Control Panel for the new layout

[tetters]

Beautiful. Absolutely professional and wonderful work. I can only aspire to achieve that level of wiring organization on my own layout. The best thing about these types of posts is it shows those no so inclined how the pros do it.

I know its a lot to ask, but could you explain how it will all work together?

[Gary S]

Tetters, there are basically three different voltage systems in the box.

There is the incoming 120 volt AC power which is designated as "P" on the following photo.
We have the Digitrax DCC for the track power which is designated as "T".
We have uncoupler electromagnet power which is "U".



The 120 volt power comes in at the back of the panel and goes to the switch at P1. When the switch is closed, the green light comes on and 120 volts is sent to the fuse blocks at P2. From the fuses, the 120 volt power goes to the Digitrax power supply at T1 and to the uncoupler power supplies at U1 and U2.

The Digitrax power supply at T1 feeds 15 volts to the Digitrax Command Station at T2. From the Command Station, the track power is on the green and white wires to the four double-pole-single-throw switches located at T3. The layout is divided into 4 districts, the north wall, the east wall, the south wall, and the center wall. Each district has its own switch which controls the power in that district (this is for two reasons, first, I can turn off all the districts except one and use it as a programming track, and secondly, it will make troubleshooting and finding shorts a bit easier). Beside each switch is a red lamp (LED) that indicates power in each district. From each switch, green and white wires go to T4 which are the terminal blocks for the external track wiring to connect to.

For the uncoupler magnets, we have two 24 volt, 4.8 amp DC power supplies at U1 and U2. Each supply powers two districts. (The circuitry is designed to allow only one magnet in each district to be energized at any given time, so the maximum amperage on each supply would be two magnets, equaling 3 amps.) From the supplies, we have red and black wires going to the switches on the door at U3. Like the track power, there are four switches controlling the 24 volt DC to each district. Each district has its own voltmeter and ampmeter (Mainly used for troubleshooting). From the switches, the DC power runs to the 4 DIN rails on the right side of the control panel. There are 4 sets of these, one for each district. U4 is the 24 volt fuse location which protects the circuitry (four total).

Each electromagnet uncoupler will have a pushbutton and a small DPDT relay located along the fascia near the uncoupler location. Pushing and releasing this button will cause the magnet to turn on for 5 seconds and then turn off (this is adjustable). The Kadee O-scale electromagnets I am using are for intermittent duty only. If they are energized for too long, they will overheat and most likely destroy the insualtion on the magnet wire. Most people simply use a momentary pushbutton for this. However, the drawback is trying to hold the button in with one hand and at the same time trying to hold the DCC controller and operate the train with the other hand. My solution is the time delay relays. When the button is pushed and released, the magnet will turn on for 5 seconds and then turn off. This allows both hands on the throttle for easy operation. This time delay circuitry is accomplished by the time relay and the DPDT relay at U5 and U6. The color-coded terminal blocks at U7 are for the external wiring to the uncoupler locations.

That's about it. Overkill? Maybe. Did I have fun with it, and will I enjoy using it and showinf it off to people? Absolutely!

[Gary S]

Oh, and by the way, thanks for the wonderful comments!

[eightyeightfan1]

What a neat and professionally done panel.
Can't wait to see the layout when it gets going.

[Gary S]

88, thanks for the comment. It will be awhile before the layout is running... but work on it is about to commence. The building is just about ready.

[Russ Bellinis]

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

Gary, make a cheap diorama to practice scenery on. Make it small enough to fit easily into a garbage can. You don't even need to put track on it unless you want to practice ballasting. For practicing ballasting, you should be able to find some old brass or steel train set track to practice with. If you don't like the way it comes out, throw it in the trash and try again. If you have difficulty getting the scenery to come out the way you want it to, post a picture of what you want it to look like from the real world and a pic of what your diorama looks like and someone here may be able to give you some useful tips on how to get from "here to there."

[doctorwayne]

Gary, you're more than capable of taking care of the technical stuff and the "nuts and bolts" of construction, both of the layout, trains, and structures. Scenery is sorta like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it's done. Some will stick and some won't. Either way, you'll have fun and you'll have to clean up the mess.

Wayne

[Gary S]

Russ, thanks for the good advice. I especially like the part about "sized to fit in a garbage can"!

DocWayne: "you'll still have to clean up the mess". good one!

