Thursday, May 26, 2011

AndRoc & Rocrail

I've been doing some tests with that great and free application. It's awesome to see you trains following your orders through your mobile..... GREAT!!!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

KATO 10-922 Mangattan: Interior Lights

Following the digitalization of the motor car, now it's time for the next car. I want to add interior lights with a led strip and a very simple decoder with just one output. I selected the Digitrax FL1 because of price and size.

Thats what we will do:


First of all, remove the shell with the help of a plain screwdriver. It's just clipped, there aren't screws nor tabs.

After that, unscrew both bogies (bogie=chassis or framework carring weels) removing the screw of each one from the bottom. This also frees the white plastic cover simulating seats. Under that cover you will see the metalic strips which take the current from the tracks (through the bogies).




 Now cut that plastic piece to make room for the decoder. That's not strictly necessary, but doing it this way your decoder will be hidden from the outside of the car. Be careful not to cut the hole where the bogie screw is fastened.
Remove the metallic strips and fix them to solder the feed wires of the decoder (red and black). Calculate where to solder them so it fits with the hole yo previously cut in the white piece.

Now you can mount the metallic strips, the white plastic piece and screw the bogies with the decoder in place. Fix the led strip inside the shell and solder to the decoder.





Finally, program the Id. of the decoder with the same number than the motor car's decoder to light all the cars with just pressing F0.

Digitrax TL1


This is a really simple one function output decoder. It's really cheap and small, perfect to install in those cars where you want interior lighting.

I only miss the possibility to set up the output intensity like Uhlenbrock decoders, but on the other hand you can set up special effects (strobe, blinking, ...) and the frequency for that effects.

It has also transponding possibilities, but only if you use Digitrax stations. I deactivated it since I'm using Uhlenbrock Intellibox.




These are its main characteristics and configuration possibilities:
  • Single 125mA (250mA peak) function output for lights or other functions
  • Function can be turned on/off using F0, F1, F2, F3, or F4
  • Supports both 2 digit and 4 digit addressing
  • Programmable from DCC compatible equipment
  • Configurable Strobe feature lets you simulate flashing lights like FRED, Strobes, Mars Lights, etc.
  • Compatible with Digitrax DCC Transponding Systems
  • Approximate size: 0.461” x 0.31” x 0.161” (11.7mm x 7.8mm x 4.1mm)

TABLE I:  Function# for TL1's function output 
Function # CV61 CV64 CV61 CV64 
F1  02 00 00 00  
F2  02 01 00 01 
F3  02 02 00 02 
F4  02 03 00 03 
F0    03  00 01 00 

TABLE II:  CV49 Values for Configurable Strobe Effect Selection 
00 Normal on/off 
01 Simulated FRED 
02 Simulated Mars 
03 Slow Strobe 
04 Single Pulse 
05 Double Pulse 
06 Medium Pulse 
07 Mostly on blinking off

TABLE III:  CV62 Values for Setting Effect Rate 
00 (Slowest) to 07 (Fastest)

Monday, May 2, 2011

Inicio de la infraestrctura (2)

Aprovechando las vacaciones, he podido armar la infraestructura de media maqueta. Todavía no la he encolado porque faltan algunos retoques y un poco de lija en algún punto, !!!pero parece que el Wintrack funciona a la perfección!!!



Lo próximo es fijar todas las maderas con cianocrilato y algún tornillo, pero antes prefiero esperar a tener también la cama de las vías para comprobar que todo encaje. Me parece demasiado raro que todo cuadre tan bien a la primera.... :S

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Inicio de la Infraestructura

!Fase de construcción iniciada! Después de un año haciendo y rehaciendo planos y bocetos, y habiendo dibujado mas de 18 variantes distintas de la versión mas o menos final de la maqueta, estoy construyendo por fin la infraestructura.

En primer lugar quiero agradecer a los foreros de Plataforma N y de JNS Forum por el montón de consejos que me han dado y el cariño y paciencia con los que se han mirado mis planos y los han corregido o aportado sugerencias.
First of all I would like to sincerely thank to all the collegues from Plataforma N and JNS Forum for the big ammount of advices given and the patience and affection demostrated when looking at my plans and correcting them or giving suggestions.

Siguiendo los consejos de los mas experimentados tanto en maquetas como trabajando la madera (gràcies Edu!!!), estoy utilizando madera contrachapada fenólica de Okume de un centímetro de espesor, tanto para el marco como las costillas. La base de las vías es también contrachapado fenólico de Okume de 5 mm.
De momento he calculado las costillas justas, cada 32.5 cm exactamente, y ya reforzaré si lo veo necesario con alguna costilla mas o algún tirante o escuadra.

La maqueta la construyo en tres trozos, para que sea mas o menos sencilla de transportar en un futuro. Los 2 primeros trozos que construyo miden 131 cm x 102 cm. He utilizado el Wintrack 8.0 para hacer los planos e imprimir las plantillas de las costillas a tamaño real.

Seguiré posteando los avances.
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