Bored, Board, Baud

Three words that are pronounced the same but each has a different meaning. What a wonderful language English is!

Bored
Unfortunately this week I was bored no end with sorting out the kids of an evening. Hyped up and no yard time to let off steam due to the rain we have been experiencing in the Great South East! So the theme for the evenings was basically trying to get them to sleep. For the most part Son # 1 was OK, but Son # 2 wanted Daddy to sleep with him. By the time he was asleep it was approaching 08:30pm most nights. Once the daily chores were done my spare time started around 09:30pm. This didn't leave much time to do anything other than sit in front of the TV and watch the tennis as there was bugger all on the other stations (more digital stations, more digital rubbish!) before heading off to bed and starting the whole process again the next day. The weekend was spent keeping the boys amused indoors while the rain pelted down.

Board
The one saving grace was Australia Day on Thursday. It wasn't raining! Humid as all hell though. So after doing some chores about the outside of the house I was able to saw some plyboard into appropriate lengthed strips before lunch. After the usual Nana Nap with Son # 2, later in the arvo he helped me drill and screw them on as the barrier boards to prevent him from running under the layout and ripping all the wiring down.

Baud
Sunday afternoon (late) I was able to take the laptop out to the shed between showers and investigate the baud rate issue between the NCE USB interface and DecoderPro. Unfortunately I wasn't able to determine if 9600 was the required baud rate as I had updated JMRI to version 2.14 or DecoderPro 3 previously I had been using ver 2.12. The USB had the 19200 jumper on and DecoderPro had 19200 in its Preferences and it all worked OK without any error message. So maybe the latest version of DecoderPro fixed this up or the USB is running at 9600 even with the jumper set to 19200. Not sure but don't really care as I am able to 'talk' to the layout via the laptop, which is all that matters I guess.

Due to the weather and the kids I wasn't able to make it to Mr Mackie's running session Saturday arvo. It sounded like the usual fun. Maybe next time.

This week Lord knows what I will be able to manage to do. I have some work for the Club's Modelling Competition to sort out, but as for my layout, not sure.

Possibly not the baud rate?

After pottering around last night with DecoderPro/Panelpro on the laptop (unconnected to the USB interface) as the torrent of rain came down, the Help documentation would suggest that 19200 doesn't work for the USB interface for some reason. Mr Mackie had mentioned the same thing on Monday. So I'll just have to check again and reset the USB jumper 1 and DecoderPro Preference setting back to 9600 and see if the fault is fixed or replicated. Could have been a loose cable or something else not yet discovered! Possibly a coincidence at the time.

NCE USB interface card tested OK

The only thing I got to this week was to connect up my laptop this morning to the USB card. After a couple of minor WTFs I worked out a change in baud rate (9600 to 19200) was required in the software. As the USB has a jumper to hardwire this setting, this was positioned. Similarly the SB3a wasn't being picked up correctly. I realised it was possibly to do with the version of SB3a I have. I had what I thought jumpered it correctly but obviously the doco was less than correct! Once the correct jumper was there Decoder Pro recognised everything. Hooray!

Then the next thing to try was my Android phone's Engine Driver app. A couple of preference settings later on Decoder Pro and we had a wireless handset! Bloody amazing this technological stuff! I was able to do a train movement but ran into problems when trying to activate any accessory decoders from the phone. Not sure exactly why but once I had triggered a point motor via the Decoder Pro, the handset then was able to do likewise. Either a software glitch or Decoder Pro 'learning' the layout first. More reading to do on that one.

This week not sure what I am going to do. Might do something different like one of those Silvermaz NSWGR wagon kits or some scenicing on the layout. I have Club Exec meeting on Wednesday night and possibly a running session Saturday arvo at Mr Mackie's but I am still tentative on that one at the moment.

More things ticked off before heading back to work

The week started with a heatwave through SE QLD. Going anywhere near the shed was going to be like venturing into Hades. The one time that I did (5 mins or so) I came out sweltering. Time to head back into the aircon in the house and helped Lachlan with his blog (see Beaver Springs).

Wednesday was club day so I went down there for a couple of hours. It was hot but the shed is well ventilated and insulated, so it was bearable. Had further discussions on the new HO layout.

Thursday came and with it a change in the weather. Much more pleasant. Can't remember if it was Thursday or Friday, but I setup the airbrush I had purchased for the first time to make sure it worked OK. It was my first time with an airbrush (dual action trigger) and it performed rather well, even if it was only spraying onto some butcher's paper to get the feel for it.

Saturday was the Club Monthly Meeting and I took Lachlan down for a few hours. More discussions on the HO layout followed the arvo tea. Can't believe some members are still trying to push their barrow on fundamental design changes/features when the design has been agreed to by the majority! I guess their barrow will stop being pushed once the agreed to design begins construction. Then we will probably hear grumblings about not being listened to, etc. Upon arriving home I went to the shed and connected point six to its DS64 decoder.

