I was looking at the latest review in Garden Railroads for the Shiloh signals which seemed like a great product, until I got to their web page and noticed that the sensor for the signals don’t seem to standup to the weather well. In looking at other signal manufacturers I see a lot of the same thing. So is that one of the reasons I don’t see a lot of people adding signals to their outdoor layouts or does anyone know or use something that is more weather resistant I have not come across yet?
For me, the main issue is that I dont run track power, so I’m looking at some sort of induction loop detection.
If you run track power, you can do block detection with any number of existing current-draw detectors. Of course, you want all sensitive electronics out of the weather.
Signals Im making out of steel tube, fender washers and the like. With liberal applications of silicone caulking.
They would be fine if mounted in a weather-proof sealed box or sealed PVC.
Well I know one persons layout doesn’t run track power and he might have to run a line just for signals but from responses I see so far I assume it has to be a come up with something yourself job as no one makes anything?
There are supposedly infer red detectors that could work outside. Thing is many of them have to be placed so they don’t “see” direct sunlight. So the whole shebang would have to have a line-side shed to keep it it of sunlight and the weather.
Since I do relay controlled, DC power, I wired for signals and ran the wires for them. I just haven’t found any I like for 1:24 scale. So I may have to roll my own.
I also make my own. The signals are just pieces of brass tube for the mast and light (diode) housing and a brass fender washer soldered on for the “target.” A piece of 1/2" wire cloth cut into a single strip serves as the ladder.
I use gaps in the rails with 555 timing chips to throw relays for the sensors and they work with any metal wheel. Some are used in weather-proof boxes that stay out and some are in structures that come in.
Todd, yea I will probably be doing something similar for the mast and head. Although I want an oval 2 aspect head on mine. Its the relay cases the mast is mounted on that I haven’t seen done reasonably well in anything close to 1:24th scale.
I have some shorter ones that have a shorter mast and they protrude up through wooden blocks that have been sanded to the shapes of concrete piers and painted concrete grey. These also have double targets facing different directions to serve two directions simultaneously. Unfortunately, the “wooden concrete” warps/cracks and they need to be repainted every few years. OTOH, they do get watered 3 times daily.
See I am not sure why you guys are upset about signals and having to make your own as Shiloh and Southbend I think both do a good job making signals that can be used outdoors it just seems like no one bothers to make a control system for them that can stand up to the elements.
You can make a whole lot of these for less than the cost of one Shiloh signal. And when they stay out 24/7 and get watered three times a day, who would make that kind of investment only to watch it deteriorate?
Joseph Lupinski said:
See I am not sure why you guys are upset about signals and having to make your own as Shiloh and Southbend I think both do a good job making signals that can be used outdoors it just seems like no one bothers to make a control system for them that can stand up to the elements.
Joseph, I am not “upset”. I was just saying that someday I will have to make my own 1:24 scale signals on relay cases. As for systems to activate the signals, there are such systems for track power guys. For battery or live steam guys, there isn’t so much, but the one type of signal on the market uses IR detection for their signals. I forget the name at the moment, but GR reviewed them last year or maybe the year before.
Matt found something.
http://largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/21493/something-neat-i-came-across-fro/view/post_id/246337
This is only one of 5 or 6 things that ralph has for doing this. Some of the others include the Ram 111 Light Activated Switch the Ram 117 Dual Activated Light Activated Switch which is excelent for Controlling Railroad signals the ram 158 Signal Driver with train detector which works well with the 3 light or 2 light signals and the Ram 113 Tilt Switch which is especially good for railroad car effects like animal sounds
matt
all of these are easily mounted in buildings or lucite boxes like the ones Rick was making for his speakers
Matt not sure who Ralph is (sorry still fairly new) and while I am sure there may be some boards out there the biggest issue is no one seems to have a weather proof enclosures for them.
sorry about that joseph ralph refers to ralph warner owner of Ram radio control RC out of round lake beach he has been around the industry since the early 80’s as far as i know. As for the enclosures at one time Rick Isard was making lucite boxes for speakers for baffeling sound and i found with a little creativity these worked well as a water resistant enclosure. unfortunetly i have not seen anything that is 100 percent water proof available today
matt
I picked up a couple of these at Lowes last weekend, to evaluate for various things. They’re supposed to be rainproof, and area fairly good size. If they work as advertised, they’ll be a good box for the 3-4 signaling nodes I want to have around the layout.
I model Colorado Narrow Gauge so Signals are not anything I would use, but for those that model Standard gauge and operate Diesels, here is an idea that might work for your outdoor railroad to activate signals. Mount a Magnet under the lead engine and one under the caboose, and then use Hall Effect Sensors. The are basically like a Transistor with 3 legs, but are switched on by the proximity of a magnet, These hall effect sensors then could be wired into solid state relays system could be powered using a small solar panel. The Hall effect sensor would be mount between the ties at the end and beginning of each signal block which could be hooked up to a Picaxe processor or the like which would then use a darlington transistor array to power the solid state relays which then in turn power the tri-color LED’s in the signal masts.
These two links are for the Hall effect sensor and information on how they work.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9312
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_effect_sensor
If you are also interested in traffic signals, I have picaxe processor circuit for those.
Dan S.