More Work on the Signalman's Panel Occurs

This week I quickly ticked off the few tasks on the To Do list.  This included reversing the two wires for the Branch shunt ahead wires.  I also wired up the positive and negative supplies to the new bars inside the panel for the IR (Infra-Red) detectors connected via the rear of the panel.  I also fixed the Green aspect on signal D3, which had a wire come out of the socket inside the panel.  I did discover a new issue in that one of the I2C boards with all the white IR detector LEDs for the Dual Gauge (on a separate Expansion Port on the bus) was no longer connected to the I2C bus.  I traced this back to another plug coming adrift from my distribution bus for the 2 wires on the I2C bus.  Once I identified the cause, and rectified this, the panel all lit up correctly again.

The next job was to pre-install the 2 plugs into the Signalman's Panel distribution plugs, for each of the next 8 signals to be installed.  These are the Up and Down Dual gauge signals.  The 9^th Signal and hence pair of plugs are for the shunt ahead signal on one of the Up Signals DG2.  I then had to wait until my RJ45 CAT6e sockets come in at my local Jaycar store.

On Friday I went to Jaycar to look for a variable power supply, and on the off chance that my order for 10 x RJ45 Cat6e sockets had come in.  The great service from the staff there confirmed that the items had come in and the staff member went looking.  So I quickly connected all of the 7 wires in each of the 8 of the 10 x RJ45 sockets, and 2 wires for the 9th socket for the Shunt ahead signal.  However, this time I successfully installed the wires the correct way around.  I then threaded the wires in through the back of the Signalman's Panel and they are now ready to be connected up and then tested.

Saturday was spent at the Redlands Model Train Show and I worked on the NMRA stand with 3 other clinicians.  I must write myself a note, never leave the stand as those modelling mates (aka b@$tards) left at the stand, just print “for sale” signs with 75% off and leave them on my items that I am building.  During the day, I built one window, installed another, constructed and installed 5 doors, added a couple of roof sections and constructed a concrete slab and a veranda awning on one end of my Old Cassino station building.  This building is coming along, but I think I still have another exhibition left in it to be completed.  Maybe by the RMCQ Show at Brendale in October it might be completed.

So today I wired up the first 4 x RJ45 Plugs for the UP Dual Gauge signals.  They all seem to work.  I have yet to connect up the IR detectors.  So I guess that means that tomorrow is the day for this task and then wiring the DOWN Dual gauge signals will be wired in.  I did notice that the 'Shunt Ahead' signal on my test track is not working. I recently moved this track and maybe I snagged something.  I connected the troublesome shunt ahead signal to the UP shunt, DOWN Shunt, and the Branch Shunt and it does not light for any of these signal aspects.  So I must have snapped a wire somewhere.  So I will investigate that tomorrow.  So the panel will soon be almost complete for signalling.  Focus will turn to how I operate my point motors.

I am starting to think ahead as to how to control the 5 Servo motors that I will use to control the mainline point motors on the layout.  Once this method is worked out, I will look at how I control up to 4 catch points on the layout as well.  I am not sure if I will use more RJ45 cables, or some other method for these items.  I will also have to devise a small emergency panel to control just the points (and maybe the catch points) on the layout if I have a catastrophic failure of the Signalman’s Panel when operating the future layout, and I no longer have control of the points from that item.  All the points in the Sidings on the front of the layout will be manual.

Further Work on Signlman's Panel

This week I had a set list of tasks to complete on my Signalman’s panel.  Last week I punched in the first 6 x RJ45 sockets for the DOWN tracks.  I installed them into my 6 way socket holders at the back of the panel.  Next job was to test these.  As I wired these to the panel, I realised that I had wired all the wires to the rear of the Rj45 sockets back to front.  Whoops.  The wires that should have been on the left-hand side of the patch were on the right-hand side and vice versa.  So I had to remove the 6 x RJ45 Sockets from the rear of the Signalman’s Panel.  I then had to unpunch the wires in the sockets, and then re-punch them in the correct side.  Soon I was back to where I should have been when I started.   I then tested all the plugs with the test track and everything was working.  So today I installed the 4 x Branch Line RJ45 plugs and tested them.  By the way, these were also wired incorrectly last week.  The sockets have all signal aspects working, except for the Shunt Ahead Aspect on signal B1.  I’m now worried that I connected the two wires on this socket back to front.  The Shunt Ahead Aspect on the Signalman’s panel works correctly.  That should be an easy fix next week.  I have also set up a new Positive and Negative line inside the Signalman’s Panel for the 11 x IR detectors on the second slave Arduino Uno.  These positive and negative lines are not yet wired back to the Arduino.  But the first three IR detectors connected via the RJ45 plugs are wired to them.  These base power lines provide power for the 11 x IR detectors connected via the RJ45 plugs.  The temporary IR detectors that I use to test the panel are already wired and still working.  So I have not yet tested the 3 x IR detectors for the Branch Line.

