Make sure that whatever you do use is 'solid', not transparent and then painted, as you may find that the light from the led is still able to slightly show through the paint, which will show at night.
A Small Railway gets signalling
- Thread starter jimmielx
- Start date
No progress on the hoods for the coloured light signals, but...
I've installed three Pendelbury semaphore signals. Pictured here in the fading light...
I've omitted the number board and access platform from mine for now as I wanted to make sure there was nothing in the way of the rod from the arm to the servo I've installed at the bottom of the post.
The servos are cheap (£2 - £3 each from eBay) and in no way weather proof. However I've given them a coat of Liquid Electrical Tape so the only path for water to enter should be through the hole which connects to the rotating lever. Given the low cost of the servos I'm going to see how this goes. I've left the whole signal very easy to remove as the servo just unplugs at the bottom of the post which pulls out of it's base. I'm probably more worried about physical damage to the signal (the lamppost in the foreground took a hammering over last winter) than to the electrics, but we'll see...
I've also added an LED into the lamp which required drilling it out somewhat (you can see below I've tried a couple of different methods and the one on the right needs a bit of filling in). The LED is powered from the 5v supply to the servo with a suitable resistor.
The servos are controlled by an ESU SwitchPilot Servo decoder which is installed in the station building. It takes it's power and data from the track and can control four servos just as you would control points, and allows very easy adjustment of the end positions of the servos and the speed of travel.
Like my coloured light signals they are automatically controlled by iTrain.
Having reviewed the photos it's clear that I do have a little bit of touching up to do here and there, but they are working a treat and I'm really please with them. Thanks Stockers!
I've installed three Pendelbury semaphore signals. Pictured here in the fading light...
I've omitted the number board and access platform from mine for now as I wanted to make sure there was nothing in the way of the rod from the arm to the servo I've installed at the bottom of the post.
The servos are cheap (£2 - £3 each from eBay) and in no way weather proof. However I've given them a coat of Liquid Electrical Tape so the only path for water to enter should be through the hole which connects to the rotating lever. Given the low cost of the servos I'm going to see how this goes. I've left the whole signal very easy to remove as the servo just unplugs at the bottom of the post which pulls out of it's base. I'm probably more worried about physical damage to the signal (the lamppost in the foreground took a hammering over last winter) than to the electrics, but we'll see...
I've also added an LED into the lamp which required drilling it out somewhat (you can see below I've tried a couple of different methods and the one on the right needs a bit of filling in). The LED is powered from the 5v supply to the servo with a suitable resistor.
The servos are controlled by an ESU SwitchPilot Servo decoder which is installed in the station building. It takes it's power and data from the track and can control four servos just as you would control points, and allows very easy adjustment of the end positions of the servos and the speed of travel.
Like my coloured light signals they are automatically controlled by iTrain.
Having reviewed the photos it's clear that I do have a little bit of touching up to do here and there, but they are working a treat and I'm really please with them. Thanks Stockers!
stockers said:
Thanks Alan, I'm really pleased with them. I'm not sure how strong the black market in these kits is, but somewhere out there is a missing pair of them, so should anyone get offered a couple down the pub...
Thanks Mel, having seen pictures of yours they went right to the top of my shopping list!yb281 said:Excellent - love em.
They are excellent! Just an idea with stopping water coming through the spigot hole; if the top of the servo comes off, pack a little grease underneath and around the shaft and then screw the top cover back on. Although not completely waterproof it'll certainly help to stop the water getting in.
