Going Japanese!!!

[Pauljag900]

Got up this morning and decided to finish the wiring on the station side,however,a sore knee prevented this so I made a start on the tram/village side of the layout.The last of the bus road will come with the basic set once I get it.Filled in the centres to bring ground level up to same height as the track and loosely placed the models on that I ve already got.

[JR 500系]

Nice! I hoped that knee is fine though...

[Pauljag900]

The same thing You can buy in "Conrad". Price is about 18€.

 

I ve actually found one eBay for £13.99 free postage! Just my luck but at the time I. Could nt find one anywhere and Jeff found me this one in USA soil you want it then you gotta have it! Ha ha. To be honest I m not complaining mate,it is what it is,and it s Murphy's law I m afraid,like English busses,you wait hrs then 4 come along at the same time!

[cteno4]

Yeah always have to shop around you your own back yard first! I was surprised it was $4 postage to the UK as its hard to ship any non flat item out of the US for under $8 these days.

 

At $31 it seemed a pretty fair price, it aint cheap but not a ripoff. Haven't run across one of these timer diode reverses cheaper, but have not dug hard! What is Conrads?

 

It's a pretty simple circuit it looks like and probably $2-3 in parts but the PCB some work and cost as well. Probably simple enough to be jumper wired if you wanted to roll your own!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[cteno4]

Actually should have poked around for the basic circuit on ebay! Here is one for $5 that will take a little experimenting to figure out the instructions! But does the same thing. You can set both times so you could have a longer pause at one end than the other.

 

Just have to supply your own diodes to jump the end track gaps

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5V-12V-DC-Motor-Reverse-Polarity-Cyclic-Timer-Switch-Time-Repeater-Delay-Relay-/271968911625?hash=item3f529c4109:g:jPwAAOSwu1VW6Alv

 

Fancier one with LED display and pots to do probably simpler and quicker setting and refinements. Again instructions are spotty but you can gather more by looking at other offerings of the same board. Picking one up to play with. Also has sensor inputs to trigger timers as well for perhaps some other cleaver train setup!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Programmable-Relay-Control-Motor-Reversible-Module-PLC-Cycle-Delay-Timing-KF6E-/361435561267?hash=item54273cfd33:g:O4UAAOSw7FRWU9vN

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

Hey Jeff,

I m not complaining mate,I was made up,I searched high and low over here once I knew what I was looking for but there just were nt any at all,£31 all in was fine by me mate,hey,I ve wasted a lot more than that over the last five years!And here s an example,I ve planned what I m going to do with the other board,wo nt bore you with it yet but i d decided to put a mountain in on the far left hand side with a temple on it,so I went on eBay and typed in "n gauge",that's how I found the back a d forth board,but I found a couple of new sets of greenmax tunnel portals,new,£13 inc postage,worked out where they would go and cut them to suit the track,guess what? I ve now decided against it as it will be just too awkward to do,so now it will be a rocky mountain! 4 tunnel portals,£13,in the bin!

The other thing to remember as well mate is that at the time I had no alternative and it was the other side of the world! My alternative would have been the tomix tcs system,but at £130 plus postage it was a no brainier,plus a bit of overkill for what I wanted.

I was nt blaming you in anyway,I was thanking you,again!!! Ha ha

Paul

[cteno4]

Paul,

 

No worries at all, I wasnt offended at all! Hard with just words in the screen at times! ;-) It's always good to look for other alternatives as they can usually be found cheaper! Especially for localities with duties and shipping causing all sorts of permutations along the whole supply path to your door! I've learned the hard way on ebay things that can have a 10x price difference or you can get 10x the quantity for just a tad more if you look around!

 

for train stuff the package of $35 shipped for any auto reverser is a decent deal. All components and instructions for the model railroad use included. Most of the standard circuits I've installed for friends have been in the $45-100 range, all were packaged for model train installs.

 

I am now very curios about the little basic timer circuits. That, a pwm controller and a couple of wall worts would be under $15 for the whole int including tram power. If that works out I'll see about writing it all up for folks to roll their own very in expensively. All that would need to be done is wire a few wires up.

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

That's a great idea Jeff,at least two members have messaged me about the board

[cteno4]

I'll have the reverser in a couple of weeks to check it out. Looks like it should do the trick, just have to make sure it can easily be set up for this use and how robust it is. At $8 and it has led readout, that pretty good. Variable power controller is like $3 and a couple of wall warts at $2 each, and diodes for $1 so maybe $16 all in including the tram power supply. What is missing is some instructions to tie it all together, but already did some of that for you, so a start there.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

Jeff,

That's a great idea mate,does have to be limited to trams either mate,

Paul

[cteno4]

Sure!

 

Would be fun to also have stops with sensors, but that's another ballpark to play in!

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

Jeff,the bus system does it,so why not?