I went to Jaycar this morning and ordered another 10 x RJ45 Sockets.  So when they rock up, I will install the 7 wires into each of these sockets (hopefully into the correct sides this time) and then put them into the rear of the Signalman’s Panel.  The wires then get fed through to the electronics inside the panel and everything gets terminated.  It then gets tested and hopefully it will all work first time, and this will close out the UP Dual Gauge signals and the DOWN Dual Gauge signals.

I did discover a logic bug when I get multiple consecutive IR sensors going off at the same time.  I know exactly where this occurs in the code and why it is occurring and how to fix it.  But I just need to find the time.

So while testing the new Branch Line connections I found that the Green aspect on DOWN Signal D3 is not working.  So I must have knocked something inside the Signalman’s Panel, as this was working last time I tested it.  But quite a lot of wire moves have occurred today.  I will investigate that failure to light that LED tomorrow.  Both the LED on the Signalman’s Panel and the signal on the test track when wired in, do not light.  So that gives me a good idea where to look.

I went to George’s shop during the week and replaced the bung IR reset detector on his level crossing display circuit.

This week I tried to fire up one of my home layout based level crossing detectors and it would not.  I never went back to it to determine where the power was not reaching.  But the Arduino has power but the 5 x IR detectors are not powering.  When I get some time next week I will fix this.  The other level crossing detector is working well.  I was planning on testing running the level crossing unit off track power.  So again next week I will rectified this.

Next weekend is the Redlands Club’s Hobby Show.  I will be there on the Saturday (at least) working on the NMRA stand.

I have now reached 1000 posts on my blog.

 

Working on the Test Track

This week I went to George’s Shop and did some repair work on the level crossing detector he has on his Shop shelf layout.  It is now working again after it was moved and some wires were then too short to reach the previous locations where the hole was in the baseboard for the IR detector to poke through the track.  But one IR detector had gone missing and another no longer worked.  I had replaced the missing detector and that exhausted my spare collection of detectors.  I ordered a few more on Sunday, and they arrived on Tuesday afternoon.  That will allow me to replace the no longer working ‘reset IR’ detector and throw that old bad one away.

On the home front, I got thinking that for two of my level crossing detectors currently run off  a USB power source.  On my recent home based Arduino projects, I have them running off my layout DCC track power, rectified the track power, filtering it and connecting it to my Arduinos.  So today I searched around and found two of my power supplies (rectifiers and filtering set ups), and soldered some wires to them ready to connect to DCC track power and then I found my plugs so I can connect the output power to the Arduino running my level crossings.  I will test this out next week to see if I can get enough power for teh Arduino and not take too much track power. 

I also did a bit of work on my Signalman’s Panel and test track.  I also traced back the non-working shunt ahead aspect of signal U2 on the test track.  It determined that the connections all worked at the signal.  They worked under the signal before the RJ45 patch point.  It all worked on the signalman’s panel.  Then I traced the wire from the rear of the signalman’s panel to the plug in the panel and it had separated.  So I resoldered it back on and the signal was back working again.

I decided to remove a few of the plugs that connected the 10 x IR detectors on the Signalman’s panel for the UP and DOWN signals.  I decided that I would solder these to strips of copper inside the Signalman’s panel and do away with the plugs.  These plugs gave less than satisfactory electrical connections when connected via the Arduino plugs into a distribution board.

On Friday I finally got around to laying track on my test track module.  But I did not check that the IR detectors would fit through the sleeper spacing before I packed it up and put it in the car for showing off at the Saturday NMRA meeting.  I was doing a presentation on weathering and talking about the Frosted Glass can of spray paint, but it appears that it is no longer available.  That stuff was great.  But we have it on good advice that a new product is on its way out of the same factory.  I also took my model of the future layout so attendees at the meeting could see what I was proposing to build.  I also took my test track and Signalman’s Panel and set them up on two blow-mould tables in a garage at the NMRA meeting.  However, even in the garage, the sunlight that came in was causing havoc with the IR detectors at one end of the Signalman’s Panel.  Eventually I got them working, by putting the garage door down.

