On holidays but not much play time happening!

Murphy is doing his best to prevent me from doing anything model train related this week. After surviving last weekend's family pre Christmas catchup, Tuesday arrived and brought with it Christmas. The kids scored well and I picked up an entry level Android 7" tablet. My intent is to mainly see if I can interface it with the Raspberry Pi. I survived Christmas at the In-Laws.

On the subject of the RPi, nothing happened this week except for researching persistent device naming in the Linux world. Hopefully I might do something about it in the upcoming week.

Thursday a snap working bee was called at the Club to cut down MDF sheeting into storage trays. I brought my trusty Triton saw bench along but forgot the cutting fence which without would be a serious safety issue. Fortunately two other member brought their Tritons along, so the cutting was going well. I decided to hoon around on the ride-on mower and knock down the Christmas grass growth about the Club yards.

Saturday arrived and with it the much anticipated running arvo over at Mr Mackie's. A crowd of 10 operators plus Craig was there. General pandemonium prevailed but it was fun nonetheless!

Today I thought I might have got out to the shed to run a train or two after I had helped my Dad with some wood routing he wanted done. However the first thing the missus said to me this morning was "While your Dad is down, maybe he could help you line the staircase cupboard to protect the asbestos sheeting [old Hardiflex]?". This translated as an item low down on the Things To Do List had been elevated up to No 1 job to do today! I could see where she was coming from (the boys safety etc as they tend to throw certain heavy things into the cupboard and one day it might go through the sheeting. So the trains became another memory! Monday will hopefully see me finish this job off and scratch it from The List!

Tuesday this week is New Years Day, and with it a trip to the Railway Workshops Museum in Ipswich.

Wednesday I have tentatively said I might head down to the Club but that is three days away and Lord knows what will happen to my plans by then!

So on reflection 2012 was not a bad year from a modelling perspective. New knowledge acquired about electronics (MERG, PIC programming, RPi, etc). Some modelling completed on the layout. A couple of running sessions at Mr Mackie's. And a Club modelling trophy!

I wonder what 2013 will bring? Maybe the much anticipated Auscision NSWGR Class 73 diesel "Dubbo" to add to the Narromine roster. Possibly finally integrating the Rpi with JMRI, MERG and the wifi? A bit more progress on Illavearf as I have been neglecting it with all the electronics stuff of 2012! And maybe, just maybe, running a train or two on Illavearf in between The List items! ;-)

Happy New Year to all my Followers and Friends.

Santy comes tonight. Ho,ho,ho!

The week's evening work concentrated on the Raspberry Pi. I was trying to get the wifi to go int access point mode, without much success. Researching the problem is lending itself to a possible driver issue. The reason for trying to get it into this mode is to have it generate the static IP address/es required for smartphone / tablet connectivity via Engine Driver or something similar. This hasn't been resolved as yet but I am sure it will sometime soon (hopefully). The other thing was to get JMRI connected to the NCE and MERG system USB interfaces. I had success with JMRI capturing the MERG signals. As for the NCE system I will have to try this separately as with the MERG connected JMRI could see two USB devices but I had no idea which USB was what. I made some progress with researching persistent device names which will identify them either as MERG and NCE interfaces. Hopefully this will be resolved soon.

On another front I have been waiting for a MERG CANACC8 kit to come into stock. This kit can be converted into a servo output controller (CANSERVO8) as I was wanting to try my hand at automating the ratio semaphore with a servo. So through the week one did so I purchased it. While I was in the MERG shop I thought I would suss out their servo mounting brackit kit, so one of these were purchased. Next over to eBay to purchase some SG90 servos. You can really get a bargain with these from the Chinese based stores. I picked up a 10 pack which included postage which with dollar conversion came up to about $2 per servo! Bargain. Then I stumbled on a couple of OO gauge yard LED lamps from a UK site. I have been looking around for something like these since last year when the brass models I was interested in where not available outside of the UK. I got two packs. Then while I was in eBay I happened onto another Chinese site selling 20 LED street lampposts which I was wanting to replace the bulb variety I had purchased a couple of years ago. Then while I was at it I thought that I could possibly make a working semaphore lamp from SMD LEDs. So across to LEDBaron (a German company) and bought a 10 pack of pre-wired SMD LEDs to have a go at. So a bit of a buying splurge to get ready for 2013's projects.

So the big jolly fellow in the red suit passes overhead tonight, magically dropping off his gifts. Merry Christmas to all my followers and thanks for taking the time to read my musings.

Pi Wi Fi Yah!

The week started with me pottering around with the PIC programmer and the breadboard working out how to make things happen. I got the LED flashing and being able to recognise a off and on signal. May not sound like much but it is a start to know more about the potential use of PICs on the layout.

The new wifi dongle from the UK arrived during the week. Friday night arrived and I decided lets see if the Pi recognises it. Popped it in, turned it on, waited for the boot up and nothing happened. Aaarrrgghhhh!!!! Then I thought that perhaps all my ginning around previously had buggered up the backend configs etc. So I took the momentous decision to start from the beginning again and reimage the SD card. After a bit of ginning around to get the screen output displaying correctly (overscan settings to adjust the left and right pixels) I was able to read the screen. I fired up the windows gui and it had an application I hadn't seen before to do with the wifi config. Well this was a start in the right direction! Fired this up and with a few clicks and text entries entered, BINGO! the dongle was up and running, scanning and seeing my wifi router. The little bugger even auto-connected and I had an Internet connection. THANK GOD! Hooray, and all that nonsense!

Saturday had other things to do, and the night was a right off due to a street Xmas party. I behaved myself and only had three heavies before heading home to look after a sick son, but you have to have a couple more while getting dinner ready don't you;-) ? So after the fifth heavy I was a bit weary.

Sunday morning was more promising in that I was able to get sick son lying beside me in a chair watching Thomas the Tank Engine while I tinkered around with the Pi. I installed JMRI before switching off for the day. In the evening I was able to configure JMRI and was able to fire up Engine Driver with a connection to my smartphone.

