Bath Green Park MPD in S7

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Phil.c

Phil.c

Western Thunderer
Fluid based fog machines are run by water & glycol producing a vapor, maybe the same as the model ones?

Phil
 
Getting a Zimo Decoder to action a timed delay.
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    • SteveB

    SteveB

    Western Thunderer
    This all came about as a result of operating my Safety Valve Steam generators. My initial set up required me to switch the heaters on, then wait around 5 seconds and then switch the fan on. The fan being synchronised with the sound of the Safety Valves lifting. This isn’t too bad but then I had to remember to turn both off. It’s easy to get distracted and turn the fan off but leave the heaters on.

    What I’m able to do now is just to use one function key which sets everything going and 5 seconds after pressing the button the Safety Valves operate and the sound starts. Turning them off is just turning this function off.

    The key is really with the sound file because this has to have a delay set in at the beginning of the sound clip. I contacted John and Samantha Gymer at YouChoos and they couldn’t have been more helpful. I explained what I was after and two days later, a decoder was delivered to me with a special sound file for the Safety Valves which had 5 seconds of silence before the sound started. There was no extra charge for this service.

    Although I only have experience using Zimo decoders, they do appear to be a very flexible in terms of how they’re set up. What they don’t have however is any form delay function.

    There is a way to get around this though using a miniature non-latching relay. I found a suitable one from RS Components, which measured just 6 x 6 x 10.

    There is a function within the Zimo decoder called ‘uncoupler control’, this is primarily used for automatic un-coupling. The output function is configured to value 48 (uncoupler) and CV115 is set to 90 which gives 5 seconds of power. I set my chosen function output to 48 and wire this to the coil of the relay. I then wire another function output to the ‘normally closed’ terminal on the relay. The ‘common terminal’ is wired to the fan. The ‘normally open’ remains vacant.

    So, this is what happens. I press my chosen key on my control which switches on the heater relay, the new safety valve relay, the power to the fan and sets the sound file going. As the Safety Valve relay is energised it switches to the ‘normally open’ terminal which is not connected to anything. The power to this relay lasts for 5 seconds. When it switches off, it goes back to the ‘normally closed’ terminal which is now energised and connected to the fan. The fan starts turning, which coincides with the Safety Valve sound starting. Therefore it actually takes three separate function outputs for me to operate a single Safety Valve effect.

    Regards


    Steve
     
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    • Bath Green Park MPD in S7
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    • SteveB

    SteveB

    Western Thunderer
    I have to be honest and say that since choosing to start model 'railwaying' in S7, there's been at least a couple of times that I've questioned my sanity. I'm now well on the way to completing my first two turnouts and I now think that its all been worthwhile. My first turnout was the simple left hand one shown in the photo below, my second one is the 'staggered' 3-way one. I'm sure it has a proper technical name but you'll know the one I'm referring too.

    The first turnout was pretty straight forward, and went together without issue, the 3-way took me two attempts because I didn't initially follow the template geometry as accurately as I should have done.

    Why do I now think its all been worthwhile? Well, even an unsprung converted Dapol glides over the common crossing (see, I'm learning some technical names!) without any hesitation or lurching as a wheel goes over the gap.

    I haven't wired the turnouts up yet or fitted the Tortoise motors but I can push my 8F over them without any issues being evident.

    I would like to thank two people who helped, firstly John Birch (Oz7mm) who produced the Templot drawing of the 3-way for me and secondly Graham Beare (Dog Star) for his posts on constructing common crossings some 5 years ago.

    IMG_2212.jpg
    Regards

    Steve
     
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    • Cliff Williams

    Cliff Williams

    Western Thunderer
    Works well, I do the same with the diesels, using spyrax sound at the start as the pre-amble to lighting up. Great fun and wonderful work!
    Do you have much space for some weight in there as well?
     
    SteveB

    SteveB

    Western Thunderer
    Cliff Williams said:
    Do you have much space for some weight in there as well?
    Click to expand...

    Hi Cliff

    There is still a bit of room in there. As you can see from the photo I've removed one of the motors and I have to say that it runs considerably better with only one. I'm not likely to pull any serious loads with it so one motor is more than adequate. You can see the size of the speaker. Awesome!
    IMG_2213.jpg
    Regards

    Steve
     
    SteveB

    SteveB

    Western Thunderer
    Oz7mm said:
    Steve, I only get chocolate cake when you lot are around. Thin gruel the rest of the week.:(
    Click to expand...

    Hi John, now remember that honesty is a virtue. Can I not remember a few times when we were presented with chocolate cake that had already had a couple of portions taken out of it? Was it the squirrels that had nicked them?

    Regards

    Steve
     
    Oz7mm

    Oz7mm

    Western Thunderer
    Definitely the squirrels. They also stole the video recorder.

    OK, Steve, I'll stop hijacking your thread.

    Cheers

    John
     
    Wagonman

    Wagonman

    Western Thunderer
    SteveB said:
    There’s been a couple of questions about how long I can use the smoke effects before the fumes become a problem.

    As far as I can work out, the fumes produced are the same as the theatrical industry use for their smoke/steam effects, so that gives me a bit of reassurance that it’s not doing any harm.

    There is a massive difference between various brands of smoke fluid. The best one I’ve come across is the ESU one, that’s what I was using in the video. The generators were going for well over 15 mins in a closed room and there was no noticeable problem. On the other hand, if I was using the Deluxe product then I couldn’t have put up with any more than about 2 mins!

    The other thing to bear in mind is that you can always turn them off and they are reasonably adjustable in terms of the amount of smoke produced. My video shows quite different amounts of smoke being produced, from the diesel at one extreme to the Std 4 Tank at the other. These are all controlled by changing CV’s within the decoder.

    One thing I’ve been able to achieve recently is that each effect is controlled by one function key, so If I want to make the Safety Valves blow, then I just press a single Function Key on my DCC controller. Previously, I had to turn on the heaters, wait 5 or 10 seconds and then turn on the fan. I then had to remember to turn both off!

    If anyone is interested, then I’ll do a post on how this was achieved.

    Regards

    Steve
    Click to expand...

    I'd definitely be interested in something fr the S7 Newsletter! As for pollution, I assume it's far less hazardous than the real thing was, back in the day. I can just about remember the sulphurous miasma that clung around Liverpool Street station for much of the day.
     
    SteveB

    SteveB

    Western Thunderer
    I've managed to wire up and motorise my first two points. The 3 way took me a while to figure out but I got there in the end. I'm pleased with how they've performed as all by locos ran through them without incident.
    IMG_2233.jpg
    Next permanent way project is a double slip. I'm hoping that it'll be easier than I think, but I could be wrong!

    IMG_2232.jpg
    I've also been working on the turntable bridge. There's a few things to paint on it and it needs some more weathering. I wish I had now made the handles work, maybe that's a project for the future.

    IMG_2234.jpg
    IMG_2235.jpg
    IMG_2236.jpg
    IMG_2238.jpg

    Regards

    Steve
     
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