Automatic SearchLight Signals - from Transistors to MicroController

The next project I have spent time on is with the Automatic Searchlight signals I built from scratch.  These signals are deployed on the main Western line which I am modelling and I really like how they look.  They are of a US design I believe.

 I was euphoric when I got the signals to automatically change from Red aspect to Green as the train approached, however now I can get them to also display the Yellow aspect with some programming of an Arduino. They will now look even more realistic seeing them display a yellow then turn to green after a short time.  

 Not only can they act as true automatic signals, I have them programmed to also be over-ridden and to go into manual mode - so if the train has to cross in a loop, I can display a constant Yellow aspect which then acts as a distant signal giving the driver plenty of notice of the Low Speed or Danger indication for the next signal - to slow down to enter the loop - just like in real life!

Furthermore, in real life, after a train has exited the block, these searchlight signals change from showing a Red aspect to a Yellow aspect, and then stay on this aspect until overridden by the central controller.  

I can also model this feature which is something extra that again adds so much to the enoyment. I remember as a young boy riding my bike to a railway crossing where these signals were present and to see them turn to green, drop to Red when the train went past, then when the train cleared the block, they would go to Yellow aspect and stay there.  There were a pair of them just like on the layout.  

Arriving at the railway crossing and  seeing which one is yellow at the signal would tell me in which direction the last train came through. So, if the last train was an UP movement, and cleared the block, the signal would turn to yellow and stay there.   

 If the next movement is a DOWN one, I simply switch it over, and the Up signal turns Red from Yellow, and the Down Signal turns Green from Red.The Signal will turn to Red when the train goes past the signal, then to Yellow aspect, then to Green Aspect, but if I am going to the outer loop i.e. going past a town and main yard and if there is a meet or cross, I display a Yellow aspect.The programming got tricky as I had to cater for bi-directional movements. 

By using an Arduino, I save on two Detection Circuits I had made earlier which were used to change the aspect from Red to Green, and also the Signal Circuits that were made using a 556 timer that now become redundant.

On startup of the Arduino, one of the Automatic signals will show a Yellow aspect, and the other will show a Red aspect (opposing signal) - which one shows a Yellow aspect and which one show a Red aspect is purely random (however I have skewed it to show the DOWN signal a Yellow aspect more often as this signal is near my seat and looks really good from the control desk)

Rough Sketch:

I can expand on this and since there are three more Analog pins available which can be used for detection, I can do the same for the Approach Home Signals, although the Home signals do have a small LOW Speed signal as well....a project for another time.

Got Ya!

As I told you in my previous post, I had built this Call Out System which announces what station is coming up next as we circuit the layout.  All was good and well until I ran a freight train with a CP Guards van.
 
Now, there shouldn't be anything unusal with this right? It's just another guards van which was used on express freight trains back in the day.  Well the ones I have do have lovely red marker lights at the rear so there is a built in circuit inside and when this van hits the detector, it would announce the following station past the one we are approaching!

How to resolve this issue?

I thought for sometime.  The options I had were
1.  Remove the circuit inside the vans - which I was reluctant to do as they do look very nice running during the dark.
2.  Increase the delay function from 20 secs to say 40 secs in the Arduino Code

Well I did just that - option 2- but the arduino would then get "lost" for some reason and would not detect the next time round!
So I was back to square 1.
Then it hit me, instead of using the built in delay function, why not call another function called killtime() and in it program a While Loop and delay another x seconds.
I gave this a try and lo and behold this worked!  I was pretty pleased with myself for working this one out.  So I call killtime(x) where x is the number of seconds I want to delay.
It works like a bought one!

Call Out System

I had a few wins this weekend.

I have been working on a CALL OUT system using an arduino.  Bascially, instead of counting the laps why not have a sensor connected to an Arduino and then call out what station is coming up next.

So, I ordered one of those DFPlayer modules and after cutting up some code and getting my Current Sensor Transformer working with the arduino, I was at a point where I could solder up the DFPlayer to a piece of protoboard.

The first issue was that the DFPlayer didnt have a peaceful time in transit as can be seen in the photo.  After straighting out the legs I was able to revive it.

With the sensor working, the code basically counts everytime there is a detection and increments a internal counter then calls the DFplayer to play the mp3 files stored on there.  I had recoded some audio files using the iphone  - just place names, like Murtoa, Horsham.  