So this week, investigate how to convert the Pi into an access point rather than have to rely on the wifi router to make the connection. The reason for this is eventually I don't want to have to connect the Pi to the Internet but just use it as a wireless LAN to just connect wirelessly to smartphones and tablets. For updating of the software etc, I would disconnect the Pi from the layout (as it is in the shed) and take it back to my computer in the house and hard connect via ethernet cable to my PC to get an Internet connection. The other option could be to have a second dongle. One would be configured as the Internet connection and the other the wifi LAN access point. I might be getting ahead of myself but it is a plan m'Lord! First things first though is to next connect the Pi/JMRI to the NCE and MERG systems and test connectivity.

Not sure if I will get back to the PIC programmer this week, but with Xmas-New Year approaching I will have some spare time (amongst the Things to Do list that has been waiting for me all year!) to tinker with the programmer.

And now the photos from the weekend

As promised in the previous post here are some photos of Lachlan and myself with our trophies.

I have no idea why this won't insert in the correct orientation (portrait)!
Sorry!

Winners' Weekend!

Saturday afternoon was the final Club Monthly Meeting for the year which means the Club Modelling Competition. This year we also added a Photo Competition. As I had been organising the competition this year, I was pretty busy for the hour before the Club Meeting and the hour after the meeting. It was great to see so many entries in the expanded categories that were developed this year. Some might fine models were displayed. Unfortunately as I was running around sorting things out I didn't get any photos! I will see what my mate PK took and get some snaps uploaded.

I was very surprised to pick up the Structure Minor category. There was only two of us in the category and I thought the other model might have pipped me at the post but the judges thought otherwise, so The Terraces are trophy quality! Bugger me! Also my son Lachlan picked up the inaugral President's Award for a mentored model. He was over the moon and hopefully encourage him to develop his modelling skills for the following year. Once again once I have some pics of the trophies I'll up load them. Lachlan was also lucky in getting one of the winning tickets in the annual Xmas raffles. So we (I mean me!) came home with a bottle of chardy (already in the fridge), a 149 drill bit kit which will come in handy, a small Thomas throw rug which the youngest Matthew has already taken, and various lollies, bottled fruit and such. Upon getting home the missus checked the use by dates on the food, and all but the passionfruit pulp (Lord knows what this will be used for? Something for the mother in law) was out of date. I must mention to the membership next year no regifting or check the use byt dates. The jar of fruit salad was 18 months out of date!

The PIC programmer arrived through the week and I have only had a chance to put together the programming shield and put the software on the PC. Hopefully this week some success on using this.

Yet to receive the wifi dongle from the UK, so nothing further on the Pi.

So pretty happy with the weekend outcomes.

Pi Wi Fi - no way!

As the terraces were done, I focussed on the problem with the wifi and the Raspberry Pi. Online research followed by application of said fixes was not working after three nights. I decided that the problem must still be with the manufacturer's latest firmware not operating correctly on the Pi's linux. This is a wild arse assumption but I had to blame something! So my answer was to order a wifi dongle from the UK which is supposed to work out of the box according the the Pi online community. As it was it was half the price including postage than the one I have. I will use the D-link that didn't work on the Pi with the PC instead.

I have decided also not to progress with the JMRI and Pi integration until the wifi connectivity is sorted out as I need a wireless LAN operating for connectivity to the Engine Driver app on the smartphone, as well as experimenting with remote terminal connectivity via WLAN.

I also received in the post a Ratio GWR home semaphore kit to try. I started it on Saturday and got to the point of it being operational. This has now perked my interest in possible investigating MERG's servo control to operate the semaphore. Something else to research!

Still waiting on the PIC programmer so may not get to banging up some PIC smarts to operate the terrace LEDs so might have to resort to just connecting them up in parallel to a 9V battery for the club modelling competition this weekend.

Apart from progressing with the semaphore kit, not exactly sure what I will get around to do as I am waiting on things to come in the mail. One of those things I have to sort out is the electronic components drawer as it is a bit all over the place!

Terraces are done!

Well they are finally done! After a night or two of completing the final details (chimney pots and steps), I masked up the windows ready for the weekend matt finish sealer spraying. I did the first coat on Friday night, then followed this up Saturday afternoon with a second coat.

Front

Back

Look closely and the interior details are noticable (just)

Other things this week was I purchased some accessories for the PIC programmer that should hopefully arrive this week or next. These included a development breadboard, connecting jumper wires, and some experiment components based on the list in the PIC programming in BASIC book recently read.

So this week I can concentrate on getting back to the Raspberry Pi and JMRI integration, but first that damn wi-fi !

Into the home straight for the terraces

This week I have been slogging away at getting the terraces done. Last night I had just begun when we lost power due to a storm. Today's weather was just as weird with a storm in the morning, afternoon and night. I took the opportunity during the afternoon storm of putting the foundation onto the terraces. So this week I just have to put the door steps on, glue the chimney pots in, and prepare the windows with masking tape ready for the weekend when I'll spray the lot with matt spray / Dullcote. Then I'll be done!

Nothing done with the Raspberry Pi apart from reading and researching what's been happening in the Pi community of late. Some people have been making good progress with integrating JMRI with various DCC systems, but nothing for NCE yet! I might be the first!

As for the PIC, I'm still researching what's on offer for the programmer and software.

Yesterday the missus gave me a pass out for a short time to get away from the kids as they were driving me mad due to being cooped up inside due to the bad weather. I couldn't get to the shed due to lightning being around. So I took the opportunity while doing some shopping of dropping by the club. I had put a tray of rollingstock in, along with my Cab "just in case!". So I was at the club for a little over an hour in the afternoon and was able to run a BR OO scale train on the club layout.

So this week complete the terraces as mentioned above and maybe, just maybe revisit the Pi and JMRI. I also still have to sort out the wifi problem.

Terraces getting closer to finish - chimneys on

This week I was able to complete the chimneys on the terraces. I have to add the optional chimney pots which are just styrene tubing painted clay colour with a bit of 'black soot' around the top. Then once these are done, just the wall edging and the foundations to go. A coat of dullcoat will finish the lot ready for the club modelling competition in early December.

Other things this week I have been researching are Ratio semaphores and Will building kits for some options I am considering around the layout. Firstly I am interested in mechanising the semaphore signal via MERG module controlled servo control.

As for the building kit/s I had been thinking of adding shops to either end of the terraces with another Scalescenes kit however as the terraces have taken long enough I was thinking of trying something like a plastic standalone set of shops that could be postioned in a different area of the layout.