While at the meeting I had a phone message from Jaycar that an order for some RJ45 sockets had come in.  So today I picked them up and I have also patched in the various wires to all the RJ plugs.  The first 6 plugs for the DOWN signals have been installed in the rear of the Signalman’s Panel and the wires fed through the rear of the Signalman’s Panel but the wires have not yet been terminated.  That is a task for the coming week.  I also punched the wires in the next terminating socket for the Branch line signals.   I will install them next week and terminate the wires inside the panel.

While at the NMRA meeting one signal decided to stop showing a red aspect.  The LED had come adrift from the common bus wire inside the third signal on the test track.  I am quite happy with the progress that is being made with the Signalman’s Panel.  

That was post number 999.

Testing the Test Track and Signalling Connections

Earlier this week I began wiring in the second cable connection from my signal U2, and the siding signal SS2.  I then did a bit of testing and some things worked and some did not.  It basically all came down to bad connections for my jumper cables in the Signalman’s Panel.  So these were adjusted, reseated and resoldered and most things are pretty good.  I then found that the two red signals on my extension U3 and U4 are not lighting.  So I will have to disconnect the signals and check the LEDs inside the signal.  I thought it is just a cold solder joint.  As suspected for U3 I had to resolder the red LED to the common in the test track.  For U4, I had to remove the red wire in my RJ45 socket and re-patch that wire.  All is now good. 

So at the moment everything seems to be working on the UP line testing, except that initially I had not tested the shunt ahead and routing aspects for signal U2.  So on Thursday I tested the shunt ahead aspect on signal U2 and it worked fine.  I then did some more testing and I was having an issue with the route indicators on signal U2 on the test board.  I jiggled a few wires around inside the box and then rebooted and all is now good.  However, I am seeing some strange aspects occurring when a random IR detector goes off out of sequence.  I will look into this and determine if I need to make the logic aware of this.  I am currently testing the Signalman’s panel and the test board out in the pergola and I am currently surrounded by lots of sunlight, so this is playing havoc with my IR detectors.  An example of this for example is if U3 and U4 are green and then U4’s IR detector goes off.  U3 stays green and the driver is then confronted with a red signal without first getting a yellow aspect.  On other signals this is handled as both the U1 and U2 signals have Hold switches on the panel so the signalman can set the signal to a Red Aspect to do something ahead, like set points etc.  However, no such logic appears for U3.  It will be easy to incorporate by I wonder if I really need to do this.  Maybe if someone is cleaning the track and sets off an IR detector?  But all the other signals can work themselves out of any predicament given the logic I have implemented on them.

I measured my test track and wouldn’t you know it, it seems about 1 inch to long to fit behind the back seat in my car.  That was assessed through guesstimation, as I have not physically tried it yet.  But on Friday afternoon when I did try and put it in the car, I could just get it to fit behind the rear seat headrests.  So I took my Signalman’s Panel and the test track to the Club on Saturday and after the monthly meeting I set it up on two blow mold tables.  I fired the system up and discussed how it worked for some interested passersby.  But at the end after all the opening and closing of the panel lid, one of the wires for a point control lost its wire.  So I could no longer route trains to the branch or the Down Main.  So on Sunday morning I fixed the broken wire and everything was working again.  I did notice that I needed to name the Points and the Catch Points on the signalman’s panel so when the messages come up on the panel, the signalman will be able to understand what is happening where.  So I have now printed off the new name tags, and fill affix them next week.  Another task I did today was to verify the resistance of the resistor on the Green aspect in Signal U1.  I removed it and measured it at 1600 Ohms.  It was supposed to be a 1K ohms resistor.  I don't know how I got that wrong.  So I replaced it with a 1K ohm resistor and now that signal is a bit brighter both on the Signalman's panel and on the test track.

I also took my level crossing test track to the Club and showed this off to the Club’s electrical guru following a discussion we had the previous month.  He wants to implement a couple of level crossing flashing lights in various locations on the HO Clubroom layout.  So he wants to borrow my Arduino code.  I sent him a copy this morning.

While at the Club yesterday, my mate Greg presented me with a couple of 3D items that I asked him to design.  That was a tradie's tool box to go into the rear of a 4 Wheel drive tray or the tray of a ute.  The second item was a surfboard.  I will paint them this week and see if I can place them on my layout.  If they come out good on the layout, I will place a bulk order for these and we will sell them at our Club's next Buy and Sell.  Another item that Greg 3D printed were the shunt ahead signal housing and the rabbit's ears (route indicator) for my U2 junction signal.  This afternoon I fed the LED's into their new homes.  But I must have knocked something as the Shunt ahead yellow aspect no longer lights on the signal.  But it does on the Signalman's panel, so it will be easy to trace back and fix the issue tomorrow morning.

