Ken Brunt said:
And yes, Robert, your article has officially been derailed…
Who derailed it ?
Rooster said:
Ken Brunt said:
Hey, it just gives ya sumthin to talk about…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
( And yes, Robert, your article has officially been derailed…)
One of my favorite pictures! (Now I need a beer)
I’m currently on V3 of the remote nodes, and I think this is the final product. 6 inputs, 12 outputs. That will allow 4 3-color signals to be driven off one node, or 12 separate lights, etc. And 6 inputs for block detection, switch position, etc. Total cost for each board will somewhere around $15.
Ive tested this with 5 remote nodes, and it appears they work as I would expect them. The interface painlessly with CMRI. I will keep speeding up the update cadence (currently its every half-second, but these ESP32 boards are fast, so I can probably have that down into the milliseconds range.
The V3 boards are currently in production and I should have them in-hand at the beginning of next week. One more piece of the puzzle, then it’s starting in earnest on the actual signals themselves.
Bob,
Just found this thread, very nice! Was disappointed that all the early photos of the design were missing…
I have my own set of LED controllers being run from JMRI. I have been playing around with those high power
3 watt LEDs that are typically used for room lighting:
Not very prototypical looking… They require a LARGE heatsink. But I can clearly see and identify the colors
from well over a hundred feet, important with my layout.
I found a pic of a more finished version:
Steve
1 Like
V3 boards just showed up. They look great, as usual. I'll do my conformance testing this weekend, then build one out. This board is feature-complete, so now its just tweaking the software.
Bob McCown said:
I’m using Eagle, which will export out Gerber files, which everybody uses. The auto routing isn’t too bad, and you can just tweak the routes if you want to.
Just downloaded and installed the free version of Eagle. I want to move forward with my turnout servo project, and since this is so cheap, why use old-school perf board. I only need a few very simple boards and the price of the Chinese supplier is right!
Speaking of suppliers in China, at work we have been getting a lot of our pre-fabricated LED can letters from China. Only problem is you better pay damn good attention to proofs. Got a call from a customer last week after we put up his signs. “Where is the E in Charlie?” (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
Thanks to ALL of you ADVENTURERS! I’m not too good at this stuff myself, but it sure makes for a good read.
I’m having fun just watching. (Although there is SOME anticipation I MIGHT actually see it in action some day.)
Well done!
Steve said:
Bob,
… I have been playing around with those high power 3 watt LEDs that are typically used for room lighting.
Not very prototypical looking… They require a LARGE heatsink.
But I can clearly see and identify the colors
from well over a hundred feet, important with my layout.
I found a pic of a more finished version:
Steve
Steve,
PLEASE post a pic of your signals from the hundred foot distance!
And a source for the 3 Watt Leds.
Thanks!
As an alternative to china, consider OSHPark.
It’s based in the usa, and all boards are made in the usa. You merely drag/drop
your eagle or kiCAD .pcb file onto their web page, and they process it in realtime
to the individual layers for your inspection. Prototypes are $5 per square inch (you get 3 copies).
More expensive than china, but excellent service and quality boards. They specialize in serving
“makers”, and eliminate the need for beginners to understand or deal with gerbers.
You might also consider kiCAD.
It’s open source and has none of the restrictions the free version of eagle has.
It has a 3d viewer thats great:
Steve
1 Like
Don,
I don’t have one setup outside right now to take a photo of.
photos of the test when I was prototyping them. My notes there say 200’ - memory
is a terrible thing to loose (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)
They were taken with a telephoto lens so they don’t give a good idea of what they look
like at a distance.
The 3 watt LEDs
The mount plates
The lens
The heat sinks
I had one run of boards (previous project) done at OSHPark, but I cant justify the difference in price. I’m all for supporting local/US businesses, but the price difference is crazy. If I want 10 of same boards, using the same Gerber files, they want $230.80, versus $25.
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Did a range and network test today. The main node is connected to my PC in the basement. The other 4 nodes were set down on the layout where they will end up. (extension cords and USB wall warts are your friend) Distance from the main node to the closest node is about 50 feet. The network assembled itself about 45 seconds after powerup, and stayed stable, sending data in both directions, for the 15 minutes I had the test running.
Next test will be to speed up the refresh rate of the network. Right now the nodes attempt to talk to each other every 250ms (quarter of a second). I want to see how fast I can go.
Picking up some electronics work this weekend. It’s finicky to build the CPL and get all the wiring stuffed in place.
So, off to EagleCAD to lay out a board to have fabbed.
EDIT: Proof images from the fab house.
2 Likes
Boards showed up today, and as usual, they came out great. I have no complaints about PBCWay. You can see how the board will tidy things up and fit into the back of the signal head.
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Suh-WEEET!!
==========================
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Pretty cool, Bob. Will we see signals at TrainOps THIS year? 
Who knows? 
Possibly some display only or something.
Well, either way, you HAVE accomplished a LOT this year. Neat stuff!
Those are really cool! I played around with the circuit CAD you recommended a few years ago, but my lack of terminology knowledge really made me stumble trying to learn it. For the few boards I needed I ended up with solder hole perf and buss bar. Got it done, but fugly.
