LED Dimmer controlled train

[GAP]

My latest project a matched gravel train using a LED Dimmer controller with a picaxe diesel sound card.
This train owes its heritage to articles;
In "Garden Rail" by John Robinson in NZ.
In "Garden Whistle" a newsletter from a NZ garden rail organization.
An article on "trainelectronics" by Dave Bodnar.
and finally Picaxe from Gregh following the tutorials on the "Sandstone & Termite" website.

The loco is an old MDC "Big Hustler" kit connected to 4 gravel "tubs" .
All the electronics (the LED dimmer and picaxe sound card) and batteries are housed in the tubs.
The tubs were made by gluing 2x50mm PVC plumbing end caps together (the joints are covered by card making embellishments that disguise them as riveted joins) and mounting them onto a chassis made from pine timber.
The wheels are from an old toy train with the axles running through 4mm micro irrigation sprinkler risers attached to the chassis by electrical cable clips.

 

[tramcar trev]

Very nifti....

 

[ge_rik]

Ingenious!

Rik

 

[JRinTawa]

Well done indeed. Though I am blushing a bit Really great to see that something I wrote about has been useful enough to spur on someone else's creation. I like the idea of the dimmer control That's what is all about, sharing ideas, we all benefit that way.

 

[GAP]

Well done indeed. Though I am blushing a bit Really great to see that something I wrote about has been useful enough to spur on someone else's creation. I like the idea of the dimmer control That's what is all about, sharing ideas, we all benefit that way.

Thanks John,

I must admit I am a bit of a copier of ideas but sometimes my imagination kicks in and off I go.

As an aside I actually visited NZ on a cruise ship and with some time to kill we took a train ride out to Waikanea, on the way back we actually stopped at Tawa station and it was then that I realized that I could have contacted you for a possible meeting.

 

[JRinTawa]

Dang! And you would have been most welcome. It's actually quite a pleasant ride out to Waikanae, something we do occasional when H&M are on school holidays, oh well maybe next time

 

[gregh]

Great work. A useful little train.
Glad to see you won the fight with Picaxe. Would like to hear it someday (was in Nowra today)

 

[GAP]

Great work. A useful little train.
Glad to see you won the fight with Picaxe. Would like to hear it someday (was in Nowra today)

The sound was just trial and error with a bit of help, connecting the 2 picaxe's inputs to the same point caused a bit of angst, till I realized that I left the serial in floating.
Tied it to the deck(-ve) and all was fine.
The sound is quite good I used 2 old laptop speakers in parallel and mounted them in the body which gave a good echo.
The audio amp seems to handle the 4 ohm impedance OK.

My new project is a Bachmann 3 truck shay using a robot motor controller using a R/C setup.
Warning to Tramcar Trev I am thinking of putting the Tx into a case and change the pot to max rotation with centre off so PM may get a workout.