Paul

[beakaboy]

look forward to your report Jeff on testing board. I have a unit built by a friend which uses adjustable pots? with screwdriver type tops you turn. Has worked very well for many years, but I like the idea of being able to use sensors for multiple stops ,etc.

[cteno4]

To have stops requires lots more processing and sensors. Units like the ru2-1 do this with a programmed pic processor and using photo resistors to trigger the current pause and reverse along with the accelleration/deceleration. With the photo sensors you also have the issue of the ambient light levels which pic based systems can auto set instead of having static settings.

 

The cheap components I was outlining above was just the simple timer diode system that Paul had.

 

A project on the list would be to do an adurino based controller using pwm and photo resistor sensors to basically recreated the minatronics ru21 as its oop now unfortunately.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

Sore knee or not I was determined to get these lights finished on the station area,so full of painkillers off I went,11 hrs in total to wire it up! 3 1/2 hrs today.I ve still got the station platforms to do and the yard area,but waiting for lights and LEDs now.

I ve also made a rough start in the village area inside and around the tram.

And I ve kept all the picture the right way up just for you Nico!

Edited March 28, 2016 by Pauljag900

[kvp]

The more simple one looks like a pic12fxxx with a 7805 5V voltage regulator ic and a 5V dpdt relay. It's so cheap that i seriously think it's not worth to roll your own anymore in most cases.

 

ps: Those lighted street scenes are beautiful.

Edited March 28, 2016 by kvp

[Pauljag900]

Hi kvp,

Thank you,I would normally have dropped the wires through the board and then wired them a few at a time as I did them but I came up with the idea of dropping them through and wiring everything altogether,never again,it s been a nightmare! Ha ha

[cteno4]

Paul, looking like a nice properly lit up Japanese downtown!

 

We all know that pain of wiring under the bench! How many times I splattered hot solder on my face while buried waste deep in a rack of equipment or under the layout!

 

These can help to screw down a bunch of small lighting wires. Basically like a terminal strip but just solder them up not a little pc board and great for smaller wires. Then just connect up to one of them for the power input. Double stick tape to the bottom side of the layout.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10x-2Pin-Plug-in-Screw-Terminal-Block-Connector-5-08mm-Pitch-Through-Hole-CG3G-/381581116008?hash=item58d801c268:g:RqMAAOSwI3RW8qf0

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10Pcs-DIY-Prototype-Paper-PCB-Universal-Experiment-Matrix-Circuit-Board-5x7cm-S2-/222047774593?hash=item33b3142781:g:N98AAOSwCQNWgOq0

 

Much easier way than trying to solder wires up under the layout!

 

Another way is to use IC chip sockets as you can jam a wire into the sockets and they hold pretty well. Fine for lighting stuff where an uber positive connection is not critical. Super easy to pop in while under the layout. Down side is a jerk on the wire will pull things loose, upside is the jerk won't rip stuff apart if it is all soldered together! Do have to tin the ends of the wires, but really need to do that anyway to slip them thru the baseboard holes. Again these can easily be soldered onto a little pcb board and add a terminal block on the end to add the power line on.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10X-18-Pin-Dip-18-Ic-Socket-For-Integrated-Circuit-Chip-Operational-Amplifier-YG-/121885855928?hash=item1c60f690b8:g:p7oAAOSw~bFWMXXq

 

Or if you have holes big enough (ok for buildings but maybe too big for the street lamps) you can always solder these guys on the end in a pair and the socket strips onto a pcb board for a super simple plug in like lamp cords!

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/11275-pc-board-connector-plugs/

 

Jeff

[cteno4]

The more simple one looks like a pic12fxxx with a 7805 5V voltage regulator ic and a 5V dpdt relay. It's so cheap that i seriously think it's not worth to roll your own anymore in most cases.

Yeah for $5-7 it's worth it definitely! Also programmed! We were talking of rolling our own whole system with an inexpensive power supply (prebuilt one that is but simple and cheap).

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

Hi Jeff,

I did think of something like that using the plugs and sockets they use on hi fi speakers,but I came up with a more conventional system that compared to stuff available today probably looks like it should be in a museum! But it does the job!

Edited March 29, 2016 by Pauljag900

[katoftw]

Its fine.  It works and it doesn't catch on fire.  All good! 

[JR 500系]

Amazing! I think I might wanna steal / adopt that idea too Paul!  :)

[cteno4]

Paul,

 

Perfect! That's exactly where I was going! Looks beautiful! I use the same euro terminal strips for heavier wiring. Just find they don't like the tiny wire I use for the LEDs hence the micro terminals!

 

Jeff

[kvp]

These euro terminal strips come in various sizes and some even have clamping plates in them, that are pushed down by the screws. These can securly hold much smaller wires than their diameter.

[katoftw]

Its what I use.  They are cheap and with the screw clamp inside.  You can always add and modify wiring changes at a later date if need be.  I also have them for my track power wiring.