Sound of Music

I finally took the plunge and bought a Loksound V5 sound decoder over the Christmas break.  The install was very straight forward and I used an old iphone 4 speaker which my work was throwing out by the box full.

I must say I am pleasently impressed by this decoder!  I remember about 10 years ago hearing some of these sound decoders and thinking to myself these are expensive gimmicks!  But nowadays I really think sound decoders add so much more to model railway fun.  With Hi-Fi sound and 132Mbit of memory, and also with built in current keepers, we are at last getting to the enjoyment levels rather than the gimmicks they once were.

I am so impressed with the Loksound V5 decoders I bought another one and I intend to eventually update my fleet.

The beauty of the Loksound v5 decoders is the amazing customerisation that is on offer which can be done using JMRI.

For example, I wanted the locomotive to have its engine on and running but on quite mode as by default, they are all switched in the "off" state.  Using the Function Mapping page in JMRI, I was able to achieve this by using the NOT logical function.  On this particular decoder, F8 is used to start the engine.  So setting this line to NOT F8, as soon as power is applied to the engine, the sound starts up.

F22 is mapped to FADE, so all I had to do is change this to NOT F22.  This achieved the goal of starting up the loco in quite mode.

Oh, I also want the independent brakes on - no problem, F22 is independent brakes, so setting this to NOT F22 achieves this.

Another example:

Using Primary Load (Heavy Load) to extend the braking range when Dynamics are on since when this function is ON, this affects acceleration and deceleration as well:

Then in Function Mapping for F4 (Dynamic Brake)

Where it says “Moving, F4” which is mapped to Logical Function Brake 1, add the following:

Moving, F4 Brake1

To

Moving, F4 Brake1,Primary Load

Hope someone finds this useful.

Sequential Operation

Previously I commented on how I was operating my layout and although that was fun, it got me thinking what if I ran one movement from staging, through the station, then back to staging - basically operating the continuous layout in a point-to-point fashion.

So, lately, after work I have now been running one movement just like this and it really does feel alot more realistic and prototypical.  I have 19 movements to complete and on two occasions, there is either a meet or cross.     All trains have to stop at the station for a crew change.  This makes the operating session stretch out little. 

Every evening, I may run maybe 3 or 4 movements which takes about 30 mins, then do some odd job in the shed and then close off for the day.  Very relaxing!

I currently have five staging tracks, so I had to create a shelve to cater for the extra wagons and rolling-stock which is near the staging/fiddle tracks.

The following is the list of movements

-->

1	DN	JET
2	UP	THROUGH
3	DN	THROUGH
4	UP	GOODS
5	DN	PAPER	CROSS with 6
6	UP	JET	CROSS with 5
7	UP	RM
8	DN	GOODS	Wait for 9
9	DN	GRAIN	Road 1
10	DN	RM
11	UP	CATTLE
12	UP	LE
13	UP	SUPERPHOSPHATE
14	UP	BONO
15	DN	CATTLE
16	DN	FAST GOODS
17	DN	SUPER
18	UP	FAST
19	DN	BONO

Here are some photos from the ops:

Scenery Bug

Spent some time working on the scenery since I have neglected this area of the hobby for some time.
After visiting Geoff's place and seeing his layout, I was inspired to spruce up some areas of the layout.  I tried my hand at making some bushes and also tried to bring up my standard on some of the trees I made.  I noticed that I needed some variety. 

Still a good working in progress and a long learning curve.  Unfortunately I don't seem to have the nack for scenery when compared to other folks out there.

Broken Gear

I was running an UP Jet freighter with two S Classes back-to-back and the rear unit kept derailing.  I knew it had a broken gear in one of the wheel-sets on the B end.

It wasn't too difficult to remove the cover-plate holding the wheels in place. First, remove the side frames which comes out in one piece.  Then, use a small screwdriver to pry out one end of the cover-plate, and when this is lifted up, use a flat needle noise pliers to pinch the retainers and the cover-plate will lift out.  Replacing all three gears took about 30 mins.  She runs much better now.

Cracked Gear

 Cover plate at top Right of photo

Photo shows new gears installed.

Further focus on Electonics and Arduino

One thing I wanted to try and see if I could get working was the detection circuit which I had built for my signalling system using the Current Transformers.  So I went ahead and built another Detection Circuit for use with the Arduino UNO.  This will be used as a sensor.

The next step was to get another Arduino MEGA and Arduino Motor Shield, which arrived from the USA last week.  These are the genuine boards.  I downloaded and flashed the MEGA with the DCC++ program so I could now have two sets of DCC Systems, one for the train shed and one for testing pursposes here in my room inside the house.

I would use this system to now build up another arduino program to test detection using the current dectectio circuit I had built.  So, using one of the Analog Pins of the UNO, and setting this as INPUT, I was able to read the voltage on the Serial Monitor which was showing 5v with no detection and more importantly was showing 0v when detection occured, as the 555 timer is configured in bi-stable mode and initially the output of the 555 is set to HIGH.