I have also been reading up on PICs (Peripheral Interface Controller or a type of programmable integrated circuit) as a means of assisting with the localised automating of some features via integration with the MERG modules I have been testing out. They seam to be a very powerful yet cheap way of potentially doing some of the handoff control of lighting, sound, sensors, etc. More research in how PICs work is required, but I have just read a small book on programming PICs in BASIC and this is all that would be required to start with for model railway use. MERG uses C language to program their PICs but this is a simple step up from the use of BASIC but I think I have to take small steps first before moving up to that level. But it has got my interest that is for sure.

By end of week, some second hand rollingstock

This week the family went away to Noosaville for five nights. I did take along some NSWGR kits (Silvermaz from memory) just in case the weather became foul, but this didn't happen. Most days were either overcast or fine and this didn't stop the boys from wanting to go to the pool at least twice a day, so no free time for modelling while away! Back to reality (read home) on Friday. Saturday I mentored Lachlan with his diorama by explaining tree placement. He has done really well on his little diorama and it is probably finished for entry into the Club Xmas modelling competition.

Saturday night I spent an hour on the Raspberry Pi wanting to progress the JMRI functionality but the upgrades/updates that I started took up the whole hour (and a bit more!) so didn't get anywhere near JMRI.

Sunday was the Club's Open Day and Buy and Sell. I went down early to help setup but the sellers had arrived early and all was done. We had a good turn out of sellers, buyers and visitors. I purchased a couple of second hand HO log wagons for Lachlan ($10), and did a deal on three second hand OO open wagons and a flatbed ($10) for Matthew to use behind his Toby engine as he has been borrowing Lachlan's Annie and Clarabel. Both were over the moon and were tested on Lachlan's layout not long after I got home. I myself purchased a Ratio GWR OO scale box van kit for $10 to build when I get a chance!

So this week I am hoping to progress the terraces build. If time and forum answers allow, progress with the Raspberry Pi, JMRI and wifi!

OO scale rollingstock relocated

As the title suggests, nothing done this week. Very busy at work and stuffed by the end of the day so no modelling, MERG or Raspberry Pi stuff done of an evening. The only thing I did get done was late Saturday arvo I moved my OO scale rollingstock into the recently put together and painted OO storage trays cut down by the Club from MDF about a year ago. I only recently put them together and painted them. Unfortunately these trays don't fit into my current storage box due to a higher tray height, but the intention is to only use one or two at a time if transporting somewhere and lash them up via velcro straps or something similar. I now have some freed up space in the storage box and empty HO scale trays to store some of the NSWGR rollingstock currently stored in the cupboard. I can't see much modelling again this week but you never know whay surprises might be in store.

Terraces' "shingle rooves" done

This week I was able to complete the "shingle rooves" of the terraces. The "shingles" being the individual paper strips overlayed on the previous row. Very tedious but good looking. I didn't get around to actually gluing the rooves into place but a job for this week along with the ridge capping.

Yesterday afternoon I was staring at the layout out in the shed (I had the tilt-a-door up) from the kitchen window and something that has been bothering me about how to muck around with the NCE system's connection to the Raspberry Pi dawned on me. There right in front of me was the answer. The separate programming track. A length of track on an MDF strip. I could move this into the study. I'm pretty sure it isn't needed but just in case the SB3a command station needs some sort of feedback, I can connect it to the programming track, remove the NCE USB module from the layout and bring it inside as well and connect it to the SB3a via the flat bus cable. I can then connect it to the Pi and start working out the UDEV rules so that JMRI can recognise the USB port. So maybe something different to do one night this week.

The wifi dongle issue on the Pi is still slowly being worked out by the online community.

This afternoon I spent a bit of time mentoring Lachlan about how to ballast his diorama. Starting to look good.

So this week a couple of things on offer, the terraces and the Pi.

Terraces creeping to conclusion

A quick update of the week that has been. The terraces progressed with the installation of the loft floors which also incorporated the external guttering (for some reason!). Next to do are the rooves. This will be tedious as there are a lot of overlapping 'tiling' strips to be glued down, but it does look good in the end.

On the wifi dongle issue with the Raspberry Pi there were some solutions bantered about on line but nothing you would say is a definitive answer. I'll wait and see what happens this week. Once this is sorted out I get back to working out to do the UDEV rules so that JMRI can connect to the layout.

On the MERG CBUS front, I have been reading about RocRail (European software and hardware developer) and their associated CAN based modules that can be used with MERG CBUS. They offer some additional functionality to those from MERG.

So this week more on the terraces I reckon as I do want to finish it ASAP to get it behind me and ready for the modelling competition at the Club. Today I showed Lachlan how to do static grassing, and he went ahead to grass his diorama. Not bad for a first attempt.

Diorama's started

I forgot to mention last week that I started helping Lachlan and Matthew with a couple of dioramas. The main aim being for Lachlan to submit his into the Club Modelling Competition. Matthew's is purely just to be doing the same as his big brother ;-)

So I will be mentoring Lachlan and he will do most of the work. I have just done the timber cutting and nailing of the track for him. This way we can enter either of the diorame or President's Choice categories. We continued with these on the weekend just gone.

No work progressed on the terraces unfortunately.

As for the MERG output module issue with the LEDs and the pushbuttons, I think I might need to use latching relays to keep the current to the LEDs if the intention is to use them as route indicators. Further investigation needed.

The Raspberry Pi wifi dongle issue looks like a known issue and the community seems to be on the case to sort it out.

Hopefully this week back to the terraces.

Blog List updated

Something I've been meaning to do has been to update My Blog List.

Added to the list today:

• NSW Rail Rambler (NSW)
• Jon's Shed (Oz)
• Brian Ford Trains (UK)
• Bron Hebog (UK)
• Shelley Railways (Oz)

Removed due to inactivity or closed down:

• Abbey Creek (Oz)
• Nathan's Point (Oz)
• Rhyd Ddu (UK)

MERG modules done!

