Blog
New Turnout Control Panels
I got so many complaints over the last couple of operating sessions about how hard the DCS interface was to use to throw the turnouts, that I decided to add manual switches to the front of the layout.
I had plenty of the Lionel switch controllers leftover from the original track installation, so I used those and wired them to some of my custom input controllers that I had leftover from the old layout.
I knew that by using the input boards it would be an easy task to control the switches because these boards were designed to interfact to the turnout controllers that are already wired to the Lionel turnouts.
All of the layout's control circuitry is networked via RS-485, so with a little programming and running some new power and RS-485 network wires I had manual turnout controllers working.
The only functionality that is not present as of right now, is that the Lionel controllers do not change color when you throw the turnout.
It's something that I can fix, but it will take new control boards, and it's not a priority just yet.
