Joined
·
3,034 Posts
I've been playing with ideas for additional applications for the $11 MRC AD322 decoders and one thing that came to mind would be to use decoders in conjunction with toy motors to operate Water Towers and Coaling Stations.
To keep costs down and installation simple, my thought would be to find some way to use cheap motors (perhaps from broken toys) to turn a pulley with perhaps a rubber band or bungee type cord to raise and lower water spouts and coal chutes to simulate (or maybe actually feed) water and coal operations.
The problem with using decoders while running trains is that the power the decoder uses reduces the power available for trains but (as I see it) decoders could control coal and water actions when trains are stopped so power would not be a problem. Additionally if the decoders have a switch (on/off) capability they could be used to turn layout things like saw mill sounds and station lights on and off simulating operating hours. As far as I can tell the AD322's do not have a switching capability but I could be wrong.
Jerry
To keep costs down and installation simple, my thought would be to find some way to use cheap motors (perhaps from broken toys) to turn a pulley with perhaps a rubber band or bungee type cord to raise and lower water spouts and coal chutes to simulate (or maybe actually feed) water and coal operations.
The problem with using decoders while running trains is that the power the decoder uses reduces the power available for trains but (as I see it) decoders could control coal and water actions when trains are stopped so power would not be a problem. Additionally if the decoders have a switch (on/off) capability they could be used to turn layout things like saw mill sounds and station lights on and off simulating operating hours. As far as I can tell the AD322's do not have a switching capability but I could be wrong.
Jerry