The start is only small and involves the installation of a couple of Tortoise Motors to control a series of turnouts that are hidden behind the Cement Plant on the L&T Branch, but none the less it is the start.
There has been a significant amount of research, running ideas through our resident signalling & electronics guru Brendan, the ordering of several pieces of electronic hardware to control it all, and of course the signal masts & dwarf heads.
I'll go into the details later on as we progress, because even though we have a game plan of sorts, it is still fairly fluid as to the final setup. Needless to say it is based on a Simple Serial Buss (SSB) design and will be working in conjunction with my existing NCE Power Pro - 5amp DCC System.
But back to the newly installed Tortoise motors...
For a temporary fix to a throwing of a series of turnouts while operating the layout, I've installed a few of the Tortoise's and wired them to some DPDT switches. These will be replaced at a later date with push button switches wired direct to a SE8C and controlled by JMRI.
These are the terminal blocks I have installed to power up the series of Tortoise's in the area, they run off a 12V (adjustable from 9V to 12V) and running 2.5A. gain these are temporary and will be replaced with smaller more reliable terminal blocks and either Cat5 or Cat6 wiring as the standard for the signalling wiring.
This will be run as a 12V buss around the layout to control the Tortoise's. Again these are temporary and will be replaced with smaller more reliable terminal blocks and either Cat5 or Cat6 wiring as the standard for the signalling wiring.
As part of the installation I also made and installed a small fascia panel for the area too. This was a draft version, but has turned out quite reasonable and will end up being the standard for all of my panels. These were done on Pixelmator and laminated then stuck onto 3mm MDF with double sided tape.
The panels and switches will be recessed into the fascia at a later date...
The DPDT switches wired directly to the Tortoise Motors for manual control...
More to come soon as we progress on the signalling...
Jas.
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