Tip: - m83 Special Advanced Functions Controlled With TrainController Date: Link ,

Transcription

1 Hi All, I ve had the m83 decoders since Märklin introduced them and only used them for switching points, signals and uncoupling tracks. I experimented with the special advanced functions where it is possible to use the 8 outputs as individual lighting functions but I didn t implement the use of the special functions as the m83 doesn t have a memory function. This means that every time the central unit has a short circuit or the stop button is used any light functions that are switched by the m83(s) will be lost and the functions will have to be switched on again which isn t very convenient if you have to do this by manually switching the functions with the central unit. Several people have asked me if I used the special functions so I decided to set up an experiment to see if I could implement TrainController to overcome the lack of m83 memory and have some useful special functions that I could use on my layout. Below on the left I have an m83 switching the signal light with bulbs and the standard Märklin 728xx light masts with LED lights. Please read the Operations Manual to help understanding of this text. Please note you will find YouTube video links to illustrate the features of this text below. 1G 3R 4R 4G 1R 2R + 2G 3G m83 with 7 Special Functions Demonstration Video Time 0:35 Functions Selected m83 Port Function Set 1R Zoom (Soft turning on/off) 1G Dimmer 2R + 2G* Alternate Blinking 2R + 2G* Simultaneous Blinking 3R Fluorescent Tube 3G Random Flickering 4R Low Energy 4G Gyra * Special control with TrainController depends on time intervals for both ports (see page 7) See configuration of the outputs on page

2 Required Setup ECoS/Central Station and m83 Settings For the m83(s) I wanted to set them up as DCC protocol with the address switch 10 switched on. Since I have an ECoS I needed to setup the four accessories as light switches. For this experiment I chose address range which is the same address range I set on the m83 with the following switch settings on 1,3,4,5,10. Below you can see the four accessories where the protocol has been set to DCC. Each accessory has a unique name and address and the switching duration is set for 100ms. 2

3 Configuration of the Outputs for DCC address , m83 switch address 1, 3, 4, 5, 10 To be safe use the programming track to configure the following options. CV Meaning Value Range Value Set Comment Function 112 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the red output for Turnout 1 Zoom 113 POM Pulse Width = 100% 114 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 1R 115 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the green output for Turnout 1 Dimmer 116 POM Pulse Width = 100% 117 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 1G 118 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the red output for Turnout 2 Flash 119 POM Pulse Width = 100% Alt/Sim 120 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 2R + 2G 121 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the green output for Turnout 2 Flash 122 POM Pulse Width = 100% Alt/Sim 123 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 2R + 2G 124 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the red output for Turnout 3 F. Tubes 125 POM Pulse Width = 100% 126 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 3R 127 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the green output for Turnout 3 Random 128 POM Pulse Width = 100% 129 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 3G 130 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the red output for Turnout 4 Low Energy 131 POM Pulse Width = 100% 132 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 4R 133 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the green output for Turnout 4 Gyra 134 POM Pulse Width = 100% 135 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 4G Possible Switching Functions Value Function Name Comment Touch- Switch Everything off Dimmer Blinking light Blinking light 2 Parallel blinking light to blinking light Flash 1 Flashing light Flash 2 Double flashing light Random task/flickering light Random sequence of pause/pulse Zoom Soft turning on/off Mars Specific blinking light Gyra Specific blinking light Tubes Simulates fluorescent tube lights Low energy lamp Simulates energy-saving lamps Max. switching Period indicates the Max. Switching time Min. switching Period indicates the Min. Switching time 18* --- Min. Switching with end switch Switching time is period or until the end position is reached * Factory Setting 3

4 Controlling the Accessories from the ECoS With the m83 connected to the ECoS and the outputs configured on the m83 you can see the results on the m83 port LEDs. Remember the m83 was designed to control points where each of the four channels has a red and green component to switch the point curved or straight. Each channel port operates as a pair. When you decide to use the red or green ports of each channel as individual special functions then switching from the ECoS requires great attention to be able to switch on the correct red or green port. Cyclic switching for individual ports happens in the following sequence. All light switches are off as a starting point. a) 1 st switch 113 On turns on channel 1 red port. b) 2 nd switch 113 Off turns on channel 1 green port as well as leaving channel 1 red port on. c) 3 rd switch 113 On turns off channel 1 red port and leaves channel 1 green port on. d) 4 th switch 113 Off turns off channel 1 green port. Operating the lights from the ECoS is possible but not very practical as you will soon forget which part of the switching cycle the m83 is at for each channel. ECoS Demonstration Video Time 1:17 Wiring the m83 for Different Lighting Options For the use of light bulbs you can connect direct to the m83 as shown above for channel 1. For the use of LED lights you will require additional wiring to protect the LEDs and suppress the LED glowing in the OFF position. In the photo above you will notice I have a small Vero board circuit which can be seen below in more detail. Because I m using the standard Märklin 728xx light masts with LED lights I don t require a current limiting resistor for the lights as they are already built in but to suppress the LED(s) glowing in the OFF position I have used 2x 1k 1206 resistors soldered across the foils as shown. The brown and yellow wires are to the light mast for each port for each channel. R G 4