Using some basic logic in the code I was able to tell the UNO to count the number of these detections.  As I told you in my previous post, I have a circuitous layout and every X loops representing distances between towns/stations, with one loop representing 1 mile. 

Wouldn't it be cool to have the UNO do the counting and then to show via LEDs or a Display where we are on the journey?  This is what I have been aiming to do.

The below two shots show the Voltage output from one of the PINs when there is not detection and when a detection has occurred.

This opens up a new world of interacting with the layout and interfacing this to a microcontroller!

Round and Round - with a purpose.

Since last time we met, I can say the layout is still the same LOL.   The only change made is the additional of Staging tracks which is unfortunately eaten into some ailse space.

I have been quite focused on the electronics side of things.  I am pleased to say that now I am running DCC++ with WIFI.  And what a step forward that is!  I really am enjoying using the Engine Driver app on my $30 mobile phone.  The WIFI server is no other than JMRI running on my old work laptop that they gave away.  Walking round the layout to view the layout from different perspectives and to be in control without being tied down is very enjoyable.

DCC++ runs on an Arduino Mega with a Ardino Motor Shield.  The guy who developed this open-source implementation of DCC is just truely brilliant.  The beauty of open-source!

I have also made progress on how I operate the trains.  I enjoy seeing the running of trains rather than the shunting aspect.  Call me childish, but what I am doing currently is running laps round and round, with one side of the journey being the town of Stawell in Western Victoria and the other is Horsham, a good 54 miles away.  What I do is run the inner loop which dipicts the country, and for every town/station, run once through the outer loop (which has a station and yard). 
Milage (and number of loops) between towns varies, for example between the towns of Murtoa and Jung is 7 miles, and between the towns of Murtoa and Lubeck it is 10 miles.
I used this chart as reference.
I don't really care if the same station is used for multiple locations on the journey from the beginning to the end.  Unforuntately as adults, we lose much of our imagination.

This concept allows me to run any train I choose with any number of rollingstock so makes for varied operation, just like the prototype.  One day, the Through Goods may have 12 wagons, and on another 7 wagons.  This gives me total freedom to run anything I like anytime.  No scripted operation.

It takes about 1 hour without any crosses or meets from the beginning to the end and it really does feel like one is putting on the mileage just like real locomotive drivers.  Sounds boring to alot of modellers, however I noticed that bringing the train into the inner loop when the corresponding Mile Post calls to run past the "town/station" breaks the monotomy.  And in real life, driving trains is kinda boring anyway.   It also throws out the challenge to test the rollingstock - how good are they to stay on the rails.  My four wheelers are doing very well.

I am also thinking about automating the counting of the inner loops (which represents 1 mile) using an arduino and displaying it on a 1.3 inch OLED screen.  I will start with a push button but then move to using a Current Transformer.  The program I am working on for this is progressing very well.   I have come to appreciate and understand just how little main memory these things have and need to move alot of the code to FLASH memory on the Arduino UNO, which only has 2Kb of SRAM.

This has opened up a whole new world of tinkering.  I haven't done any scenery work.


Arduino UNO with a OLED Screen on a breadboard

Enjoying my layout and the trains

I have been really enjoying the layout and running trains.  Infact this last weekend I have been also been doing alot of shunting.  The Brake feature on some decoders you find nowadays makes shunting so much fun.  I really use to detest pressing the buttons or thumb wheel repeatedly to stop a loco.  Now, with a press of a button I can bring a loco to a halt or ride the brakes.

Also have been doing some scenery work.  Pretty happy with the results so far.  The fence posts I think came out pretty good as well as the dried grass work which I did today.

I have been doing operations in the following manner all this week.

Basically I make up a train on the far side of the layout which is like a fiddle track.  All empties are located at the rear of the train.  Any loading that needs to come off is usually at the front.  At the main station, I pick up any wagons destined for any Eastern Locations, in my case, since I am modelling Western Victorian, mainly Dimboola station, I imagine any cattle wagons are full for Melbourne and any Tank wagons are empty.  I only have four sidings, namely Cattle, VR, Flour Mill and the Oil Siding, with the Goods Shed also available to generate inbound and outbound loads.

So with this I sometimes shunt the appropriate siding.  DOWN trains from Melbourne will shunt the Oil Siding and other Tank cars stay on the train for the journey further west.

Any new train I make up at the fiddle track comes into the station immediately, then after shunting will run a few laps of the inner loop.  This allows the feeling of the train actually clocking up some miles.

I did this type of movement six times during the weekend and enjoyed it.

I have also been playing round with some electronic projects in the space of external audio with a LM386 op amp but it didn't go too well.

Some video