The possibliites of this on a layout are endless e.g. one could use this to model the sounds of birds and wildlife, or a Gregorian chant coming from a Catholic church, or an argument between parents coming from a house, or the noise of music and dancing coming out from a pub, or the playful laughs of children from a school etc...

I run a train trying to mimic some distance travelled on the main western line in Victoria - namely between Ararat and Dimboola which used to be important railway places where crew change used to happen

So the setup looks like this:

I was able to get the system working however there were a few issues when I took it out to the "real" world - the shed where the trains run.

First, I was not able to get the 5v signal on the output of the Block Occupancy Detector (BOD) (drop to 0v when there is a detection).  After trouble-shooting the issue I found that the wire connected to the A0 input on the Arduino was not sitting in properly - so will need to solder this connection sometime in the near future.  The second issue I had was that there was no audio coming out of the speaker - the issue here was due to bad solder joints.

So, now I have this BOD deployed in the shed, I needed another one for testing inside near my computer didnt I?  So I had to build another one - after spending about 2 hours this morning, I was able to get one constructed - luckly I had a spare Current Transformer laying round.  That's the second win for the weekend.

The other success I had was with the inoperable 12v DC PSU that died back in Oct last year.  I put it away so I could have a closer look at it at a later time.  Well I did buy a replacement one but at $30 I thought I'd see if I can fix this and use it as a spare.  I think it has 5amp capacity.  I think you can see what the problem was if you examine the photo carefully.

So fixing that was pretty straight forward - I didnt even have to replace the fuse.

Now, I am thinking on how to improve the Call Our System....and I have a few other Arduino projects in my mind....

 

Adding passengers and drivers to Railmotor

Having a few HO scale people round, I thought it would be a good idea to add some passengers to the Walker RM that I have.  It just didnt look very realistic with no passengers and it looked worse with

no driver.  It didnt take too long to add the passengers as they fitted in the seats without too much problem.  

However there was some work needed to add the drivers (on both ends).  I had to cut them off at the 

knees or higher and also paint them.  I went with the navy dark blue for the uniform to represent the "overalls" outfit.  After placing the shell back on, I could tell that this made a huge difference.  It went from a scence that didn't look too realistic to one that looks much more interesting.  Now it is pleasing the see the RailMotor travelling round the layout with passengers going on their journeys.

 

Keep Alives / Stay Alives

The concept of Keep Alives or Stay Alives (SA) has taken my interest.  I had looked into SAs about 12 months ago but at that time, the super caps or the ultra caps were just too big to fit in any one my locos.

At that time I did order some 1F caps but then lost interest and shelved the caps, but luckly I had found these caps so I built a quick test circuit.

Now, on Loksound v5 decoders, they have made it quite easy to connect your own home built SA.  After doing some research, I took the plunge and decided to carefully solder a couple of wires to the pads and then connect these to the home built stay alive circuit that was built using the 1F caps.

With 10VAC coming out of the track, I was quite relieved to see the ciruict actually working!  

https://youtu.be/vAMYUmKQXDo

Now I am waiting for smaller ultra caps to arrive so I can built a permanent circuit to fit inside this locomotive.  Then will try to do the same to the others.

 

More ballasting

I decided to tackle the far back stretch of trackwork over the weekend as it just looked aweful on bare wood.  It is amazing how much better things looks when scenery is added.  It took me little longer than I thought but I am quite pleased with the results.  Since my layout is off the walls, I get to walk round to the back end from time to time to view trains running from different angles, and now going back to this spot is really enjoyable when looking at the scenery, even though it is a very small section breath wise.

Here are some photos:

Also some more photos from an earlier time:

Adding Passengers to the RailMotor

In anticipation of a sound decoder for the Walker Railmotor, I thought it would be a good idea to add some passengers at the same time.  I bought some seated figures some months back on a trip to a Buy & Sell with Craig so was going to use these figures.

I knew that the figures would be slightly too large given how the interior of the Auscision Models Railmotor was built, but I seem to have gotton away with not having to cut any of their legs off.

I also wanted to add the locomotive drivers, as it looks little silly with no one in the cab.  So having some unpainted standing figures I decided to chop them off at the chest after I painted two of them.  I think the results are quite good and looks so much better (i.e. realistic)

Now have to wait for the decoder to arrive and to do the install.
Maybe one day I will add inside lighting which I think would look really cool, especially when the boys come over and I turn the lights off.