Since the last post on Wednesday, I have concentrated on getting a least the Experimenter's Kit modules done and if time permitted start the solenoid driver module. Well I was able to get all of them done once I started. The CANACC4 solenoid module was certainly the most time intensive module I have built to date due to the number of components on the board, but well worth it in the end. Tonight I connected it up to the CBUS test bed and the laptop runninf FlimConfig and it was a breeze to program. I had an old test point with a Peco driver underneath so with a small bit of bodgying I was able to connect the point motor connected into the module. I then configured the two pushbuttons on the CANACE8C to activate the point motor. Perfect. I then thought why not see how a couple of LEDs in the CANACC8 would go to mimic indicators on a panel. Slight problem was that the LEDs only flashed with the pushbutton activation and didn't stay on. I knew there was some way of keeping them on but for the life of me I couldn't remember. A bit later after I had disconnected I referenced the manual I finally found and I will have to try its suggestion the next time I connect the laptop to the testbed. Hopefully this will be tomorrow as the missus is taking the kids over to a playdate for a few hours in the morning which will give me some 'alone time' on my public holiday time off .

This afternoon I spent helping Lachlan and Matthew start the small diorame baseboards for their modelling competition entries for the Club comp in December. I am specifically going to mentor Lachlan so that he can enter something. Matthew is more like being a part of the process! I cut down some ply for the base and some MDF for the backboard. The boys painted the baseboards in brown to start with for the dirt and then we start moving upwards. A small project which I think will be achieveable by Lachlan before December.

This week hopefully sort out the above LED problem, maybe put some time into the Raspberry Pi and its connectivity with the Wifi / JMRI / Engine Driver, and the UDEV rules for connecting it to the layout. The last one is a big maybe.

Then it will be back to the terrace houses.

Terrace back walls finally done

I've delayed updating this blog by a couple of days so as to have something to write about. I have finally been able to finish the rear walls which have been extremely time-consuming. Some photos below. I've elected not to put in curtains on the rear windows as you will not be able to see them on the layout.

Apart from these, nothing else has been done, because as mentioned, time was consumed with these alone last week!

Time for a change this week so I might get around to one of the MERG modules.

Minimal on terraces this week

I've been busy this week re-installing everything on a new laptop since the old one apparently fried its motherboard (according to the tech). I was able to copy most of the files off the old hard drive to an external drive so that was fortunate. My backup/restore program encountered problems with the last backup I had done so that was a pointless exercise!

No work on the MERG modules.

I got 30 minutes last night to move the terraces houses along.

I spent most of Saturday down at the Club at a working bee in between other commitments. A handful of members turned up to help, so it was fortunate that we had hired a civil contractor to do the digging for the drainage pipe ditches and to move some dirt around to where the future trailer garage is to go. So that was worth every cent as we would have been there a month of Sunday's trying to dig the tranches as the ground was rock hard due to the dry spell we are currently in.

This week I am hoping to progress with the terraces but there is a lot of cutting out work at this stage so very tedious! if I get board with that I might start the MERg modules.

As for the Raspberry Pi, that has taken a backseat over the last couple of weeks, but I am hoping to start that back up when I can.

Only terraces this week

Only thing to report this week was I progressed with the terrace housing one night this week. Apart from that I received the MERG CANACC4 and Experimenters kits on Friday. Nothing happened with the Pi. Busy week!

So this week might be more on the terraces as I do want to enter these into the Club modelling competition in December, a bit on the Pi, and maybe solder up the MERG kits.

The main problem is that my laptop has spat the dummy for some reason and a lot of my applications are on it. So I have to get someone out to have a look at it and hopefully it isn't a fatal problem!

Ciao

Busy with Club Newsletter this week

This week I've been busy compiling the club newsletter / magazine 'The Semaphore' in the absence of its usual editor PK, who is off on holidays in the US. He had compiled a fair portion before he left, but I completed it with various small articles and photos from last weekends Club Show. This was distributed on Friday night.

On Wednesday night I had a spare hour so tried connecting the IR detector up to the MERG CBUS modules. It took me about a minute to work out how to do it, program what to do (turn a LED on), then test it out to perfection. Now to work out how many I need, what my intentions are for the sensor (for JMRI positioning, to do specific things, etc), and how many other modules I need. Hopefully the solenoid point motor module will arrive this week.

Other than the above, not much else occurred. The weekend was a write-off doing other things like my Father-in-Law's 75th on Saturday and Fathers' Day day trip today (Sunday).

Not sure what I want to do this week coming up. Possibly some more on the terrace houses and continue with trying to get Wifi operating on the Pi.

A multitude of things done

This week I did spend a bit of time on the Pi again trying to sort out the wireless and JMRI roster problem. I am still persisting with the wireless config. This is a bit difficult as there as quite a few different solutions being suggested that I just have to find the right one! As for the JMRI loco roster import problem, I cracked this with the help of a couple of guys online and I know have my complete roster under JMRI on Linux.

Our club (RMCQ) annual show was on the weekend and I was busy in my VP duties as the Prez was gallivanting around Europe! So I was backwards and forwards to the Community Centre and home at various times to do different things. We had a fair crowd but nothing like last year's. We're putting it down to the weather. Last year was cold and wet, this year Spring came a week early and weather was fine and mild, perfect for outside pursuits rather than inside ones! Oh well, you get that!

However Saturday I was able to spend some time at the hobby table and put together the IR detector using the IS471F chip, and the front walls of the terraces. The IR detector assembly on perf board was a bit of a dog's breakfast due to some dodgy instructions but these can be easily fixed if full scale production has to occur. I tested it and it detected something at about 4 inches. More than enough for model railroading use. Now I just have to work out how to connect it to the MERG CANAC8EC module for input switching. I had some feedback on this so will pursue this further.

The terraces are now progressing again.

I also ordered the MERG CANACC4 module  on Friday for solenoid motor operation to test this function with the other modules.

So this week might be more of the same. Pi, MERG and terrace houses. I also have to complete the Club newsletter for distribution early next week as the usual Editor is off railroading in the US of A. Next Club monthly meeting is also the AGM, and I have put my VP hat back in the ring for a second year.

Here are some pics of the things mentioned above.

IR assembly - about 2 cm long

IR detector on top, emitter below

Terrace house with front walls fitted

The Raspberry Pi on top with powered USB hub at bottom

To much Pi is no good for the modelling

This week I didn't get around to anything I thought I was going to as I was very much distracted by the Raspberry Pi computer. I've been tinkering with JMRI as well as trying to get the little computer to become a WiFi access point to allow Smartphone connectivity with Engine Driver. While my mate PK is off to the US of A on a railroading holiday he has lent me his wireless dongle to muck around with. I think I am getting closer but it would appear as though there are many ways to skin a cat (never done it myself mind you!) to get the wifi configured so it will eventually come together (I hope).

