Wednesday 30th June 2021

Worklist:
Continue wiring up the point motors.

Unfortunately, Laurence wasn't too well and was resting at home. We hope he has a speedy recovery.

Geoff had come across a servo/point controller board that he'd bought some time ago and never used. The Megapoints Servo Controller V1.10, was produced by its designer/developer prior to being adopted by MERG(?). It is a 12-way unit almost identical to the current MERG unit.

A position was chosen and the unit was screwed down (using spacers cut from an old biro pen body!).  Two of the servos could be attached directly to the unit while the third needed an extension lead.

The frog feed wires were then fitted through the microswitches on the servo mounts and we'd finished! Geoff likes 'plenty of slack' wiring - not the prettiest, but it's quicker and there's more scope for wire tracing and modifications. It probably reflects the group quite well!

Geoff then demonstrated how to manually program the three servos using the 4 buttons and the two LED's. On his 00 layout and using the MERG modules, he uses a remote programming unit that replicates the 4 buttons and 2 LED's and allows the boards to be laid down for better viewing of the point blades. However, when the circuit diagram of the unit we had fitted was checked, it appeared that the LED's are not replicated through the remote pins, which doesn't make sense. An RJ45 extension lead has been ordered to enable the use the remote programmer on the old-style board, which should then show if we have a workable system. In the meantime, Geoff will investigate how easy it would be to refit the surface-mounted LED's on extension wires!