Tip: Work Car Sound Selection with TC G8.0xx Date: YouTube Link Added, Addition

Transcription

1 Hi All, Using TrainController for sound selection in the Goliath Crane Auxiliary Cars is very easy to use. Some of the work to control this function model was done some time ago and with the release of TC Gold 8.0B1 I wanted to improve a few things to make control even easier using new features that are only available with the latest gold version. The work car above (decoder and sounds) shows new switchable LED lights with F0. This document is a record how I went about the control upgrade. I fear it maybe a long article but I hope that for those interested advanced users it will provide ideas and stimulation to revisit things you have done with TrainController in the past and use the new features of the current version to further improve how you control your trains. My control switchboard above shows the switches and flagman required to control all the functions (done some time ago) with new F0 Work Car Lights Off/On option and a completly revised Power Up/Reset section. The Train Window for a Car is also new with meaningful icons. Icons have a sample 5 second sound bite, just click on the icon to play the sound. Old Decoder Design The Märklin decoder is a (701.22B) which has 5 switchable functions F0...F4. Nothing wrong with that except that selection of 11 different posible sound functions with the F4 function is difficult to use and remember what selection has been made. 1

2 Manual Control Selection First you have to switch F2 off, make sure no sound can be heard, then toggle the F4 function a few times hoping you have counted the number of function F4 key strokes required then switch F2 On to play the sound. An example is I want to play the sound 05 Compressor with Air Screwdriver, the work car is at the default selection of 01 Yellow Blinking light so I have to toggle the F4 function key 4 times then switch F2 On to play the sound, so far so good. Now if I want to play 06 Welding sound + light I have to switch F2 off, make sure no sound can be heard, then toggle the F4 function once and then switch F2 on once more. The problem is all sound selections are in a cyclic formation and if I now want to play 04 Jolt- Rammining Machine from the last sound 06 Welding sound + light I have to switch F2 off, make sure no sound can be heard, then toggle the F4 function nine times and then switch F2 on again. If I haven t lost you yet try a new selection in half an hours time and see if you can remember the sound selection order. There is a better way and that is the versatility of TrainController to remember things for you so you can enjoy watching your trains operate. No. Work Sounds / Visual Effect 1 Yellow blinking light on the Work Car (Default) 2 Controls Nos. 1,4,5,7,8,9,10 or 11, depending on situation. 3 Controls Nos. 4 through 11, depending on situation. 4 Jolt-Ramming Machine 5 Compressor with Air Screwdriver 6 Welding sound and flickering blue light 7 Grinding Wheel 8 Forging Hammer 9 Air Screwdriver 10 Grinding Metal 11 Metal Saw Control Method in the Past with TrainController I designed the switchboard to have toggle switches for the sound selection. All switches are interlocked so I can only select and play one sound at a time. Before playing another sound I must turn the same toggle switch off, this returns me to the default position. I can then make another sound selection and play it. When F2 is switched Off I have a time delay which copes with any sound still playing before I toggle the F4 function key for the next selection. Power Up/Reset (old method) When the Work Car has a power interrupt, by design the decoder returns to the default setting so the last sound selection in the switchboard is no longer valid. I used to have to look for which sound selection had been made then choose the matching number pushbutton in the Power Up/Reset section to get my switchboard in sync once again with the Work Car decoder. This old method of selecting the sound and being able to reset after a power interuption worked well upto software version TC G 7.0F8 but with the release of TC G 8.0xx with new program features I felt I could improve how I controlled the Work Car 2