I did make a query on the MERG CBUS Yahoo forum about IR detectors and connectivity to one of their modules. WOW didn't that start a thread and a half! All good information but started to get heavy on the electronics lingo and I started to glaze over:-)

I took delivery of my Eureka NSWGR BSVs (bogie sheep vans) last week. They do look good but I haven't had a chance to try them out over the weekend on track as the family was busy and I was doing some house maintenance, so no 'shed time' :-(

Let's see what distracts me this week!

Terraces have lights

This week I was able to resume work on the terraces after the last two weeks spent working out the MERG testbed problem. As the terraces will only be seen from the front, I decided only to light up the front rooms, and then alternating between top and ground floor i.e. flats 1 and 3 are ground and 2 and 4 are top floor. I did my usual thing of using clear LEDs painted with Tamiya (transparent) Orange to give that incandescent look. Intention is hopefully to put each on its own circuit and somehow automate a on/off cycle to give the 'lived in' look. Clear plastic in for the windows and curtains in place. The doors are also in, but I've had to pait the back of the doors black for the ground floor lighted flats as the doors were mounted on clear plastic for the skylight, and as such internal lighting was showing through the whole door. This week I'll put the window ledges in and then glue the whole front walls into place.

On the MERG side of things I've been researching what various IR detector arrangements are out there. I stumbled on this one site which had a very good solution that's been used by the robotics fraternity and would equally work for model train detection. Many possible solutions entailed developing a voltage compartor circuit between the IR emitter and receiver so that it would know when something has gone over it. This robotics solution has all the necessary circuitry on one chip, an IS471F. This chip also has the ability to modulate the IR emitter's light output to the receiver circuit so that ambient light doesn't affect it. So I found a supplier in Oz and sent away for one of these chips to give it a go. If it works out, then cheaper chips can be found from Chinese electronics sites. The other thing on the MERG side was I was contemplating the AC power supply over the DC, and thought why not try the transformer for the NCE SB3a. It is 15VAC 5A (fits criteria) and I reckon I could have it supply two circuits, one for the DCC SB3a and the other for the MERG CBUS power bus as I don't think it will ever have a full 5As of consumption with my small loco fleet and the accessories to power.

On the Raspberry Pi front, I've been trying to work out a problem with JMRI integration and CPU maxing out, over the weekend. No joy, so I've posted a question on the jmriusers Yahoo forum and will see what answers I get back. I took the Pi to the Club meeting on Saturday and it certainly raised the interest of the electronics buffs amongst us. One member said to investigate using VNC on the Pi to access it without a directly connected terminal but rather from your smartphone or tablet. Something to work on later but if it can it has possibilities in the Club context.

So this week more on the terraces and maybe the IR sensor made up and tested on the MERG CANACE8C.

Homer Simpson moment!

The first half of the week was spent dealing with the responses I received back to my questions posted on the MERGCBUS Yahoo Group, with many suggestions. On Wednesday were a number of other replies to a follow on set of questions. It was from this group of replies that the answer came. I had comms on the CBUS, I was able to get the input module to work and saw traffic on the CBUS via the FLIM Config Utility that I had connected up. But nothing on the output module. Answers around the LEDs were also sorted out. Then one of the replies re-explained a concept in layman's terms. The output pins are sinks NOT sources. They are -ve not +ve. I had wired in the test LED incorrectly to the output block (a document I was referring to appears to be wrong). DOH! Once re-seated, I tested the switch on the input module and the LED came on. DOUBLE DOH! Apparently it is a common misunderstanding. I will certainly be putting that nugget of info into my Hints and Tips! Now I can continue to test the various inputs and outputs I am looking at. I might have to invest in a couple of different output modules (solenoid motors and maybe servos). So while I am waiting on these to come in from MERG, I can go back to the Terraces as I have been really caught up in the above.

The other thing this week that kept me from progressing with the Terraces was that I had received my Raspberry Pi (microcomputer - look at www.raspberrypi.org) protective case from the UK on Wednesday. I put it together on Wednesday night and now that the Pi was protected I was able to concentrate on getting to know it a bit better over the rest of the week and into the weekend. After much research around how to connect it to an Internet source for software updates, I discovered it had been pre-configured to use the Ethernet conx. I connected it via a cross-over cable to my PC (which was being used as the Internet source) and voila' it connected first time. Brilliant. Last night I was able to download and install JMRI onto it. Excellent. That's where I left it. This week I will potter around a bit and see if I can transfer my current JMRI data files from the laptop to the Pi. This is why I purchased the Pi, a simple computer to run the train control software. I know for a fact that MERG TCC has just this week had a Linux version setup to run on the Pi, now I just have to make queries about FCU for CBUS having a Linux version.

Things are looking promising!

MERG problems still being sorted out

Spare time this week was spent re-reading the technical bulletins for the MERG CBUS modules in an attempt to try and get to the bottom of the problems. A fellow MERG member who lives locally (at least in Brisbane!) gave me some suggestions, which in the end didn't fix the problem. Come Friday I issued a post to the MERG CBUS Yahoo Group to see if a wider audience could nut it out. Many useful replies which furthered my education in these modules but still not working as they should. Hmmm. So last night I installed the USB driver for the CANUSB module and the FLIM Configuration Utility to see if the modules were 'seen' by the FCU on the laptop. The laptop could see the USB but nothing past this point. Hmmmm. Maybe another fault, or something actually wrong with the CBUS itself (wiring, ICs, etc?). So I will have to go back to the Group with this info and see if any bright sparks can get to the bottom of it!

The only thing I did on Illavearf was to 'formalise' the jury-rigged ammeter to a permanent location. I also took the opportunity to co-locate the short warning light.

This week hopefully some useful suggestions back re the MERG modules will get this sorted out, as well as I might be able to get back to the internal lighting of the terraces.

MERG test bed completed

This week I spent getting things finalised for the MERG test bed I've been building. Last night I screwed the USB card into place and wired it up to the CBUS. I put together some LEDs and a toggle and a push button switch to use as part of the 'learning experience'. It was getting late when I tried to 'learn an event' but it didn't work. Might be too tired. Try again in the morning. Come Sunday morning I tried again but still nothing. I referred to the Technical Bulletins and I seemed to be doing everything correctly. It was at this point I had to go and do some chores, so I will refer off to the MERG forums to see if these cast any ideas my way as to what I am doing wrong.

