I’ve settled on JMRI, Digitrax, stall motor switch machines for all turnouts, and if I can find some HO scale CPL signals I’ll be doing signalling on a small scale.
I’m considering the various methods for control of turnouts. The choices seem endless. Should I use stationary decoders, standalone devices like RR-Cirkits SMD’s, or a combination of the two? I plan to use route based control for the yards and sidings using the classic scematic on the fascia with buttons and LED’s to select/indicate the track. I don’t plan to use the Digitrax throttles to throw turnouts.
How is everybody doing this? With which components? Why?
I am using regular control panels with toggle switches and LED’s located at the major switching areas. The SE8C allows you to have 32 signal heads, 8 tortoise outputs and 8 inputs for controlling the tortoise machines, all on one board. If you need more turnouts, you can use the DS-64. Routes are easier to set up with JMRI than trying to do it through the DS-64. I am also using JMRI Panel Pro and Panel Editor, not Layout Editor.
Operators do their switching on the local control panels, plus JMRI senses those changes and sets the signal aspects accordingly. If you have room and enough operators to have a dispatcher, they can sit at the computer and control the routes, but that isn’t required.
Well, if you use DS64’s to control the stall motors, you can have local pushbuttons - AND they will report the operation via Loconet, so your JMRI panel will reflect the change. This assumes that when the operator presses the button, the turnout moves, if you want to get fancy you can use one button as the fascia control and hook the other DS64 input to one of the Tortoise contacts, but given that this is a model railroad and personal injury or death is not an outcome for having the switch lined wrong, the feedback over Loconet is probably sufficient.
For signals you’ll want some sort of signal drive. The SE8C is good, so are the RR-CirKits devices. The new control point devices that RR-CirKits has combine the switch motor control, block detection, signal drive, and local pushbuttons all in one unit.
Don;t get sticker shock, none of this will be particularly cheap.
The problem with that, is that JMRI must be up and running to use your routes. So even if all you’re doing is re-staging some trains, etc, you’ll need to either crank up the JMRI computer, or just not use any routes (set all the turnouts individually).
I use DS64’s and JMRI, but I use the DS64’s built-in route ability. I don’t know how easy or hard JMRI routes are since I don’t use them, but setting up DS64 routes isn’t difficult at all, especially if you use LocoNet Checker.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve used JMRI for 10+ years and think it’s great, but for some things (DS64’s being one of them) LocoNet Checker is just a better alternative.
Yes, Loconet Checker makes it much easier to configure a DS64 than the DS64 tool in JMRI. Guess no one is putting much effort in that since you cna always just use Loconet Checker (though I think Loconet Checker is Windows only).
Even though its over five years ago it shows the beauty of the LocoNet system with interfacing signals and turnouts (or points in the fiddle yard if you please.)
There’s probably newer and maybe better Youtube videos describing Digitrax and JMRI control but I just like this guy’s presentation so I thought I’d pass it on to you.
Machine powered, controlled from the Main (CTC) panel, the Zone (town or operating area) panel or locally, at the fascia. Zone panel controls are rotary switches, CTC panel controls are probe - and - stud and local control is by switch key (stereo headphone plug into jack on the panel.)
Manual, controlled from the fascia adjacent to the turnout - mechanical linkage from an electrical switch.
Contacts on the switch machine or manually-operated electrical switch control signals, hot frog power and track power routing.
This is all analog DC - the only electronic components are the dozen-for-a-buck diodes that I use to minimize wire use, for route diode-matrix control and for auto-stop.
Note that I don’t recommend my system for everyone. It’s wiring-intensive and sometimes calls for me to do some fancy circuit designing. I enjoy that. Others might not. OTOH, it’s CHEAP!!!
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - analog DC, MZL system)
I too have been using JMRI for years and have also been frustrated with it’s handling of DS64s. This is the first I’d heard of LocoNet Checker. Thank you for the steer.
[edit 2014/01/01] Downloaded LocoNet Checker last evening before heading out to ring in the new year. LN Checker accurately found all DS64s on my layout and displayed all their settings including routes. That is very cool as I’m not sure I still have the napkin on which I recorded the settings those many years ago. [:|]
Thanks again for the reference and Happy New Year.
ROAR