Leopard Street, LNER 1930's

[aleopardstail]

Fun and games with electrickery

hooked up the ESP32 microcontroller based control board, the idea was to test the servos and test the relays.

ahh yes..

I have a 5V 4A power supply for this bugger and its mates as they get added, which should be fine, it has been tested with the 5V 0.5A of a PC USB port and it worked - though often struggled to connect the Wifi - I had that down as poor signal strength but it seems thats not all thats going on

the board can power up, however it immediately seems to jump into a reboot - annoyingly powering on a few of its pins at is does so - causing the servos to jump full scale - so I need to find yet another way of disabling those. If the board starts up with the actual power to the servos disabled it starts, a few lights on the LED board come on as expected (this board draws basically sod all power from the ESP32 as its got its own 12V supply)

so far so good, connect the servo power and down it goes.

also have some relays connected which are drawing 60mA-70mA when active, which again is dragging the voltage down and triggering the brownout.

I suspect part of this is the breadboard being used, I will try again Wednesday, this time providing the +5V directly from the layout bus and not through the breadboard to the servo module and the relay module - in theory they will draw the same current but not through the circuit driving the micro controller which I suspect is the problem (lots of DuPont type connectors into and out of breadboard).

if that doesn't work I'll get a better 3.3v voltage regulator circuit and not use the one the board has.

"static" current draw is about 0.04A, powering:
- ESP32 & OLED display
- EEPROM chip
- servo driver board (with servo power disconnected)
- DTC8 current sensor board (this apparently draws slightly more when its detecting stuff)
- 16 Bit Port expander.
- various status LEDs

40mA for that lot is pretty good and I'm happy with it

the layout has on the lower deck 13 points and a pair of diamonds, thus 17 relays needed - so roughly 1.2A just for the relays, tad more than expected, though they won't all be energised at once. I suspect the 4A supply will need upgrading though.

the joy of electrickery

[aleopardstail]

bit more evaluation, issue is basically the servos. at start up they all try to move at once to the "start" position.

each can draw about 0.8A on stall.. so if they go full scale and stall, even with just two its a short power dip.. then a reboot.

two solutions present themselves, the first is to modify the startup code, with more of a delay, however the board used cannot enable/disable individual servos - will at least give everything else a chance to stabilise first.

also the 5V4A supply won't cut it. pondering removing the 15V supply line from the bus connectors and giving it its own connector (as its only needed in a few places) and replace that pin with a higher power 5V supply, given I have a pair of 5V30A supplies on the shelf.. can swap that into the power box as its the same size (ish) as the 15V supply.. then give that its own box..

reason this all worked fine on the desk - the servos were not connected to a load, hence drew less current

lesson learned:
- calculate current requirements better...

[aleopardstail]

new video up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL16mMO0qLY

covering more wiring stuff, this time with actual wiring and not just waffle.

also work continues on getting the damned thing working, still having servos trip out the ESP32 with power fluctuations, revised PSU has been found (just need to work out how to mount it). shorter term plan is to dig up a 5V linear regulator module I made a while back, then power the servos and the relay coils using that from the 12V DC feed, it will handle the current draw for now and means I can get on with validating that works.

Also have some fire flickering orange LEDs to play with, first one going into the stove for the signal box, which I hope to get wired up this week alongside a bit more track and a bit more track wiring up

[Phred]

Enjoying your videos.
I do like watching other people work. It's very relaxing.

[aleopardstail]

4th video up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUeE6jLZWxs

fitting the servo motors and 3d printed brackets, nothing too innovative here, ends with the A1 & Q6 running though

[aleopardstail]

little bit more time today, hooked up a second 5v supply - its powering relay coils and the servo motors - common DC ground to the main 5V. this has resolved the power out booting problem! the supply is a low power one, will be replaced by better with a "power" 5V bus added, job done.

slight run now configuring the points, the relay board that was programmed as "active HIGH" turns out to be "active LOW".. meah, easy change to make, both points are inverted, again a software flip. was just getting started on calibration of servo positions, will have to finish tomorrow as now busy the rest of the night.

does mean trains can, hopefully, be using the crossing properly tomorrow, which is nice.

that 5V power bus will be fitted as I go round so no need to "big bang" it all in one go.

so job for the Weekend, get the calibration done and trains running, a bit more tweaking to get the DTC8 - which works, feeding back to the control board and then back to JMRI (I think this is another software tweak) and also moving on to the adjacent board to lay some more track and extend the track power.

this one in theory gains ABC braking capability, this likely gets added later though and for now its just wire it up - the DTC8 for that board is largely assembled so should be good to go

[aleopardstail]

Photo update!

gradient tracks now largely laid, or as far as the board allows. board C is done, board B nearly done (needs some glue to cure and track bed to be painted to continue) and round as far as board A.

all droppers in, not wired up yet, all joins soldered and cut through

few derailments elsewhere that will need a file to deal with as a dog leg has "occurred", was likely a re-laying job anyway, much more likely now

[Mountain]

Your railway is really coming along nicely! Those Hornby coaches are actually nice and run wrll as I used to have a rake myself. (They can be found surprizingly cheap as well, and are very under-rated for the lovely things they are!)

