Control Panel for the new layout

[Gary S]

Don't over do it, it's the top of the layout that is supposed to get all the attention, if it's the bottom, you may as wel raise the whole thing by a few feet so guests can all marvel at the underside,

We'll see how it goes!

On the video - pretty weird! :?

[Gary S]

Yep, that's the part of DCC that scares me, thanks for the reminder

The DCC is only the white box and the black box at the upper left of the control panel. That part couldn't hardly be any simpler. The complicated part is for the uncoupling magnets and doesnt actually have any connections to the DCC... so don't let this scare you.

DCC is amazingly simple and adaptable. Wiring is simple and programming decoders is simple once you do it a few times. Now, installing decoders in old locos may be challenging at times, but that can be remedied by purchasing RTR DCC locos.

In my estimation, DCC is wonderful!

[Gary S]

...and where do the Legos come in..??

Now I get it!

Those are terminal blocks where the external wiring will connect to the internal wiring. Everything is color coded. Every particular wire will hav its own color, and will attach to the proper color terminal block. If you do the planning beforehand, the wiring becomes amazingly simple. All the blue wires connect together, the red, etc. And troubleshooting is easier, as are additions to the layout.

[ocalicreek]

With me being an electrician, it is nice to apply my knowledge to the hobby. And, I am even considering running electrical pipe underneath the layout for the wiring!!

Perhaps you've heard the story of John Allen putting the wiring in for his cityscape 16 years before he ever reached the point where he needed them. Buried them in the cement floor back when prepping the room for building the layout. Planning is a wonderful thing!

I think it needs a few more whatchamacallits, doohickeys and thingamabobs.

ROFL

Galen

[Gary S]

Galen, I sure hope I'm not planning that far in advance! My goal is to have trains running by October.

edit: correct typo

[faraway]

... All the blue wires connect together,....

And when you are blue all wires connect together sorry, couldn't resist...

ps. To be blue (blau) is a German phrase to be drunk...

[Gary S]

And when you are blue all wires connect together

Duely noted. I will strive to remain sober while playing electrician!

[ocalicreek]

Galen, I sure hope I'm not planning that far in advance! My goal is to have trains running by October.

That's just it - trains had been running for some time. He got to the point of wiring the city and somebody asked, "How are we going to get wire over here?", and it had been there the whole time!

Anyway, you're doing a first-class job on the wiring cabinet/prep work that is sure to pay off in the long run, even if it takes forever.

Galen

[jglfan]

That really is a sharp looking..well, I'd call it a power supply cabinet, not a control panel, no? Interesting to read your reasoning for the time delay for the magnetic uncouplers. I built some of these uncouplers, along with a power supply (no where nears as nice as yours!) and do indeed use push buttons to activate them. You are correct in stating it can be awkward to control teh throttle while using one hand to push the button. I manage by making sure I select the loco on the knob (I use digitrax too, with the two controls per throttle) which I can rotate with my thumb while pressing the button. I place the couplers over the uncoupler with slack prior to pressing the button, so all I need to do is rotate the speed knob a bit.

[Gary S]

Thanks for the compliment. I suppose we can call it a power supply cabinet but it also contains the control elements of relays and timers which control how long the magnets are on, and it has some control switches on the door so I can control each district seperately, mainly for troubleshooting purposes. So how about we call it a powersupply/control panel? My use of the term "control panel" comes from the electrical/controls world where something like this was called a control panel even though it also contains power supplies.

As for the use of the time delay versus a simple pushbutton: When I first built my old layout, I was using the normal pushbutton arrangement, but it dawned on me that it would be very simple to add a single timer which could control the magnets. I previously spent 18 years in the field as an electrician/control guy, but the last 12 years I've been in an office environment. So, it is fun to get my hands back into some wiring and designing. And the old layout only had one district, but the new one will have 4 districts, hence the 4 timers. And really, I should have put a programmable logic controller in there instead of the relays, just for the fun of it.

It's good that the hobby has so much variation to it. For me, I am really enjoying designing and building this cabinet, wiring it, and making it look nice. Other folks may think it is a bit "out there" and "way too elaborate" as in they would never spend this much time working on the electrical aspects of their layout. But it is my opinion that they are missing out on a very interesting aspect of the hobby.

[Russ Bellinis]

Gary, I suspect a lot of folks who are missing out on an "interesting aspect of the hobby" are really afraid of a big bang with the release of a lot of smoke! That cabinet looks great!

[Gary S]

You are probably correct, Russ. smoke and fire and black scorches from the exploding components are not conducive to fine scale modeling.

I've been working on the cabinet for the past few nights. Will complete it tonight and post some photos. And hey, I've already energized the thing several times to test various items, and she is working perfectly!

[Gary S]

95% complete! Now I need to get the layout in place so I can connect this thing up!

[faraway]

95% complete!...

Gary, that is absolute professional work. I did similar work about 40 years ago doing wires and cables on telephone equipment. At that time we had no plastic to hold the wires in place. It was done with a very robust yarn. The supervisor was very strict to ensure very precise routing... I never did it that way or a similar way on my hobby

[Gary S]

Thank you Reinhard. I used to do electrical work in AT&T and SWBT buildings. They didn't use tie-wraps or plastic either. They used waxed string to tie all the wiring together, everything from #22 telephone wire to 750 MCM power cables.

All of this wiring and technical stuff that can go into a layout doesn't scare me because that is my background. It is the scenery aspects that scare me! :x