Railpro in AZ
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Be sure to research the operation in heat, the units have had heat issues, the model 3 is out of production, it overheated easily. You might need fan cooling.
Greg
Greg
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You know that Kadee made a coupler that was part metal just because the AZ guys were having the all plastic ones pull apart? I think it is only in the #1 scale, not the G scale ones, drat.
Temps in a closed loco shell can get dang hot, and the Railpro units don't really have a lot of amperage capacity. A small fan running at 1/2 voltage would help a lot.
If you are going RailPro, be sure to get on their forum.
oops, see you are already there! good man!
Greg
Temps in a closed loco shell can get dang hot, and the Railpro units don't really have a lot of amperage capacity. A small fan running at 1/2 voltage would help a lot.
If you are going RailPro, be sure to get on their forum.
oops, see you are already there! good man!
Greg
I've been running battery/RailPro for about 2 years now. It's really a great system. I have 10 locos equipped with Railpro - 7 diesels and several steam. It's AZ hot, but I don't run when the wind is over 15mph (topples cars) or over 90 degrees (too hot for the operator). Nevertheless, my layout is maturing nicely - almost all the sunkinks have been smoothed out - I've learned not to use rail nails on curves, expect rail expansion and washouts. The terrain has been modified to allow for rain runoff with culverts and bridges. I deal with rodents, snakes, birds, coyotes. I sure would like to meet some others who run dead rail and operate, or meet up at another location to run - with Railpro/Battery operation, you can just show up and start running - no programming involved.
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I'm just getting started and I'm really liking what I see for Dead Rail operation. I have two engines adapted to Air-Wire, but I'm not over impressed.
What part of AZ are you located? I've been a member of AZBTO for a few years, but not very active. I've hear there are a couple other members that use RailPro here in Metro Phoenix..
What part of AZ are you located? I've been a member of AZBTO for a few years, but not very active. I've hear there are a couple other members that use RailPro here in Metro Phoenix..
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Zr1Rob: Thanks for the tip on RailPro I was looking to hook up some train detectors to activate accessories. RailPro has that kind of stuff built in!
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I'm building such a layout in Phoenix area!
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24 Posts
RailPro's AM-1 controller is well adapted to controlling most turnout actuators. Unfortunately, once you have picked a type (2 or 3wire or Tortoise), the other three TOs connected to that same AM-1 must be of the same type. I'm interested in converting a few TOs to ServoMotors which can be controlled to any speed of throw. The Kitronik 2595 looks very promising (the move is linear).
Here is an interface circuit to couple the AM-1 output to a MicroController (MCU) so it knows when to move the TO points. Note AM-1 outputs are O1 and O2 for the first TO, O3 and O2 for 2nd. etc. the attached hooks to any pair and produces a LOW when a move is desired. The 4700 ohm resisters could actually the internal pull-up resisters included in most current MCUs. The symbol you probably don't recognize is a mashup of a LED and a Photo transistor, aka an optical isolator. The two are connected with opposite polarity to recognize the AM-1 throwing a 2-wire actuator to curve or tangent! View attachment 65794
Here is an interface circuit to couple the AM-1 output to a MicroController (MCU) so it knows when to move the TO points. Note AM-1 outputs are O1 and O2 for the first TO, O3 and O2 for 2nd. etc. the attached hooks to any pair and produces a LOW when a move is desired. The 4700 ohm resisters could actually the internal pull-up resisters included in most current MCUs. The symbol you probably don't recognize is a mashup of a LED and a Photo transistor, aka an optical isolator. The two are connected with opposite polarity to recognize the AM-1 throwing a 2-wire actuator to curve or tangent! View attachment 65794
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