I think I will take the Signalman's panel and the test track to the NMRA meeting next Saturday and show the guys there how the progress goes.  I am waiting on a bulk order at my local Jaycar which should turn up this week sometime, so I will be able to wire up the Down Signals and maybe the Branch Signals.

This actually is my post number 998 on the blog.  So in a couple of week's time I will hit the 1000 post mark.

Signalman's Panel is Progressing

This week I was struggling to get motivated to do much work.  I spent a lot of time watching replays from the Commonwealth Games during the day and live stuff at night.  However on Tuesday I started work on wiring in the wires from the first lot of rear RJ45 connections on my Signalman’s panel for CAT5 cables to be plugged into the signalman’s panel internals.  On Tuesday I spliced in Port 1.  On Wednesday I did ports 2, 3 and 4. 

While playing with the Signalman’s panel, it occurred to me that when I tried to set the B1 Signal to Held, no message was displayed on the signalman's screen.  I thought that the wire inside the panel had come adrift so I went looking.  I could not find anything amiss.  Then it dawned on me that when I last changed the Arduino code that I might have rationalised it too much and removed that message being written to the display.  I then checked the code and I was correct.  I just need to spend some time working out what the circumstances should be to display that message again.  I think I have adjusted the code correctly but I have yet to upload the code to the Arduino and test it in anger.  Maybe next week.

On Saturday I spent a small amount if time in the shed and cut up some thin MDF to form lids on two of my recently acquired storage tray frames.  I have now done a bit of a re-arrangement and placed two more storage trays frames into the shed.

Sunday included a trip to Jaycar to buy some more Rj45 CAT6 sockets so I can punch in the various CAT5 wires into the sockets ready to do the DOWN port connections.  However, they had only one.  I placed an order for another 10.  Hopefully I will get these in about a week.  It is now time to strip a few short lengths of CAT5 cable to allow me to punch them into the RJ45 sockets.    

I am yet to plumb the 5^th usable port into the first lot of UP port connections in the Signalman's Panel.  I will get around to it, maybe this coming week.  But I have wired up the next RJ45 socket to enable me to connect up my junction signal for signal U2 on the test track.  This signal has two route signals, a shunt ahead aspect as well as the normal 3 aspects (red, yellow, green).  I managed to feed all the wires for these down the signal post today and basic testing shows it working.  Again next week I will attach the signal to my test track, and wire that in, and then add the RJ45 plug to the rear of my Signalman’s panel and wire it to the internals of the panel.

This is the U2 signal for the UP track on the future layout which has 3 aspects, the shunt ahead (for access to the sidings) and 6 white 0402 LEDs wired in two pairs of 3 LEDs for the two diverging routes towards the DOWN Main and the BRANCH.

Building and Connecting My Signal Test/Demonstration Track

I’ve made a few trip to Jaycar this week he help me get all the items required for my layout signal test section ready.  The plan is to connect it to my Signalman’s Panel via CAT5 cable.  I have completed the woodwork for this test section, but no track has been laid as yet.  The test section folds out and will house 4 signals along with their IR detectors, and the 4 x RJ45 sockets that are wired to the signal and the IR detector.  So far I have installed three signal/Detector pairs on the test module.  The fourth signal/detector wiring will get done next week.  I need to wire up some very fine wire to get all the wires for all the LEDs through the signal post for Signal Number 2.  I also purchased a number of faceplates that either house 4 or 6 x RJ45 sockets.  These faceplates are now installed on the rear of my Signalman’s Panel and will be wired up to my internal signalling circuitry.  I have wired up the RJ45 sockets using a cheap push-down connector that I bought from Jaycar.  I have tested the four RJ45 sockets on the signal test section.  I have also wired up another 4 x RJ45 sockets that have been installed into the first faceplate on the rear of the Signalman’s Panel.   These also test as working correctly.  At this stage I have connected just the wires from the first signal/detector pair connection.  I also had to make a small tester that allows me to plug into rear sockets on the Signalman’s panel, so I can ensure that I wired everything correctly.  Already I have found out that I may have to change some resistors in the panel as the green signals are now a tad dull.  I originally used standard 1000 Ohm resistors as I had a thousand of them on hand.  So I think I might try something a bit lower resistance, like 680 or 560 Ohms.

The 3D printed signal, with 3mm LEDs is on the left, the IR detector is already poking through the baseboard and the connection on the right which powers the signal and IR detector.  A CAT5 cable plugs into the socket and the other end of the cable connects to the rear of the Signalman's Panel.  I will eventually lay some track on the board.

