RobertsfieldEvening All,
Yet again, it’s been another long while since my last update, and for the most part I’ve not done much on the layouts. With all the recent goings on I’ve been in and out of Furlough, and spending most of my time off landscaping the garden or renovating my Brother’s flat. I have recently been helping on a friend’s new 7mm scale layout getting the electrics up running with MERG CBUS and DCC equipment. That is now operable and has spurred me on to progressing my own projects. I have finally managed to get my CBUS equipment working as I intended, although has not been straightforward. Sometime ago I built a small test board to operate two servos from a MERG CANMIO input/output module and receive two inputs from occupancy detectors built to a MERG ‘Pocket Money Project’ design. I couldn’t get the inputs working from the occupancy detectors, the CANMIO not generating any messages on the CAN bus either from track occupancy, or by bypassing with a shorting link on the detector output/CANMIO input. After posting a question on the MERG forum the fix came about by reloading the firmware to the PIC (‘chip’) and then configuring all the inputs channels to outputs, then reverting to inputs. This allowed the bypass link to work, but still nothing from the occupancy detectors. I subsequently found a wire link missing from the detector boards and after checking my working drawing it transpired, I had omitted the link from my drawing. The problem then was that I had assembled around thirty of these dual-detector boards to the incorrect drawing! I am now in the process of modifying these boards and reinstalling them to the fiddle yard baseboards. In addition to the above task I am also making some other changes to the electrics; myself and two other friends are all building layouts that use MERG CBUS and DCC control equipment, which means that we can share equipment for backup purposes. This of course requires a set of standards to ensure compatibility. During the initial planning discussions and research on the MERG website the first two layouts were not configured the same. I am now in the process of revising the CBUS connections to match those of the second layout, the third layout already having been wired matching the second. I am also adding a separate 12V DC supply for the MERG equipment whilst retaining the existing 12V DC supply for the servos and larger loads. I am pleased with how the CANMIOs are working and will take the opportunity to free up some space under the scenic baseboards by switching the control equipment and uncoupling devices. For example, on baseboard 2 (the centre scenic board) I have 3x CANACC8 8 channel output boards, driving 4x SERVO4 boards via optocoupler interface boards, and also driving two quad relay boards. With all the turnout/signal servos and uncoupling magnets this does not leave much real estate spare and the scenic boards also need District CutOuts (DCOs) installing. I will be removing the existing control equipment and replacing with CANMIOs, where two boards will replace 11 existing boards. On top of this I will be removing the electromagnets and associated relay boards and use servo-driven drop magnets which are a direct drive from the CANMIOs which will save even more space. So far, I have completed two baseboard conversions, and two nearly completed. I have also produced a test control panel in JMRI show below, which allows me to get all the CBUS configuration completed and satisfactorily tested before I build physical control panels.
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December 2020
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