3 Control Method Now with TrainController Gold 8.0xx The sound selection section hasn t changed at all. As metioned before all switches are interlocked so I can only select and play one sound at a time, this is my memory for the selected sound. The F0 function has been added to the Work Car. See Work Car Mods for details. The Power Up/Reset section has been totally redesigned using a new macro feature in TC G8.0B1 and above that allows me to manually or automatically reset the Work Car to the last selected sound on power up or reset after a power interuption. See page for details. New Train Window Control I like the idea of being able to control my engines and function cars via a Train Window so my challenge was to be able to control my Work Car without refering to the switchboard switches at all. The first issue was I wanted feedback from the messages window that would tell me which sound selection icon I used. I also need to know if I select the wrong sound selection icon when a sound was playing I would get a message telling me what sound played last using a new macro feature in TC G8.0B1 so I can make the correct selection to return the selection to the default position then I could make a new sound selection. The power up/reset icon (pwr rst) is good as I can exit TrainController without reseting my switchboard to the default position. On restarting TrainController I just select my power reset icon and it plays the last sound from the previous switchboard setting without me having to fiddle about to get things in sync. Well I have hinted that I m using a new macro feature in TC G8.0B1 that allows me more automatic control, it s Prerequisite Flagman Indicator which I m finding very useful. A Look Under the Hood at TrainController I hope to show how I designed all the control features for this function car and the improvements that I have made with TC G8.0B1. There are a total of 35 macros to control this Work function car. Ten were created prior to the latest release of TrainController and the other 25 are new. It may sound like alot of work but I can now control the functions of this difficult function car with great ease and the frustration levels have dissapeared. For the people who have this Goliath Auxilary Car set I will supply the *yrr file so you can try the control features out. For everyone else the *.yrr file will cover any steps I miss out in this article. YouTube Demonstration 12:40 3

4 Function Icons I have designed new function icons for the Train Window seen below. F0 Off and F1 Off and F2 Off and F3 Off and F0 On control the new function for the new work car lights. F1 On control the crew car lights. F2 On control the sound On/Off. F3 On control the equipment car lights. F4 Off and F4 On Toggle the sound selection (11 choices) only when F2 is switched Off and no sounds can be heard. and controls the Power Up/Reset selection. and toggles Off/On the multiple sound selection for No 1,4,5,7,8,9,10 or 11 depending on what part of the sound cycle that was last played. and toggles Off/On the multiple sound selection for No. 4 through 11 depending on what part of the sound cycle that was last played. and and and and and and and and toggles Off/On selection for the Jolt-Ramming Machine sound. toggles Off/On selection for the Compressor and Air Screwdriver sound. toggles Off/On selection for the Welding Sound and Flickering Blue Light. toggles Off/On selection for the Grinding Wheel sound. toggles Off/On selection for the Forge Hammer sound. toggles Off/On selection for the Air Screwdriver sound. toggles Off/On selection for the Metal Grinding sound. toggles Off/On selection for the Metal Saw sound. and can be used to switch power Off/On via a k84 relay to the track if the Auxiliary Cars are used in a static diorama. 4

5 Sound Selection Toggle Switches Interlocking The default 01 Yellow Blinking Light toggle switch is a special case so I have shown the following. Under the General Tab I gave the switch a sensible name. No Connection was required for any of the toggle switches. Under the Condition Tab with the Affected State pointing left (Off) all toggle switches are under an OR group and point right (On) Under the Condition Tab with the Affected State pointing right (On) all toggle switches are under an AND group and point left (Off) 5

6 The 02 Control 1,4,5,7,8,9,10 or 11 toggle switch is shown as the following. Under the Condition Tab with the Affected State pointing left (Off) all toggle switches are under an AND group and all point left (Off) except for which points right (On) Under the Condition Tab with the Affected State pointing right (On) all toggle switches are under an AND group and point left (Off) except for which points right (On) Note: - For the remaining switches this Affected State pointing right (On) applies 03 Control 4 through 11 Under the Condition Tab with the Affected State pointing left (Off) all toggle switches are under an AND group and all point left (Off) except for which points right (On) 6

7 04 Jolt-Ramming Machine 05 Compressor and Air Screwdriver 06 Welding Sound + Light 07 Grinding Wheel 08 Forging Hammer 09 Air Screwdriver 7

8 10 Grinding Metal 11 Metal Saw Toggle Switch Off/On Flagman GA 01 Off trigger GA 01 On trigger GA 02 Off trigger GA 02 Off operation GA 02 On trigger GA 02 On operation For each toggle switch operation you will notice the multiplier macros increase/decrease for the Off and On Operations. Please refer to table and example on page 2 for the cyclic formation position. 8

9 GA 03 Off trigger GA 03 Off operation GA 03 On trigger GA 03 On operation GA 04 Off trigger GA 04 Off operation GA 04 On trigger GA 04 On operation GA 05 Off trigger GA 05 Off operation 9

10 GA 05 On trigger GA 05 On operation GA 06 Off trigger GA 06 Off operation GA 06 On trigger GA 06 On operation GA 07 Off trigger GA 07 Off operation GA 07 On trigger GA 07 On operation 10