While I was working on the signalman’s panel I changed the track diagram on the front, as what was originally there was wrong.  Previously I mentioned that the online photos from a historical photo/mapping site showed the real track layout at the location, so I made use of that and made the changes to my panel.  This might also make for some more complex shunting moves in the future.

 

Above is the old siding arrangement.  The colours of the tracks indicate gauge.  Blue is QR 3'6", Black is standard gauge, and red is dual gauge.

This is the new siding arrangement with an additional amount of dual gauge trackage.  This photo also shows the 5 faceplates attached to the rear of the Signalman's panel that the various CAT5 cables connect to.

While it had been quite some time since I powered up the Signalman’s Panel, I thought I would have a play with it.  Everything fired up perfectly, but as I was simulating running trains from the Branch line to the Down line and then setting the Branch Home Signal B1 back to stop, to allow the Down line trains to run again, the trailing signal on the branch (B3) did not reset back to a yellow signal when the signal in front of it displayed a red aspect.  So I connected the panel to the PC and ran a couple of traces and I saw where the code may have been going wrong.  So I made a few tweaks and after the second change, I have the signalling solution working what looks like is now perfectly.  So this was one bug that had crept through my initial testing.  I’m sure there are a few more yet to be found.

During the week I also got around to assembling 4 x KD coupler pockets and these will be installed into two 3D printed SX coaches next week.

Hopefully I will have 3 signals connected up and working from the test trackage module to the Signalman's panel by the end of this coming week.  i just need to find a couple more CAT5 cables.

Steptoe and Son

I’m always on the lookout for items to add to The Shed for storage or making Operating Sessions run better.  Last Sunday on our way home from the Mother-in-law’s place, I noticed that one of the houses nearby had what looked like a small magazine storage rack (like the type at news agencies) out the front of their house for council cleanup.  So on Monday morning I organised my morning 5km walk to end at this house and then walk back home.  As I turned the corner of this street at around 7:30am, I noticed no rubbish out the front of this house.  I looked further down the street, and noticed a truck picking up the rubbish – Nooooo!  The first day of rubbish collection and early in the morning!  I could have walked in the reverse direction but I didn’t.  Any chance of verifying that the item was a usable magazine rack for my crew to use in the shed and picking it up and carting it home was gone.

Anyway on Tuesday I went another direction for my walk and the rubbish was still in place in that part of the suburb.  I looked down a street about 1.7km from home and saw what looked like a small 4 level storage frame - just like the 4 I already have.  Upon closer examination, this frame had 4 plastic tubs in the slide in slots.  I took 3 tubs and the frame and walked back home carrying the items.  Woo Hoo!  On Wednesday I walked another way and sure enough outside my kids former primary school there was a wire storage basket that fits into my previously acquired storage shelves.  That also made its way home with me.  Thursday was also a walk in another direction and about 2.2km from home, I found another 6 shelf storage frame - yes, I have two of these already.  This was also assisted back to my place.  As I was making my way home and I was almost there, I passed my wife walking in the opposite direction, she just shook her head, commented something that I cannot print, and then added ‘Stop picking these things up’.  So I now have plenty of storage frames, but I do need about another 6 storage baskets.  But all the local houses have now been cleaned up.  Maybe next year.  I think it was a good outcome from my morning walks this week.

On a modelling note, I soldered up the LEDs to fit into Greg’s 3D printed signal faces and they are ready to place on my test track after I add wires and feed them down the post.  Greg’s initial test post had a brass tube for the signal post.  My next 4 have been made out of styrene tube, as I had some of that, but no brass tube that fitted.  I have also fixed up my test track and started adding the first signal and IR detector.  I have tested the signal and IR detector by applying power via the CAT5 remote cable connections and the first signal and IR detector work.  I have a 6 way gang that initially will be used to put on my control panel to connect back to the signals via CAT5 cable.  The first 4 ports will be used for the 4 UP signals, the fifth connection for the narrow gauge signal in the sidings and the sixth connection used to manually test anything that I plug into that connection port.  Eventually this port will be used for the shunt ahead signal aspect and the two route indicators on the second UP signal.  I had my order of 50 x 0402 White LEDs rock up on Friday as well.

Saturday was NMRA meeting day and I think it was a really good meeting at Glen’s place.  We are planning what the future meetings will look like.  We did a bit of a discussion with the members in attendance and what they were after.  So I think this will come together.   After the meeting two members Alisha and Aaron came back to my place (on their way home) for a viewing of my layout and I think they had a bit of a laugh at some of the scenes on the layout.