Another thing I did through the week was get the ammeter wired up (jury rigged!) to test on the layout. After consulting Mr Mackie about a switch problem, everything came good. It was sitting on 1/4 A just turned on. Today I put a sound loco on and nothing changed on the ammeter. So I am assuming I might have to 'zero' the meter back a bit so that 1/4A is registering when a loco is on it?

I wasn't able to get down to the Gold Coast Model Train Show this weekend so I am waiting on reported from the guys about how it went.

As the TDF finishes tonight (pity about Cadel) and I have only a few nights worth to catch up on, I am hoping that I will get back to the terraces now and sort out the MERG issue this week.

MERG kit power supply sorted

I had a quick look on the MERG internal forum this morning and there was a posting that someone had the same problem and the trouble was diagnosed as the voltage regulators has been transposed. Had I done the same? So I went and had a look and "doh" I had! So I unsoldered both. Swapped to where they should have been. Connected up the power supply and voila (sorry to much TDF!) the voltages were now correct at the checkpoints. After disconnecting the power I inserted the various ICs, powered back on and the green LED came on to show all was well. Hooray! I then connected the 5VDC output to the 5VDC input on the 'input' board and its green LED came on. Great.

This evening I connected the USB to the 5VDC and its voltages were correct. I completed the assembly by inserting the various ICs and USB port. Power restorted and its green LED came on. I am a happy camper!

Now I just have to refresh myself with how to program the boards with events, which will require a switch and a LED. Then I have to setup the USB drivers on the laptop.

I did note on the USB maker's site that they currently have no USB drivers for Linux on ARM processors. Well that rules out the Raspberry Pi connecting directly to the port.

Well a good start to the week.

MERG kit # 3 (USB) started

I ordered the 12VDC transformer earlier in the week, so while waiting I started on putting together the USB interface kit from MERG. Once again it was an easy assembly up to the point of needing to check for voltages, and this is where I stopped as I needed the transformer. No further work on the terraces as I had a busy week apart from checking that I had the various components for the LED lighting. 

The transformer arrived Friday. I had to get a 2.5mm DC connector to connect the transformer plug to the test bed / bus. So off to Jaycar in the morning to get this and a 6A bridge rectifier for the ammeter mentioned in the previous post. Saturday afternoon was done at the club for a few hours. Firstly a working bee on the HO layout to make a start on cutting the various straights and curves for around the helix blob. Then the monthly meeting followed, and afterwards some more cutting. Later in the arvo I spent some time in the shed getting the DC connector mounted to the test bed.

Saturday night I spent wiring up the CAN / Power bus into the test bed and into the Input and Output kit boards. To my surprise the boards where not getting 5VDC power! 12VDC was going into the Output board which would then supply 5VDC to its own electronics as well as the power input to the Input board. Nothing. I followed the instructions again to make sure everything OK, and it appears to be. I'm stumped! I'm going to have to do some research through the forums to see if this has happened before and if not make contact with a fellow MERGer to see if he has any ideas what might be happening.

Sunday afternoon I quickly did a temporary hash-up of the ammeter to the bridge rectifier and track power (3Amps max through the SB3A booster). Immediately the 'short' light came on and the ammeter was registering about 1.5Amps. I wonder if this was supposed to happen? I'll have to check with Mr Mackie.

Well this week will be spent trying to sort out the MERG kits' power supply problem and maybe install the LED lighting into the terraces so that I can continue the build.

MERG kit # 2 started

As expected the TDF is getting in the way of modelling as I am spending the evenings catching up with the previous night's recorded session. However I was able to start the second MERG kit over the weekend and I am now up to the point of needing the power supply, so I will be ordering one of these this week. After my conversation with Ian Both, a fellow MERG member in Brissie, I have decided to accept his suggestion and use a 12VDC 5A transformer. It is cheap enough and if I need to revert to the AC based adaptor then I will.

No movement on the terraces as I have to sort out some LED lighting to go into them before I seal the front walls. I only have to worry about the front windows as no one will see the back windows.

The other thing of interest was I posted a query on the MERG yahoo forum querying the pronounciation, is it like 'berg' or 'merge'? Well did that throw up any interesting chain of events. Apparently both could be interchangeable as MERG was originally formed from the merger of two existing clubs, but you could use it as 'berg' as the 'G' is a hard G as in 'Group'. I think I will sound it out like 'berg'.

Mr Mackie took a delivery of 12VDC ammeters from ebay last week and a cuple of spares. I will purchase one of him and setup the DCC circuit as per Marcus Allman's page for Illavearf because since upgrading to an SB3a I have lost the inbuilt ammeter feature of the PowerCAB.

So this week I might get around to the LED lighting in the terraces OR start on the MERG USB kit. Not sure. Club monthly meeting this Saturday so maybe a working bee on the new layout before the 2pm meeting. We will see!

Terrace progress but no MERG # 2

Monday night saw me at the hobby table putting the cover brick paper on the terrace front walls. After that the week went to pot! No MERG kit # 2 and no further work on the terraces. However Tuesday saw the arrival of the order from Austrains that my mate PK and I went into halves on. Some NSWGR CWs, a PV and a few CVs. I put them on the layout today to see how they rolled and they appeared to run fine. One thing to keep an eye on is I think they have low profile flanges so when they went over a crossing frog they appeared to drop momentarily so the flange wasn't running on the base of the frog.

The other pleasant surprise was that I received the Raspberry Pi computer board in the mail on Friday. I wasn't expecting this until sometime in July or August. Now I just have to get the thing working so that I can attempt installing JMRI (for linux) onto it and then connect up to the layout to see how it functions as the 'nerve centre'. It has been awhile since I have tinkered with Linux!

The other thing done was that this morning I took the family on our annual Steam Train Sunday excursion. We went out via Sherwood and back to Roma St via the Exhibition line. Lovely day for it and always a nice thing to do.

