Thursday 12th November

Worklist:
DC feature power to the baseboards.

Laurence on another lunchtime jaunt, so just two this week.

To run DC power to the boards for lighting, motors, sound(?), we could either run a separate supply to one board and have jumpers across the two joins or add it to the loom. The latter was neater, but the central ('platform') board had no spare pins. We decided to add a separate 2-pin plug on this board.

We have a DC and an AC supply to the control panel. The AC supply for the speed controller was originally used for the point relays and servos as well, after running through a bridge rectifier. However, we discovered that the frog micro switches on the point actuators created a momentary short-circuit which interfered with the loco speed. We subsequently added a 19v DC supply (laptop) to power the electromagnetic uncoupler, and this supply could be used for the point power.

First job - move the feeds to the point actuators to the DC supply. At the same time, a pair was taken to two spare pins on the loom wiring strip, off the same supply.

Pre rewiring layout. Blue/brown AC feed.

Instead of running three new pairs from the control box, a single pair was taken down to the first junction in the loom and then three pairs joined with crimped connectors. The DC supplies (black/red) were run out of the board sockets to a 2-way connector. From here, supplies can be run to individual voltage regulators, for each 'feature'.

'Bridge' board

'Yard' board

 The 'Platform board pair ran to a floating, female socket, with a male plug mounted on the board, running to the 2-way connector. Not very pretty, but it prevents accidental short circuits of the 19vac 3amp supply. We'll keep our eyes open for a neater plug/socket.

'Platform' board

 The final layout. The bridge rectifier has been left in place, as it doesn't have to be removed.