Aristocraft train engineer hand held fail!

[PhilP]

So I'm confused again, you ordered an esc from Australia? What transmitter are you using? Did you give up trying to re-use the Aristo base station?

By the way, is the Revolution system really that expensive in the UK, it's pretty cheap here, and there is a 15 amp version.

Greg

I think the OP's Tx had failed??
The old Revo's are 27MHz, so getting a working Tx would be a problem, I guess?

Minimum will be 'pound for dollar', probably £20 for carriage, and then we get 20% tax on cost AND carriage, plus a fee for the Carrier to collect on behalf of the Government. - ~It can nearly double the cost on smallish shipments.
There are lass of these available over here.. Probably more of the onboard systems are sold.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Yeah, he said the transmitter failed, then talked about repairs, then using some other transmitter with the base station, then looks like he ordered an ESC but no remote control hardware.

So, just trying to understand his progress, has he given up on the Aristo hardware repairs/replacement?

I see a dealer in the UK that sells the transmitter and receiver with sound for 285 pounds total.

I see experiments with the ESC, but what is driving it?

Just curious...

Greg

 

[St A & M Rly]

Good morning Gang
Catch up time.
The original base station and radio is now in a box on the bench and not expected to survive the spring cleaning.
It is a pity as I know it works by giving a satisfactory output to my Railway.

I am planning to use a cheap and cheerful ESC from the boat / car world.
The output from the ESC is to be passed through a smoothing card.

The radio for this may be a new 2.4Ghz unit, only once proved the set-up will work.
For testing I will be using one of my existing radio combinations.
Testing is going on and the power waveform is being recorded.
Result are not yet analysed........there are 20 or more
screen shots to look at and figure out what is going on.

I may need to try to get something out the failed unit to compare the output. Comparing the signals will verify things, rather than looking at a waveform and saying good, bad, indifferent.
As several people are looking for results these must be justifiable.

The end game is a simple track power supply which gives a “smoothed “ output suitable for locos with electronics inside them. A hand held controller giving forward / reverse with speed control.

I hope this gives a update to the followers of this thread

If you look back at the circuit diagrams you will see my step approach to the testing. Verify things then add another piece of equipment

The load , for bench testing, is a switchable lamp load bank and or a motor.

All the best for the holidays and hope several new items were lowered down the chimney to give smiles to all.

Off line comments are welcome.

Amacf

 

[daveyb]

AL i will be bringing my train engineer with me tomorrow so if needed you can use that for tomorrows soiree,,,,

 

[St A & M Rly]

Hi Dave
Bring your baggnal too we can have a gaggle of 7/8 running as well

Mmmmmm oops not G scale but I should get away with it if I duck.....

2 baggers 1hunslet plus one more...

Amacf

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Interesting, well I see the PWM > Linear module from Aristo/Crest/Precision RC on the bench.

I would submit that most all ESCs will put out similar PWM signals, only the repetition frequency will vary, and that filtering circuit (standard 2 pole RC filter) will do ok.

This has been done many times before, as evidenced by the off the shelf filter you have.

I'm curious as to your concern, are you worried about interaction of the PWM (even after filtering) with a sound unit, or motor heating?

Greg

 

[St A & M Rly]

Hi Greg

My thoughts are the same “any ESC / PWM “ unit should give out the same type of output.

May be a higher frequency of switching in the PWM may need a different capacitor inductor network...

I think of systems as black boxes / building blocks. I have some already that are good sturdy do the work. That is the way t,he diagrams were drawn.

Power in is one building block
ESC is another
RC another block
Smoothing circuit another block

My idea is put these blocks together to have a simple direction and speed control to supply a analogue power to my track.

As indicated previously I have many locos that are track power and don’t want to have numerous battery systems to manage. Or install DCC chips to them...Hence simple speed direction control from a hand held.

Working forward to this end.
All data and info will be made available once proven to my satisfaction. Any help advice or suggestions on the forum or PM is welcome.


Alan

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Yes, the design of the filter is directly affected by the frequency of the signal.

But, are you just worried about the PWM and your motors? If you are not using sound cards (which can incorrectly "read" speed) the PWM will give you better motor/speed control than pure DC.

Again just curious about why the detailed effort. I'll be interested to see your results. Would you consider customizing the filter? If not, then my suggestion is to find the frequency range it's most effective at.

Then you should be able to get the PWM frequency of various ESCs from the manufacturer without having to purchase and measure.

Alternatively, if you knew the values of the filter you are using, I could give you a plot of the filter response.

Regards, Greg

 

[daveyb]

Hi Dave
Bring your baggnal too we can have a gaggle of 7/8 running as well

Mmmmmm oops not G scale but I should get away with it if I duck.....

2 baggers 1hunslet plus one more...

Amacf

will do,,,, weather looking favorable and looking forward to a bit o steam wafting around your place,,,,

 

[Sean.]

Alan do you have what you wanted , up and running now ?

 

[daveyb]

i think he got a revolution,,,, not up and running last week as we just ran steam,,,

but its close to happening i think

 

[Greg Elmassian]

He he... will be this thread's birthday soon...

 

[JimmyB]

i think he got a revolution,,,, not up and running last week as we just ran steam,,,

but its close to happening i think

Wow this seems to be taking some time!!

 

[Greg Elmassian]

I think the OP abandoned this thread in December as he said he was going to throw it away.

Greg

 

[daveyb]

revolution up and running,,,, thinking about going down the same path,,,

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Are you speaking for Alan?

So he went a revolution trackside?

If so, did he buy the one that has the "linear output" already and solve all his issues?

Greg

 

[daveyb]

yes i was there for a bash last weekend,, mostly live steam but he had some locos running on track power,,
i will ask him next time i see him greg,,,

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Thanks, it's always helpful to know the final outcome, for us and people reading this thread later.

Greg