at the correct location (see page 5 for wire colour and function identity), now repeat the process for the remaining wires. With all wires soldered hold the wires with some tape as shown. 8

9 Final Wiring continued For the cabin lights I used two green/yellow type plcc2 LED s connected in series, mounted on Vero board (13 holes x 2 foil strips). Under each LED the foil strip has been cut, at the right hand end you will notice a wire bridge across the foil strips for the return path from the cathode to the resistor (F4) below the turntable deck. I made a loop for the cabin lights wire (blue arrow) to allow removal of the cabin in the future as required using tape to hold it into position. The cathode wire was soldered to F4 resistor and the other wire to the +Pole. Take one wire at a time from the signal mast, remove the wire identity then thread the wire through the hole (red arrow) from the top of the turntable deck, now re identify the wire once again. F4 F3 F2 F1 + Repeat the process for the remaining 3 wires making sure you identify each wire as you go. Now with all wires treaded through the mast cable hole, pull all wires at the red arrow until you can plug in the signal mast to its mounting hole on the topside of the deck. Make a wire loop as shown, remove one wire identity at a time, cut wire to length, tin the end of the wire and solder to the Vero board at the correct location, now repeat the process for the remaining wires. With all wires soldered hold the wires with some tape as shown. Signal Mask The last thing to do is to cut some thin black card to glue on the back of the signal head to cover the wires and to act as a light barrier when the LED s are on. 9

10 TrainController Requirements The first thing I needed to do was to define a Car that would switch all the functions required by the turntable signals and cabin lights. All functions on the LokPilot decoder can be switched on/off via the Train Window as shown. I defined the Car with an address of 90 (see CV table on page 5) and defined the four functions required. The extra items I added to my Switchboard were few, to allow automatic control of the turntable signals and cabin lights. I added two flags to the existing turntable Off/On toggle switch. Next I added the TT Cabin Lights Off/On toggle switch and the associated On/Off Flagman. I added the TT Signals Go/Stop toggle switch and associated On/Off Flagman to allow me to control the turntable entry signals without having to have the turntable in motion, this looked better as I was able to stop locomotives on the entry track when running schedules. The last items were to add a track and block to allow me to associate the Fx Car for the automatic operation. 10

11 TrainController Switches, Flags, Macro and Block Requirements Turntable Off Flag and Macro When the turntable is off the macro TT Bridge Signals Go is executed, F1 and F2 red flashing lights are turned off and F3 switches the steady white lights on allowing entry or exit to the turntable bridge. Turntable Signal Stop Flag and Toggle Switch The TT Bridge Signals Stop macro is shown above under Turntable Off Flag and Macro section. 11

12 Turntable On Flag and Macro When the turntable is on, the macro TT Bridge Signals Stop is executed, F3 switches the steady white lights off and F1 and F2 red flashing lights are turned on indicating the turntable bridge is in motion and no entry/exit is allowed. Turntable Signal Go Flag and Toggle Switch The TT Bridge Signals Go macro is shown above under Turntable On Flag and Macro section. 12

13 Cabin Lights Off Cabin Lights On 13

14 TT Signals Block The Flags TT Bridge On, TT Bridge Off, TT Cabin Lights Off, TT Cabin Lights On, TT Signals Go and TT Signals Stop must be inserted into the TT Signals block and the Car (90) TT Signals Fx must be associated with the block as this allows commands to be sent from the Switchboard via the Car out to the decoder mounted under the turntable bridge. The supplied file fx_1.yra (8Kb) is the graphic of the front view engine with Fx beside it. As always enjoy your model trains. 14