[Gary S]

In conjunction with the control panel, here is what the controls at each magnet location will look like. On the left is the DPDT 24vDC relay. The terminal blocks arefor connecting the magnet, the pushbutton and LED, and the wiring to the control panel. All color coded so installation and troubleshooting is easy. And no need to solder under the layout. Going from left to right, the first black and orange are for the magnet. The next black-orange-blue is for the pushbutton and LED. The last four, black-red-blue-brown are for the wiring to the control panel. The terminals are not really necessary, I could solder all the terminations and have a gob of wires underneath, but this makes it so simple and neat.

[P5se Camelback]

Hey, Guy! Very Nice!!

As an Industrial Designer who worked in the computer industry for a decade of so (NCR, Puritan-Bennet, Sperry-Univac, Unisys) and was always concerned with cable routing and serviceablity of components when I approached the design of a new product, I really appreciate the clean, orderly application! I'm almost jealous that the box in the photo won't be under my almost-ready-to-build layout.

BeYooteefull work!

biL

[Gary S]

Thanks for the kind comments. I'm hoping to move the control panel into the new building in a couple weeks. If I can get some foam down on the benchwork and get the old layout sections tied together, I'll actually have enough track to run some trains.

[boppa]

Love the din rail mounted terminal blocks- never thought of using din rails for a layout....
another advantage of those terminal blocks for those who havent used/seen them before is that say you need to terminate a lot of wires- like say 20 negatives all coming back to one point...

if you look at the coloured blocks in his photos, you will see an empty screw hole exactly in the center- thats for a busbar connection(made by the same people who make those connectors)
so what you do in that case is put say 10 `black' blocks side by side- fit the busbar and tighten up all the screws
bingo a colour coded 20 way negative terminal block

there is a surprising amount of industrial `stuff' like that that many people never see and it can turn out to be so easy to do

I must admit- that cab is a nice piece of work
I also learned in the days of wax string looming and right angled bends- these days some of those skills had to be unlearned as routing became more important then visual appeal :-(

[P5se Camelback]

...I also learned in the days of wax string looming and right angled bends- these days some of those skills had to be unlearned as routing became more important then visual appeal :-(

From the viewpoint of a product designer, access for maintenance and "readable," accessable routing is more important than the routing that is "more important than visual appeal," which to me is "engineer speak" for saving money on the amount of wire used! Wire is Cheap in the overaall scheme of things! Nothing annoys me at home more than a rats nest of wires lurking behind a stereo system, and my pet peeve in the design office was wiring that wandered from one place to another or got in the way because it was a "home run" to where it was going to save the cost of additional wire.

At some point, everything needs maintenance! Better to "design in" a convenient, organized way to identify wires and follow them from "A" to "B" when the damn thing is designed and subsequently manufactured! I used to tell my guys at Monday morning Design Staff Project Reviews, "Think of the poor tech in the field who has to pull the cover off this thing and maintain it. Let's pretend that's you, Steve ... what do you want to see when you open that cover and look inside?" :?:

In my book, if it was a Monday morning Design Staff Project Review, I'd just say, " Nice job, Gary. Keep it up!
O.K., Steve what's happening with the product you're working on?"

[Gary S]

Thank you very much, bil! With my strict observance of wire colors, the layout should be very easy to wire and to troubleshoot.

The control panel is still sitting in my living room. I did connect an extension cord to it so I can power it up, and I have a short piece of track tied to the DCC so I can fool around with my sound equipped locos. I have been working on the layout, so maybe I'll be running some trains in a few weeks. I also connected an uncoupler electromagnet, pushbutton, and relay rail to test that part of the control panel. It all worked!

[P5se Camelback]

As an ADD/OCD-er, the first time I saw all the color-coded wire runs and actual color-matched terminal blocks it was

I was in organization Heaven!

BTW, That is a 19" process control rack all that nice work is snuggled into, isn't it? How tall is it? Who was the supplier and did you get some kind of discount? [My broither reps for a process control enclosure mfgr. named Rittal ... nice cabinets, but not cheap. I worked for hime for a year when I was between Design jobs (they gave me a sateen Rittal Spring jacket with my name embroidered on it ) so maybe if I started now, by the time the need for a cabinet to do what you've done, (using the tutorial that you will have posted "The New Acadamy",) I'll be able to swing a deal. ]