3 Channel elcheapo radio control

[tramcar trev]

Having said all of that, independent control of two or more trams is the only way to get the streetcar atmosphere.

Oh absolutely.....
And I like the idea of stripping out the Pots from the Tx and having them in a line mounted in a single place. I would need the ones that don't act as dead man's handles though because you could set 4 running, let my you beaut auto signals control them and just twiddle the throttles on 2 of them (or all of them after I have been instructed by Ross). This would mean a bulk purchase of say 3 x 4 channel Tx (6 channel Tx usually have 2 non proportional channels) with a Rx and ESC for each tram to allow for expansion of the system. Would be far better than wandering around with a pocket full of key fobs....

 

[tramcar trev]

Ross; so you are expecting me to believe that you are 79? Yeah...If I am as articulate and astute as you are at 79 then I will be overjoyed.... Strewth man I cant even remember what I was doing 20 mins ago.... I have to write myself notes to remind me of where I'm up to and then I forget to read them.....
Mind you driving toy trams is not like aerobics with an aircraft, I would only have the speed to worry about and that's going to be OK if they are close to each other but if one is out of sight... well anything could happen.... I wish I was 20 again, when I was 20 I flew a helicopter for 5 mins before the real pilot assumed control again....

 

[Neil Robinson]

Well I've got round to doing a bit more research on and work with mine.

I notice ebay also lists mini versions, but these claim a range of only about 8m rather than the 100m max. of mine.

Some larger versions only have four keys, they don't have the facility to adjust the brightness so aren't suitable for motor speed control. Initially was confused as the speed buttons don't change the motor speed, they alter the flashing rate of some of the light sequences, it's the brightness buttons that change the speed.

Mine has 21 different modes, with only the first seven of use. If I were to get another I might try to get a version that can move up or down the range of modes rather than cycle sequentially through them.
I'm going to use the red channel to power the motor and the blue to power a reversing relay. This way mode 1 (red) will give forward motor power, mode 2 (blue) no motor power, mode 3 (red+blue) reverse motor power, mode 4 (green) no motor power, mode 5 (red+green) forward motor power, mode 6 (green+blue) no motor power and mode 7 (red+green+blue) reverse motor power. In short forward, stop, reverse, stop, forward, stop, reverse. After that I'll need to go through modes 8 to 21 to get back to mode 1. A bit of a pain but not too bad as it's mainly speed control that's required with only infrequent reversing. I'm thinking of fitting a green led to the red channel to indicate motor power, a yellow to the blue channel for reverse and a white to the green channel. That way I'll have some idea of what to expect. Green go, no green no go, green with yellow (with or without white) reverse and all three together will indicate reverse and the end of the usable sequence.

Reading though this and allied topics I decided to add smoothing capacitors and a current limit set at around 3.75 A on the input.
I'll also fit a protection diode and a 0.01uF capacitor on the motor output channel. In addition I'll put a bank of diodes to drop the output voltage in order to give the reversing relay coil chance to pull in before the loco starts to move. The relay channel will have a 6V voltage regulator to suit the 6V relay coil.
This unit is intended to replace a blown Train Engineer on light duties with simple (i.e no fancy electronics fitted) locos using the serviceable smoothing capacitors and protection diode from it.

Here's a diagram the proposed system. I'd appreciate feedback, especially of any errors or unforeseen potential problems.

 

[tramcar trev]

You want feedback?? I'll give you feed back; BRAVO!!!!!, well done that man.... looking at your circuit I think it should work, I would not have a clue re the component values though....
My observations from playing with this one re the single channel version is that the 3 channel one seems to respond far more quickly and has greater range but is more expensive...
Ok from My pics you can see how I wimped out. I'm only capable of very basic stuff so what I did was
A) rearrange the buttons with delft use of a scalpel so the B+ &- buttons now are the S+ & - buttons.
B) I set it onto the program that I want i.e. the first channel with speed control was up then to prevent having to cycle through all the other permutations if the mode button was pushed I disabled the mode button.
C) covered up the hole where the buttons were with a lable....
The installation is the underside of a Bachmann toastrack car set up for track power, the 10000uF caps are for antiflicker and also to drive the tram forward when it his a section of dead track controlled by the signals. I have since the pics were taken finished off the wiring, the 120ohm 1 watt resistor supplies the led lighting direct from the constant overhead supply and the DPST switch provides manual reverse.... The caps will get a coat of matte black as will other bits of exposed wiring...

It works nicely and I utilised the bits I had so in that sense I'm happy with it....

 

[Neil Robinson]

My prototype has just been installed on Mbiff's Sodum line.
I nicked Trev's idea of rearranging the S buttons and covering the holes where they had been but retained a functioning Mode button for reversing.
I found two diodes sufficient to provide a voltage drop.
I ended up with a red led for reverse rather than a yellow and used an LM2596 module to supply the relay coil.
For this sort of price (for ten)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10PCS-LM2..._Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item53fcb1eba2 < Link To http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm...mp;hash=item53fcb1eba2
it would be silly not to.

Revised diagram.

 

[tramcar trev]

I just knew you would get this sorted Neil.... Bluddy brilliant mate.... Are you going to market kits on eBay?
Now I don't want an electronic reverse but I would love to be able to use one of the other channels to turn on/off my smoke unit. Is that a big task? Or rather is that a possibility being able to use one channel to control something e.g. smoke, lights etc? I could not get it to work as is so the dimmer needs some sort of electronic addendum....

 

[Neil Robinson]

Now I don't want an electronic reverse but I would love to be able to use one of the other channels to turn on/off my smoke unit. Is that a big task?

I don't see any reason why you couldn't swap the relay coil in my last diagram for low voltage lights and/or a smoke unit and set the max voltage on the LM2596 module accordingly. The module could probably deliver up to around 1A total. Bear in mind it will be affected by the dimmer at the same time as the motor, so lights or smoke needing more than around 6V may not work well until the tram is running at a fair speed.
With this idea mode 1 would give motor power only, mode 2 smoke/lights only, mode 3 motor with smoke/lights, mode 4 all off, mode 5 as mode 1, mode 6 as mode 2 and mode 7 as mode 3. You'd then need to isolate the tram and go through modes 8 to 21 to reset to mode 1.
You could fit a second LM2596 module to the green output and wire the smoke and lights independently, one to the green output with the other on blue. You could then have all possible combinations of motor, smoke and lights with mode 7 giving all three together.
Hope this helps.