11 GA 08 Off trigger GA 08 Off operation GA 08 On trigger GA 08 On operation GA 09 Off trigger GA 09 Off operation GA 09 On trigger GA 09 On operation 11

12 GA 10 Off trigger GA 10 Off operation GA 10 On trigger GA 10 On operation GA 11 Off trigger GA 11 Off operation GA 11 On trigger GA 11 On operation See next page for the macros required for the above Flagman Operations. 12

13 Macros Below is a list of all 35 required Macros. Macros G/Aux Cars x01...x11 are used as the toggle command multiplier macros. All Macros GA... are new. I have shown the macros as viewed by the Inspector window because you can also see Used in Operations of to help with debugging. 13

14 Macros Continued Note: - With all the multiplier macros I started with a value of 100ms for the on duration of the pushbutton and 200ms for the interval before switching the pushbutton once more. I found this timing didn t work all the time so the sound selection would be incorrect when F2 was switched on. I finally settled for a value of 150ms for the on duration of the pushbutton and 200ms for the interval before switching the pushbutton once more. This configuration works well with my layout using the ECoS and seems to switch the old decoder (60902) in the Work Car. If you try the supplied rms_8b1_work_car_140613_ecos.yrr or rms_8g2_work_car_171217_ecos.yrrg to control your Work Car and you don t get reliable operation you will have to play around with the timing issues in these macros to suit your system. 14

15 Macros Continued 15

16 Macros Continued 16

17 Macros Continued The following Off/On macros pages are used as List macros for the Work Car. Please note the Condition(s) for their use. Note: - Selection the waiting time has increased to 15 seconds to ensure sounds have stopped before continuing to operate the Work Car. 17

18 Macros Continued 18

19 Macros Continued 19

20 Macros Continued I can t explain why the Inspector shows List??? under Used in Operations of but the Marcos all function well. Automatic Power On and Reset With the addition of a power on check relay monitored by the k121 indicator the Goliath Auxiliary Work Car can automatically reset to the last selected sound on power up or reset after a power interuption. Wiring diagram on page 21. Note the GA Power Up/Reset macro, page 22 is executed when the k121 indicator is switched on by the power check relay Manual Power On and Reset If you don t implement the automatic power on/reset option above the PWR RST icon in the TrainWindow is available. 20

21 Power On/OFF Relay This circuit was first published in my m83 article see page 10 +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. 21

22 Macros Continued The following macros pages are used as List macros for the Work Car. The new TC G8.0B1 macro feature Prerequisite Flagman Indicator is used. Please note the Condition(s) for their use. I added GA to all the messages to distinguish from other messages in the messages window. 22

23 Macros Continued I added GA to all the messages to distinguish from other messages in the messages window. 23

24 Work Car/Engine The Car was created with Train Train Set Car The Connection Tab Address is set to 13 L/F0, F1, F2 and F3 are normal decoder On/Off Switch functions. F4 is a normal decoder Push Button Switch function. For the List macros see pages

25 Work Car/Engine Continued 25

26 Work Car/Engine Continued 26

27 Work Car/Engine Continued Switchboard Push Buttons with Flagman Push Button Flagman Note both Operating State(s) are used. F0 isn t required if you haven t done the modifications See Work Car Mods for details. 27

28 Switchboard Push Buttons with Flagman Continued Push Button Flagman Note both Operating State(s) are used. 28

29 Switchboard Push Buttons with Flagman Continued Push Button Flagman Note both Operating State(s) are used. This pushbutton and flagman is required for all Macros that need to turn the sound Off/On 29

30 Switchboard Push Buttons with Flagman Continued Push Button Flagman Note both Operating State(s) are used. Please note that F0, F1 and F3 were only used in the switchboard for testing purposes and remain for completeness only. 30

31 Switchboard Push Buttons with Flagman Continued Push Button Flagman Note: - The Toggle Sound PB is turned off after 100ms with the small macro shown. Push Button Flagman Note New feature in TC G8.0B1 used in the GA Power Up/Reset macro see page

32 Block Dummy Goliath Aux Cars Continued Ensure you have assigned the Car (Goliath Aux Cars) to the dummy block for commands to work. Pull down List. Assign the Flagman Indicators from the pull down list (see red arrow) to the block. There are a total of six shown above. The stop marker is assigned to one of the flagman so Doctor Railroad has one less complaint. 32