[aleopardstail]

Your railway is really coming along nicely! Those Hornby coaches are actually nice and run wrll as I used to have a rake myself. (They can be found surprizingly cheap as well, and are very under-rated for the lovely things they are!)

I've got a second rake of four of them, and nine of the non-corridor ones, they are basic but as you say cheap, not paid more than a tenner each for these. the corridor ones close couple nicely. Those four have resistor wheels on one axle, the other four will be done when they go down there.

thats basically a full rake for me, yes in theory can run longer but four avoids everything being cramped and when its representing 8-12 anyway does four or five matter?

That incline will get a little more track, not much as not much more board. want that so I can wire that side up and largely forget about it - and also can test the gradients out

[Mountain]

The gradients look just right as you have the space.

[aleopardstail]

The gradients look just right as you have the space.

main one should be 1:50 incline to the station, rising 5" in total when the rest is added (3" for trains then a bit more for point servos), the secondary one is close to 1:80.

due to incompetence part of the first one is closer to 1:25 (this area will probably be rebuilt though) - trains still go up it, largely as the trains are quite short but its not ideal and needs fixing.

the pity is the garage isn't weather proof as then this would have been 16'x10' and not 12'x7' - allowing the curves to open and the gradients to lessen (would have also been on three levels then).

if, and its a very big if, that can be sorted this will be relocated and rebuilt - since thats not likely soon I'm carrying on regardless

quite of £6k to replace the garage roof.... then it needs power etc, probably getting towards "flatten it and rebuild it" money and chances of getting it past the domestic authorities is slim without a lottery win.


reason the incline is being built now is to verify its practical, it should be but it also dictates final train lengths

[Mountain]

I am in a position where I have more than enough space but am not sure how long I will have it so am reluctant to use it.

Like we have a boarded out complete sizable attic room with a pull down ladder into a separate entrance attic room. There is power and light in there... Has one of those lovely sized windows that can open (I would have to stand on a chair to swing it open as the ceiling height is generous).
Also have a large sort of shed type room which is built onto the house, and the garden behind is at chest height to this room... The room is made from wood like a large lean-to shed and was once used as a workshop. Has large windows to let light in on the side and a door to outside, and also a door going in towards another two little conservative type rooms (Made from roofing over an old walkway so the cotrage wall (Large stone) and the old outside stone wall were roofed over to become part of the house with large windows over the wall, and yet again, the larger of these could easily house a layout... And the two garages! One is almost wide enough to park two cars and is deep enough to almost park two cars... (Will easily take an old American Cadalac Fleetwood in there if the electric door is wide enough (Think it is!)). Smaller garage is small. Built around the old Minis. Previous owners had three minis in there.
And the bedroom I am in also has space... Think 12ft x 11 1/2 ft? But I dare not build much incase I need to pull it down again!

[aleopardstail]

thankfully this is the "forever home" as neither of us want to move, bit more work to be done. e.g. this year saw a new roof, the loft will get boarded probably next year, pure storage though as the size isn't that good. next year is doors & windows.. then a bathroom, then a.. you get it, this stuff never ends.

I would like to sort the garage, this layout can then be taken apart, the points reused, the track binned, the electronics salvaged or replaced with better etc.

in effect Leopard Street is, as with most layouts, a potential stepping stone and excuse to build up and run stock. that said it will be finished as with luck this year will see the lower level completed - including the 9th board to hold the return loops, with it all down and running. I then have one side to play with scenery while I work out how to do the terminal.

more than happy with second hand stock on here for the most part as its find to test stuff. I do have the lovely A2/3 which may get a rake of proper coaches.

Half temped with the Coronation stuff, trouble is I'd need an A4 to haul it (oh dear, how sad, never mind...) but would want the whole nine car rake just in case I ever get the chance to actually run the full rake

[Phred]

All looking very good. If it happens, the relocation to the garage would make an epic thread in itself.

[aleopardstail]

All looking very good. If it happens, the relocation to the garage would make an epic thread in itself.

beauty of that would be there is a water supply, which means a sink is possible, and a kettle...

also that would not be a "needs to come apart" layout which would simplify things significantly, would also be very tempted by one of the (not cheap) laser cut plywood baseboard things, to, for once, have at least something cut accurately