santa fe cajon-ish 1947 in a Kansas basement

[jagged ben]

Thank you Gary! I'll get a hold of him and see what these detectors can do. Does it look like there are as many relay outputs to match the 8 blocks the detectors can monitor?

Adam Draskovich

Yes, there's 8 I/O lines.  They do all use a common return.  You'll need to adapt the ribbon cable connector to however you want to connect your relays.  You could get a female ribbon connector and attach it to a self-built relay board, or just split the ribbon cable to an appropriate terminal strip.

The tricky part might be finding relays that only draw 15ma on the coils.   There seemed to be a lot of options on eBay designed to work with Arduino boards, quite cheap, but light on specs given.  Maybe look up Arduino output specs to see if they are similar to Watchman.

[GaryHinshaw]

Does it look like there are as many relay outputs to match the 8 blocks the detectors can monitor?

Yes - what jb said:  the connector serves 8 I/O lines (with 2 pins reserved for ground and +5 V DC) which can be configured in Driver mode to control relays.  From the manual:

"Driver – This option is used with simple outputs such as stall motor drivers, relays, or direct drive lamps."

You probably want the relays to be out on the line near the detection coils, so you'd need to run the control lines back out along the detection lines, and you might need auxiliary power for the relays.  As has been noted above, the down side to this design is, if you don't have 8 relays to control somewhere near the board, you can have a lot of wire to run.  It's worth spending a bit of time sketching out your relay locations to see if you can make natural groupings of 6-8 that are not too far apart.

As jb notes, the I/O connectors are designed for ribbon cable.  Dick also makes a series of fan-out boards (~$13 ea) that let you robustly split the signals out to separate beefier control lines.  As it turns out, the picture above shows such an installation with a Motorman board, which I'm using to control Tortoises.   In fact, you could potentially use the Motorman to power your relays (if the Watchman power is not enough).  What you can see in the photo is two ribbon cables running between the Motorman and a fan-out board, which then convert to separate 18 ga (green/yellow) switched power leads that run out to the Tortoises.  The Motorman has the ability to pass auxiliary power through from an external supply (the black lead that sneaks around the back of the board) through the ribbon cable and out via the switched leads. 

In operation, the Motorman normally takes input turnout commands from the DCC bus, but it also has an 8-line I/O port that could be configured to receive block status and to pass that through - with power - out to a relay.  Given all these options, you would be well advised to shoot Dick an email describing what you would like to do, including your power requirements, and he could suggest the best configuration for you.  Hopefully these notes orient you a bit so you can frame the questions clearly.

-gfh

[draskouasshat]

Thanks again everyone.

Slight update.
I've laid some more cork and should have most of not all of summits track laid this weekend including the return loop underneath summit.
Adam Draskovich [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[draskouasshat]

Well I'm headed out of town today so no more work until i get back on the 15th but i got a little work done in my time off. The fascia is temporary just to see how it looks. Ill have to have it a bit taller for the scenery.
Also, i got some roadbed and track laid but need to get some more switches to finish off summit and the peninsula.

Adam Draskovich [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Cajonpassfan]

The man's on a roll...
Otto K.

[draskouasshat]

It won't be quite the rendition you have otto, but it will have what i want to see when i run my trains! 

Adam Draskovich

[draskouasshat]

Small update. Progress continues on the upper level. Hopefully by the time i leave town for work,  ill have the roadbed complete for the entire upper level minute the return loop under summit. I'm liking everything thus far except the track spacing on the summit peninsula headed down to staging. Ill leave until i get some base scenery up to see how it looks.

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[pdx1955]

What do you plan for backdrops? You may want to get them up with the base sky colors on them before you go too much further with the benchwork and track.

[draskouasshat]

It will be made from large rolls of styrene sheet. There week be an access hatch in Sullivan's curve to get it up.
Adam Draskovich

[draskouasshat]

Lets see. The upper level benchwork is done minus some minor additions while i install initial scenery structure. Also the eastbound main roadbed is also complete from cajon to summit and down to the return loop under summit.

The thumbnails below are shown in order of my descriptions.
Cajon and helix will be below it
Sullivan's curve
Pine lodge

[draskouasshat]

Lower end of alray
Upper alray and tunnel entrance
Approach to summit
Alray looking west

[draskouasshat]

San bernardino on the lower level.
Lower level is 20" below the upper level.
Helix will come straight down from cajon and exit towards the A-yard  and station at the 5th st tower. San berdoo will exceed down the long walk from left to right. Ill represent the a yard and possibly the b yard. If i have enough room,  ill model areas further west or ill just make it staging. Not sure yet.
That's all I've got for now. Time to head out for another week of work on the real railroad! 

Adam Draskovich

[draskouasshat]

Did a little work on the layout. I worked on the hidden section of the westbound main. It will be hidden at the front of the layout from alray to just east of pine lodge. I didn't want to squeeze everything together so i opted to hide the track.
I also did a test fitting of the track plan at cajon/ Sullivan's curve. I think everything will fit and not look horrible coming out of the helix.
Adam Draskovich
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[Caveman]

Do you have plans to model any of the San Bernardino station? I would really like to see that!

My great-grandmother (raised me until I was eight years old) lived on Rialto Avenue. We would often walk to the station and just sit there watching the trains. There used to be a track that ran down the center of Rialto Avenue. I used to lay on the floor looking out the front door and try to count all the orange boxcars going by. I think they were fruit (probably oranges) going from the station to an ice house somewhere around I Street. I remember the ice house, but not its exact location. I was very young then. The yard at the station had a whistle that could be heard from all over that part of town. All the maintenance buildings were torn down many years ago. They kept the Santa Fe chimney—sort of a local landmark.

[draskouasshat]

Yes,  i plan on modeling the station and the yard/ roundhouse on the lower level.

Adam