5 Wiring LEDs to the m83 On the 1 st of February 2014 I posted this diagram to the marklin-users.net with the link below. I have included it here for completeness. The 1k resistor across the LED is used to suppress the LED glowing in the OFF position. The value can vary from 470R up to 1k. Measure the voltage across the LED and vary the resistor value so the voltage is below the minimum switch on voltage for the LED. The other 1k resistor connected by the yellow wire is the current limiting resistor. 5

6 Controlling the m83 Special Functions with TrainController I created a switchboard named m83 Lights and set it as a Tabbed Document in TrainController. The top row pushbuttons are labelled with the digital address and below you can see I have a total of 7 special functions using all m83 output ports. Note I have repeated (3) for special operations which will be revelled later in the text. The bottom on-off switches are used to switch the pushbuttons above and also act as a visual indicator for what is on or off. Labels below the switches describe the special functions. Pushbutton Properties 6

7 On-Off Switch Properties On-Off switches ms114r and ms114g are a special case as the Conditions are set to allow only one switch to operate at a time. The operations of channel-2 red and green ports are used together for a combined lighting effect. Below is an extract of the Configuration of the Outputs table and Possible Switching Functions tables from page 3. Simultaneous or Alternate Flashing Video Time 0:55 CV Meaning Value Value Comment Function Range Set 118 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the red output for Turnout 2 Flash 119 POM Pulse Width = 100% Alt/Sim 120 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 2R + 2G 121 POM Switching Function Turnout Switches the green output for Turnout 2 Flash 122 POM Pulse Width = 100% Alt/Sim 123 POM Period Time interval between the pauses; 1=0,05 sec. 2R + 2G Value Function Name Comment Touch- Switch Blinking light Blinking light 2 Parallel blinking light to blinking light 1 You will notice CV120 and CV123 are set to a period value of 20 and the Function switch is set to 130 and 131 respectively. I observed that the delay between manually switching on the green and red ports varied the blinking combination. With the period set to a value of 20 the total time interval is 1 second. (20x0.05=1) The highlighted Delays above allow me to have Simultaneous Blinking with the Delay set at 500ms or Alternate Blinking with a Delay set at 1 second. Two functions for the price of one. 7

8 On-Off Switch Properties Continued It should be noted that all On-Off Switches make use of the Off and On Operating States 8

9 TrainController to Overcome the Lack of m83 Memory With all the functions operating well it is time to tackle the lack of m83 memory issue. If you are trying to use the m83 special functions, switch a few functions on then hit the Stop key on the central station, pause a few seconds then hit the Go key and you will observe that none of the special functions will switch back on. Solution to Monitor all Special m83 Functions I inserted a Contact Indicator to monitor that the power to the layout was On or Off. This indicator operates via a relay that switches the indicator On when the track power is on. With the Power On Check indicator Off the memory for the m83(s) is indicated by the On-Off switches. When the Power On Check indicator is switched on after a power interruption it will execute a macro called Power On Check that checks all the On-Off switches and all special functions that had been switched prior to the power interruption will turn back on without any user interaction. This will also work when powering on the layout for the first time provided the TrainController file is saved in the frozen state using the Freeze button. To resume operation of the layout hit the Power On button. TrainController Memory for the m83 Video Time 1:24 9

10 Power On/OFF Relay +Plus s88 Switched Function ~ ~ 1N Vdc uF 50V -Neg N4007 The above circuit is shown in the de-energised position. The Red and Brown wires for the track power are connected to the ~ connections of the bridge rectifier. The 1N4007 diodes reduce the voltage to the non latching relay close to 12Vdc and the 100uF capacitor smoothes the voltage to the relay so it won t chatter or buzz. The common side of the relay change over contact (8) is wired to the track brown connection. The N.O. contact (6) is wired to an s88 input for monitoring with TrainController. When the track power is on the relay coil is energised and the N.O. change over contact is closed switching the s88 input on. When you have a short circuit on your layout or hit the stop/halt button on the central station the relay will turn off. It is important to only have 12Vdc supplied to the relay coil as in most cases the relay will be switched on for a long time when you are operating your layout. Too much over voltage will damage the relay in the long term. If you measure the voltage at the relay coil and it is too high, add another 1N4007 diode to each string of diodes to further reduce the voltage. The relay is mounted on a socket in case it needs to be replaced. The coloured arrows show the location of the external connections and the dashed lines show the two links required. The red circles indicate where the copper foils have been cut with a 3mm drill. 10

11 Macro Power On Check How the Macro Works Check the red port at Label c3rg The Prerequisite On-Off Switch ms115r is checked and if it is true (on) Goto label 3rr Else, Goto label c3g Label 3rr turns on/off m155r Then Goto Label c3g to check the green port Label c3g The Prerequisite On-Off Switch ms115g is checked and if it is true (on) Goto label 3gg Else, Goto label c4rg Label 3gg turns on/off m155g Then Goto Label c4rg to check the next channel ports At the end I issue a few messages to the Messages Window to indicate which m83 modules that have been checked. See another similar project. Vollmer Signal Box with functional fibre optic control desk lights. As always enjoy your model trains. 11