33 The supplied file work_car_files.zip contains the following original files for TCG 8.0B1 rms_8b1_work_car_140613_ecos.yrr rms_8b1_work_car_140613_ecos.yrs rms_8b1_work_car_140613_ecos.yrw rms_goliath_aux_cars.yrl yra The supplied file work_car_8g2_files.zip contains the following new files for TCG 8.0G2 rms_8g2_work_car_171217_ecos.yrrg rms_goliath_aux_cars.yrl yra Warning: - All files have been created using software version TC G8.0B1 Testing your Märklin 49951Goliath Auxiliary Cars is done at your own risk. Installing Work Car Files To have a look at the Märklin work car operating, unzip work_car_files.zip and do the following. 1) Place the following files under the TrainController directory. rms_8b1_work_car_140613_ecos.yrr rms_8b1_work_car_140613_ecos.yrs rms_8b1_work_car_140613_ecos.yrw 2) Make a directory called function_items under the TrainAnimator directory and place the following file under the function_items directory yra 3) Place under the TrainController\Locomotive Data directory the following file. rms_goliath_aux_cars.yrl 4) Open the rms_8b1_work_car_140613_ecos.yrr with TC G8.0B1 and under Railroad Set Digital Systems and select your digital system. 5) Edit the (13) Goliath Aux Cars (C) car and alter the address to match the address for your Märklin Work Car. Testing Your Work Car 1. Ensure the track power is on and switch F2 on from the Train Window. You should see the yellow light flashing. This is the default position. 2. In the Train Window click on any icon and hear if the correct sound plays. 3. Now click the same icon and see if it returns to the default flashing light. 4. If you have success with points above try another icon and hear if the correct sound plays. 5. Now click another icon, nothing should happen, so refer to the messages window to find the last played sound. 6. Click the last played icon and see if it returns to the default flashing light. 7. Click a new icon and let the sound play. 8. Now click the freeze icon and wait a few seconds. 9. Click the power on icon and your Work Car should return to the default flashing light. 10. In the Train Window click on icon. The last played sound will be selected and played getting the Work Car in sync with your switchboard. 11. If incorrect sounds are selected and played there is a timing issue with your system and you should refer to my notes on page

34 Bonus Time If you have successfully tested and run the Märklin Goliath Auxiliary Cars Set as listed above and would like to enter the information into your_layout.yrr you will have completed most of the hard work required. I have outlined some procedures below. Warning: - Copying rms_8b1_work_car_140613_ecos.yrr or rms_8g2_work_car_171217_ecos.yrrg will take an experienced user a few hours to complete. Because this is an advanced topic the procedures below are an outline only of what you will have to do. TIP: - Copying data from one *.yrr file to another *.yrr file To do this process you must start another TrainController (you will have two TrainController s running) and resize both windows so they are side by side. rms_8b1_work_car_140613_ecos.yrr should be open in the left side TrainController and your_layout.yrr is open in the right TrainController. In the left TrainController window select the items required in a window then hit Ctrl + C to copy items. In the right TrainController LMC (left mouse click) the location you want to place the items and Hit Ctrl + V to paste items. Do another LMC away from any other item in the right TrainController to finally place the items in your_layout.yrr Copy Procedure Outline 1. Work on a copy of your your_layout.yrr 2. Create a new Switchboard in your_layout_copy.yrr named Function Items. 3. Delete your Engine/Car for the Work Car. 4. Import the Engine and Car named rms_goliath_aux_cars.yrl (supplied file) into your_layout_copy.yrr. This provides all icons required for the Work Car. If the function icons appear blank you need to import the Engine (E) and the Icons will appear. Once you have saved the *.yrr the Engine (E) can be deleted. 5. Copy all switchboard switches, Flagmen, and text. 6. Fix Flagman to required switches and check all properties. 7. Using New Explorer windows copy all macros. Caution this will strip a lot of the macros which you will have to edit and fix. Or create all macros from the information supplied in this article. 8. Check sound selection Flagman and associate the correct macros. 9. Check function section and power reset Flagman under the Operations Tab. 10. Using the Block Editor delete all Flagman and reinsert the required Flagman for Block Dummy Goliath Aux Cars. 11. Edit the Engine/Car (13) Goliath Aux Cars (C) and fix list operations (accessories and macro s). 12. Enjoy controlling your Märklin Work Car with ease. As always enjoy your model trains. 34