MERG kit # 1 and some photos of the terraces

The week's evenings were fairly much screwed this week apart from Friday. I took advantage of this and undertook the build of the first of the MERG kits. It took me two hours to do all of the soldering and the instructions were simple and easy to understand. I've mounted the PCB onto a piece of ply to be used as a test bed for the other kits and a simple CBUS setup along with inputs and outputs. I just have to source an appropriate power transformer but I have been having problems with that as Jaycar doesn't seem to have what I need. I might send an email to one of the other local MERG members and ask what he uses and where it was sourced.

The MERG kit packet

The kit's contents

The tools

Hi res view of the completed board

The test bed with kit # 1 mounted

No work on the terraces this week but I have included some photos of the work to date.

The front without cover paper

Interior (however I have elected not to put too much in the way of interior fitouts as I can't see the point when it is sealed up)

Floor views

End view

Rear view of floors

Rear view of interiors

One other thing I scored was 40 metres of 8-core control wire. We were at the Aspley Hypermarket on Sunday and in their reduced lines aisle was a swag of Nylex garden irrigation control wire packs, reduced 50% from $10 to $5. Each pack was 10 metres of cable, and each core colour coded. So I bought four packs as I think these might come in handy for connecting accessories to the MERG boards if I go forward with these as a layout control system. I'll still use Cat5 as the CBUS bus and power system as these are twisted pair whereas the Nylex cable I am not sure about as yet.

This week maybe continue work on the terraces and might even get in the second MERG kit if time permits. The Tour De France starts Saturday night so I might be distracted from the hobby for a few weeks!

No MERG but a tad more on the terraces

I was able to get to the terrace houses and get the front walls ready to the point of covering them with their external paper and glue in position this week. I ran out of time to start on the MERG CBUS kits. Maybe this week. Also this week the HO scale bank for Lachlan's layout arrived. I thought this was going to be a smallish kit but as it turned out it was a rather large pre-built building! We spent some time Saturday afternoon making room for it (the shop had to be moved) and scraping out the grass that was present. The building had a light in it so I had to ran soe additional wiring between it and the 16VAC accessory power of the transformer. Lachlan was impressed as he has been wanting some lights on his layout and this is a start. Today he laid the 'bituman' down for the side and rear access road. Not bad. He has been watching and learning! Tuesday I was home as I was getting solar power installed so I spent some time laying the dirt/gravel in the Kensington Hill goods yard.

I note that my friend Mr Mackie had a great day today on a ARHS NSWGR 620/720 railmotor which was up Brissie way and was doing a day trip down to Kyogle and back to Roma St, out to Fisherman Island and back today. I would have loved to have taken the boys out but maybe when they are a few years older and can handle the trip. Either that or they will be 'too old for that' and I can go by myself and the other enthusiasts!

I also had my eye on a pack of NSWGR wagons from Austrains. I decided to wait until after the weekend where I was keeping a watch on some wagons on Ebay. Most of these went dearer than what I intend to buy them for, so my mind is now mind up. They are some idiot bidders on Ebay!

This week I am hoping to start one of the MERG kits as I have brought the soldering iron and bits and bobs in from the shed to the study/hobby room. Also I might be able to continue with the terrace houses. Slowly chipping away at it!

Terrace's progress

This week I was able to put two evenings into the terrace houses. They are now upright with the floors and internal walls in. Finally! Now the next step will be the exterior walls I think.

Earlier in the week the three electronic kits from MERG arrived. I had a look at all three to make sure all the components were in each. So now I have the minimum setup to potter around with, an inputs interface, an outputs interface, as well as the USB interface which allows me to hopefully see what will be happening with the I/O interface boards on JMRI or one of the other software applications I have (ie RocRail). I did some more research on the RocRail site (www.rocrail.net) and there are 3rd party boards which also interface with MERG CBUS that have caught my eye, namely the fast clock and LCD display board, plus a few others of interest. Anyway I still have to actually assemble them yet, so when I start this, I will take my time.

I unfortunately had to decline a running session over at Mr Mackie's today as I had a birthday party to take my son to. Boondall Ice World ice skating ring. If today was cold and miserable on the outside it was positively freezing here as you would expect on the inside! As it was I probably wouldn't have been able to get to Mr Mackie's even if this invitation hadn't been on the cards as the car is in the panel beater's following a rear-ender last week! When I got home this arvo I spent a small bit of time on Illavearf doing some more scattering of ground cover before I do the second step with the anti-static grass, maybe tomorrow.

So not sure what I'll be doing this week, terrace houses or one of the MERG kits. Maybe a bit of both!

NSWGR BCWs arrived

Nothing really eventful this week on the modelling front. My three-pack of Eureka Models NSWGR BCWs (bogie cattle wagons) - 3 letter code arrived during the week, courtesy of Mr Mackie. They look mighty fine. Can't wait to see what the BSVs (bogie sheep vans) look like. I'm getting 2 x 3-packs of these, so six altogether. For a bit of variety I am contemplating buying a combo pack of NSWGR 4 wheel 3 x CWs (covered wagon) and 1 x PV (powder van) from Austrains. Just looking at the finances at the moment, but might be able to swing it as a birthday present (any excuse!).

I hadn't received my MERG order as of the end of week, so I made an enquiry with the store to better my understanding of their order fulfillment procedure. Apparently filled the day I ordered and should take 5-10 days to get to Oz. So probably this week hopefully.

I read Hornby magazine and had finally caught up to March's edition (I am usually at least 2 months behind by the time it gets to Oz) and read with interest an article on Market Weighton. This station is one of the major junctions in the area that I am interested in doing something on specifically on Pocklington station which is rust down the tracks from Market Weighton.

Saturday was wet and without motor vehicle transport, so I spent a few hours in the shed pottering around. One of the tasks that I haven't had time to do got a guernsey, namely starting on putting some of the 'OO' scale storage trays that I bought from the Club about 18 months ago together. I had bought 10 flat packs and managed to put three together. This might be enough at the moment to get store my current stock, but I will have to check. I still have to get the foam inserts from the Club and paint the trays.

As for the Terrace Houses, not a thing was done through the week.

This coming Saturday is Club Monthly Meeting day and i might be forced to trundle down on the treadley again as the car is in the panel beaters following another rear-ender! Hopefully this meeting votes on the acceptance of the proposed modelling competition categories and rules.

Um..maybe not!

