Stop the bus?

[Jan]

I am new. Is there anyone who can explain to me how to stop a bus? I want to lay down a steel wire myself. And a magnet to stop the bus. Is there a reed switch on the bus? And is there a layout of the bus?

 

 

Vrg

 

Jan Postema 

[cteno4]

Jan,

 

the old faller bus system had a reed switch in it you could trigger with an electro magnet under the road to stop the bus. Turn the magnet on and it throws the reed switch to off and stops the bus. Turn off the magnet and reed switch closes and bus takes off.

 

the Tomytec bus system does the same thing using Hall effect sensors. These are a bit more sensitive than reed switches and don’t require a bit magnetic feels and a small, movable or stationary neodymium magnet can control the bus. Most of the bus on/off were using a movable magnet under the roadway, move it into the traffic lane and bus stops, pull it back and bus takes off. Later they had it so the bus was programmed to pause at a magnet for a set time I think. For awhile they had a second hall sensor on the opposite side of the bus from the stop sensor that would trip the bus speed from low to high and high to low. With you could put that magnet before and after a bus stop to slow the bus before the stop and speed it up a bit away from the stop.
 

sorry it’s been a bit since I’ve played with my Tomytec busses and they have changed some over the years getting more complex over the years the  simplifying. I’m sure there are folks here that can give you the exact details on which generation bus you have.

 

when purchasing your wire make sure to put a magnet on it and it grabs well. Some wire alloys are rather weak magnetically. Luckily Tomytec busses used stronger steering magnets than the old faller system did.

 

you can experiment a lot with the wire by taping patterns under a thin piece of chipboard and styrene to see hoe you want the bus to maneuver corners. I found I could make it do sharper corners if I swung the bus out some and then cut it back in giving a more realistic bus turn than just a clean 90 degree arc. You can also make switches with a movable bit of wire under the roadway (just use thin styrene for the roadway and have a gap under the roadway at the switch). You can also have static merges and even static loop backs. It’s fun to experiment to see what you can do with it.

 

jeff

[Jan]

thanks for the clear explanation. I can use this.

 

Jan

[cteno4]

I’m not sure if the stop magnet position on the bus (both along the length of the bus or in the lane side to side) had moved with the various iterations of the bus, but may have a some versions of the bus won’t sense stops properly on some of the versions of the track. I think there has been at least 3 major versions of the bus design and 2 of the track, so have not kept it all straight. There are some Tomytec bus topics on the forum here with a lot of detailed info on them and the changes over the years. So also why important to experiment with the busses you have to make sure it all works as you want.

 

newest busses have also gone to disposable batteries and simple steering and on/off control. The lipo batteries in the complex busses were and issue of you didn’t keep them charged and they would crap out and not easy to replace. New battery insertion is easier as well.

 

jeff

[Jan]

Thanks

[Madsing]

Jan,

I have done this with the Tomytec bus system. See below.

Ping me if you need more details.

Marc