Sunday afternoon came and with it some spare time. I was able to wire in the remaining points (7-12) to their respective DS64s. There was a slight hiccup with the third DS64's setup but this was easily fixed by reprogramming it. Some minor changed to the points connections to fix incorrect open/close orientation an it worked perfectly. I even had time to play trains and fire the points remotely via DCC. Woo-hoo!

One thing I have to add to the To Do list is to put up a barrier of sorts half-way between the table deck and ground level on the legs to prevent little people and I don't mean leprachauns, running under the layout and getting caught up in the wiring!

Well back to work this week so back to the usual way of doing things, modelling-wise, that is, when I can get to it of an evening and on weekends. It has been a very productive holiday with respect to getting a lot done on Illavearf's electrics. I am still to test the USB connection, so maybe that is one thing I can do this week at least.

A great week for getting to the To Do List

The second week of leave was a great for getting a few things knocked off the To Do List. The weather was not too hot to be in the shed. Wednesday came along and I decided to forego going to the club so that I could get a few things done on the layout. Well great plans as they say. I spent the morning working on Lachlan's layout but the afternoon was all mine!

I got the third MRC and third DS64 accessories decoders mounted on their perspex boards, installed and wired in. The USB interface card was also similarly treated. However I haven't had a chance to test it by connecting it to the laptop. Hopefully soon.

The street and platform lamps were wired into a piece of copper strip project board to provide the parallel connections to the common MRC subdecoder. I also used liquid electrical tape for the first time to cover up the soldered connections of all the wiring (which was a lot) that were too small for heatshrink. The stuff worked a treat and I am sold on it.  Underneath the layout is looking like spaghetti junction but at least it isn't too onerous. I also installed a momentary ON-OFF-ON DPDT switch to try with the Minipanel to control the lights. This works perfectly. I am only using on half of the DPDT function (SPDT) at the moment for the KH side lighting, the other half will be for the Bray MPD side.

I finished off the signal box and temporarily placed it on the layout. The original place near the tunnel mouth did not look quite right so I moved it first near the station platform. This looked better. Then I moved it up the line a bit to the first point and this was the spot. I placed some cork down and painted it gray to imitate a concrete base, then installed the box. Looks great, especially when the light is on and you can see the signalman.

Having cleaned up the shed has allowed me to move a lot of stuff from the BMPD side off the layout into other shelving, so I can now run trains.

So what is next. I am hoping to get to wiring in the remaining points (6-12) into their DS64 decoders to get that out of the way. Then I can concentrate on some more KH structure / scenery work.

The hot weather arrived yesterday and today is particularly hot, so how much I can do in the shed this week will depend on when it is bearable to be out there. Even with one of the tilt a doors open it is hot without a south-easterly blowing in.

I am happy with the work done over the last couple of weeks.

Club on Wednesday and again on Saturday for the monthly meeting. Unfortunately this will be the last weekend before heading back to work to pay for the holiday spending!

Lights finally on

Platform and street light on

Original location of signal box

Near the station...better

Near the platform from a distance

Near the first point...a lot better

Yes this is the spot

KH signal box installed and light on

See the signalman?

Xmas-New Year week

Tuesday was the day trip to Mr Mackie's place for an arvo of NSWGR running session. I was North Coast Control for the first time and didn't mind it. Hopefully I got the trains to their right locations?

Wednesday was club day. The gods smiled on me as the boys were invited to a birthday party at the last minute so I was dropped off to the club by the missus enroute to the birthday party. I had a couple of productive hours at the club discussing the new HO layout with the Coordinator and fellow club members.

Sunday (New Years Day) we went to the Thomas and his Friends 2012 show at the Ipswich Workshops museum. It was the day to go as the weather was perfect (no humidity or high temperatures) and there wasn't many people there.

I didn't get around to installing the MRC and DS64 decoders, or the USB port this week due to other things getting in the way. As part of the deal with the missus in undertaking the club VP position, I have to clean up the shed. I started this on Friday and cleaned out the big, heavy stuff to take to the dump. The cleaning continued today and lasted all day. Wow what a lot of crap I've collected (pack rat!) over the last 13 years. I have also started cleaning up Illavearf's BMPD side as this has gone a tad feral with stuff to build the KH side. I might now be able to take a train for a spin around the layout!

I did however finish the signal box and put a name board on the front of it. I just have to install it and wire it up to the MRC accessory decoder for the LED to turn on.  The street lighting might then get a guernsey as well.

Once again, lets see how this week goes. I still have two weeks of leave to go.

But Dad what about the Thomas stuff & signal box so far

I made a mistake about the 'no trains' comment in the previous blog. Son Number 2 received some Thomas related wooden train vehicles (Flora, Alfie, Hiro and something else I can't remember!). Just overwhelmed with all the Lego!

I bought my compressor today at Supercheap, along with a dual action airbrush and assorted bits and bobs. "Some minor assembly required" must be the biggest joke the Chinese play on the West! Eventually got it working but ran out of time to actually play with it.

Here is a photo of the inside of the signal box and the LED (with clear orange painted lens) in place prior to the roof being glued into position.