I left last week's blog with the notion of possibly continuing with the work on the Terrace Houses. That didn't happen. The week was far to busy most evening with a number of different distractions. The whole week just zoomed by without any modelling being done until late this arvo when I briefly got out to the shed, vacuumed the loose scatters from last week's road making and grassing, and scrapped out a footpath between the signal box and the station platform and crossing gates. That was it!

Mr Mackie advised on Friday night that the Eureka Models' NSWGR BCWs (bogie cattle wagons) had arrived and he was expecting these to be delivered by post to his residence sometime this week. So I might have my part of the order by next weekend. So more rollingstock for the future NSWGR layout.

No word from the MERG Kit Locker as to whether my order of CBUS kits has been dispatched yet or not but as this is one member doing it in their spare time, I may have to be patient! My anti-static work mat and wrist band arrived from Voltronics (Oz) on Friday, so I will have a static free work environment to build these kits and other electronic work henceforth.

I won't promise anything for this week ;-)

Lord knows why the lamps aren't working now!

Yesterday afternoon I was able to pop out to the shed and do a few things. The first was to test the circuit operating the incandescant lamps on the station platform and near the telephone box. These seemed to be the problem in last week's post. So I desoldered one of the wires from the first lamp's wiring from the veroboard and test the mini-panel connected switch. Red light! The second lamp's wiring was desoldered and another test. No red light. So one lamp was working OK. I resoldered the first lamp's wiring and tested. No red light. Yeah may have found the problem. A few more On/Off tests and the red light returned. No idea why this is occurring after so long working OK. This little setup might be a prime candidate for connection to the MERG CBUS modules I ordered on Friday. Yes I took the plunge to buy some modules to play on. The other thing I did was put some 'dirt' down over a PVA bed.

I did manage to progress with the Terrace Houses a bit more during the week.

Today was the Club's Buy and Sell and Open Day. I originally wasn't going due to a previous family shindig, but this was postponed until next weekend. I thought I might have been able to get down and give a hand, but not to be. A few things about the house got in the way and before I knew it 3pm had rocked around, which was the closing time for the buy and sell. So with a bit of time on my hands I went back to the shed to see how things were going with the 'dirt' I put down yesterday. It was still a bit damp as it wasn't a very hot day today. So I put a liberal coating of very wet PVA/water mix over the soil again and put some anti-static grass down with the aid of my home made ant-static machine. Looks quite good. The other thing I did was make a road into the goods yard.

This week I hope to get more into the Terrace House build.

Red light on the DCC system!

This problem first raised its head a couple of weeks ago when I was checking my locos before their exhibition run. As soon as I turned on the lights to the Kensington Hill side the red 'power drain / short' light came on when up until that point everything had worked fine since installation. A quick check of each individual Acc ID for On and Off showed that the LEDs in the station and signal box didn't cause the problem but the incandescent globes of the street lights did. Hmmm no idea. Last week I didn't get around to checking further but on Saturday arvo after returning from the club meeting I had another closer look. I couldn't see any problems with the wiring to the decoder. I changed the wires to another decoder ID block and the same thing happened. Hmmmm. No idea. There I left it. Over Sunday though a thought popped into the old noggin to one by one remove and test each light to see if it is confined to a specific light post. This I will have to do either during this week or over the weekend if I get a chance but it is going to be a busy weekend coming up.

As for the Terrace House, no progress on these this week. Maybe during the upcoming week.

However more progress on my understanding of MERG's CBUS layout control system. It has potential. More research and maybe the purchasing of some starter kits to get a feel for the system is warranted in the not so distant future.

Not much this week except BMTS

Busy week and not much done except for a tad more on the Terrace Houses. AMRA's Brisbane Model Train Show was over the weekend and our club RMCQ was present with a number of our exhibition layouts. I was able to attend yesterday and run a couple of BR trains for the visitors. I took some photos but unfortunately I must have had a bit of a shake in the hands as most were a bit fuzzy so no good for publishing. One thing I noticed at the show was that the HO layout was experiencing problems from time to time with its fiddle yard operation. I think the wiring is a tad convoluted and confusing as their are dual controls boards, one at each end. I am thinking it could be a perfect candidate for a CBUS installation to simplify things. I'll do some more research, possibly do an install on my own layout to get an understanding of how CBUS works, and if I think its the answer, do up a mock setup to explain the system to the club members and see if it interests them to convert the exhibition layout and maybe use it as a layout control bus (LCB) on the new permanent layout. Time will tell!

This week not so hectic so maybe some more progress on the Terrace Houses at the minimum. Club meeting day on Saturday.

MERG research mostly

This week's evenings have been mostly busy with non-modelling related stuff (unfortunately!). There was probably two nights were I was able to progress a bit more with the Scalescenes terrace houses. These are going to be a lengthy project. ANZAC Day was on Wedneday, so I took my sons into Brisbane City to watch the March. While walking past Roma Street Station, we were pleasantly surprised to see a NSW Class 442 (44211) pull in with the Aurora, which was on a special excursion. In the afternoon I was able to get to the Club for a few hours and sorted out some issues with the HO layout. This weekend was completely a write-off for getting anywhere near the shed and the our layouts. The upcoming week is looking pretty similar. However the upcoming weekend is the Brisbane Model Train Show for the last time at the RNA showgrounds. The Club is exhibiting HO, N, T-Trak and styrene modelling. I should be able to get a day in helping out but this will be dependent on how my boys are behaving for their mum.

The only other thing I have been doing is accessing the MERG site now that I have my online accesses approved and researching what they have on offer (CBUS, TCC, RPC, etc) for layout automation and control.

Until next week, ciao.

Backscene photos

As expected not much time this week to do anything in the shed or at the hobby table. However on Saturday afternoon I was able to touch up the painting on the backscene. The missus came out and as the resident artist her comment that "Your trees are looking really good" was much appreciated. This was followed by "You need to tone the tree trunks though". Huh!
"How do I do that dear?"
"Add a darker brown"
"I don't have a darker brown"
"Add some black to the brown"
"I can do that, thanks"
So I did and dabbed the trunks.

Sunday arvo I placed some more fencing into position that now separates the goods yard from the village.

The other thing I did through the week was to join MERG - Model Electronic Railway Group, a UK based club that promotes electronics and computers into the operation of the hobby. Something I am interested in learning more about.

This week coming up isn't looking much better timewise. Let's see what happens.