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User`s Guide for Version 6.0

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1. Train Brain Train Brain Train Brain Train Brain To CTI Modules From CTI Modules Modular Phone Cords CTI Diplexer Serial Port Adapter A COM Port based CTI Network 13 Connecting CTI to a USB port 1 2 3 Locate a USB port socket on the back or front of your computer It s a thin rectangular connector The USB symbol should be printed on the PC somewhere nearby Most computers will have multiple USB ports You may choose any one Connect the BLUE port of the CTI USB Bridge CTI Part TBO16 to the USB port on the PC using a standard Type A to Type B USB interface cable Don t confuse this with a Type A to Mini B cable which has a tiny fragile connector style commonly used for connecting small handheld devices like digital cameras The USB Bridge derives power directly from the USB bus so no separate power supply is required Mount the Network Diplexer on your layout at a location that s convenient for connecting to your PC Connect the YELLOW port of the diplexer to the YELLOW port on the CTI to USB Bridge using one of the modular phone cords provided 4 5 USB Ports on PC CTl to USB Bridge Network Diplexer Decide where you wish to locate your Train Brain boards They may be conveniently placed throughout your layout wherever you desire computer control Mounting holes are provided at each corner of the board Use the spacers provided to prevent damage t
2. An Example of Automated Smart Cab Control Controls spare spare spare spare Sensors at_station spare spare spare SmartCabs cab1 Qkeys run Actions WHEN run LEFT DO cabl 50 FORWARD MOMENTUM_4 BRAKE_OFF WHEN run RIGHT DO cabl 0 MOMENTUM_4 WHEN at_station TRUE DO cab1 brake ON wait 10 cabl brake OFF 46 Maximizing Smart Cab Performance Setting Output Voltage Range Because it s completely digital the Smart Cab requires no adjustments However to optimize its performance for use with a variety of model railroad gauges a voltage range selection potentiometer is provided on the PC board This adjustment allows the user to determine the output voltage range that the Smart Cab will supply The Smart Cab always provides 100 distinct voltage steps from its minimum to maximum outputs By setting the maximum output voltage to the highest voltage your trains require you ll be guaranteed that all 100 settings are available for use by your locomotives None will be wasted on voltages that run your trains faster than you want them to be run Setting the maximum voltage adjustment is easy Here s all you need to do 1 Locate the adjustment potentiometer located near the center of the PC board 2 Using a small flat bladed screwdriver carefully turn the adjustment screw counter clockwise as far as it will go This reduces the Smart Cab s maximum output voltage to its lowest possible value 3 Next
3. Implement in Software 0 Users C Short 1 127 Extended 1 9999 Throttle Control Button Setup 1 Select a control 2 Which decoder function s 3 Select a picture for button to program should this button control this button optional if 2 3 a s5 Button Behavior C Latched C Momentary E d E ja E la lE a E ja la la la ja E E j e e E m The identification code reported by the tag will be a 10 digit sequence of numbers and or letters Often no documentation is supplied with an RFID tag so its ID code will be unknown To learn a tag s ID run the train carrying the tag past any RFID reader or simply swipe the tag past the reader by hand When TBrain receives a report from a tag it doesn t recognize it displays the tag s identification code followed by a question mark in the Beacon Value list box for that RFID beacon You can manually enter that value in the RFID Tag field of the associated engine s Engine Data worksheet Or you can let TBrain do the work for you Simply select the RFID reader displaying the unknown ID code in the Beacon Name list box then select the engine s name in the Fleet Roster list box In response TBrain will fill in the tag s ID code in the RFID Tag text box of this engine s Engine Data worksheet From then on when this tag is detected TBrain will display the name of its engine as the Beacon Value for this RFID beacon and point the beacon at the engine s TCL data s
4. WHEN run RIGHT DO enginel speed 0 WHEN at_station TRUE DO enginel brake wait 10 enginel brake 157 Forming Consists Using DCC trains headed by a multi engine lash up can be controlled as a single entity using a technique known as consisting Note To use Tbrain s consisting feature the decoders of all engines in the lash up must support the NMRA DCC standard s advanced consisting feature TBrain s Consists tool makes working with consists quick and easy Let s give it a try Select Tbrain s DCC Consists menu item You now have a window that looks just like the fleet roster we used earlier to create our fleet of DCC equipped engines Click New to form a new consist We again have an editor worksheet that looks much like the one we used to describe our stand alone engines This worksheet however has a new area for defining the makeup of the consist As with single engines your consist will need a name and a unique DCC address On the right side of the consist editor you ll find a list box containing all available members of your fleet roster i e all engines that are not already members of a consist To add an engine to the new consist click on its name in the list box to select it then click again in the desired location in the consist The engine is moved from the available list to its new place in the consist You ll also need to specify the orientation forward or backward of
5. You may have noticed that TBrain occasionally displays momentary messages in the status bar located along the lower righthand border of the TBrain window You can also use this area of the screen to display messages from within your TCL program using the built in TCL entity Status Status can be set equal to a quoted text string or to a variable previously set equal to a text string as part of the action in a When Do statement For example When at_station True Do Status The train has arrived The current value of a variable or any other TCL entity can be printed in a message by preceding the entity s name by the symbol in the message text For example to display the current value of variable varl we might write 150 When Do status The value of var var1 Activity Log TBrain provides an Activity Log accessible via the View Activity Log menu item that can be used to monitor the execution of your TCL program TBrain s communications with the CTI network and the system s real time performance This information is mainly used during debugging The Settings Activity Log menu item may be used to select the items to be logged You can also write information to the activity log using actions within your TCL program using the built in TCL entity Log Log can be set equal to a quoted text string or to a variable previously set equal to a text string as part of the action in
6. port number This serves to distinguish the communications performed by TBrain from other communications taking place concurrently over the network This setup is performed using TBrain s Tools Multi PC LAN menu item Here you ll enter the names of up to 8 networked PCs and give each a port number TBrain defaults to using port 1000 You can simply accept the default or change it if the default selection conflicts with other programs The Tools Multi PC LAN setup procedure must be performed at each PC and the name and port number assigned to a given PC must be known at each PC An example network configuration is shown below In this example three PCs named CTC Yard1 and Yard2 are defined In addition a Smartphone throttle App and a DCC system are also present in the network Multi PC LAN Setup Peer to Peer Network Configuration Network Connection Status Local Host Name Local Host Ports CTI PeertoPeer Local Host IP WiT hrottle 2000 U Ethemet Remote Host Bytes Rx d lt none gt 10 0 0 8 54400 10 0 0 8 54400 10 0 0 200 5550 PC Name Port Number DCC Host cic 1000 Yard 1000 00 123 That s all the setup that s required We can now begin communicating between PCs in our TCL programs To do so we ll just need one new TCL actions statement SSend lt destination PC gt and three TCL entities SIOData SInBufLen OutBufLen To facilitate moving data b
7. 0 005 A set of arithmetic operators 1s available for use in performing real arithmetic A decimal point after the functional operator symbol instructs TBrain to perform the calculation using the real number format In Message Status and Log statements real operands may be printed by preceding their names with the symbol in the text string For example Status The value of real variable varl var1 121 Using Multiple PCs Larger layouts may benefit from having their operation controlled by multiple PCs For example a yardmaster at each major staging area might manage local switching operations from a dedicated PC based control console handing off trains to a Centralized Traffic Control operator himself working at his own PC once traffic is ready to depart onto the mainline As each operator carries out his own control duties there will be times when that operator needs to communicate with one or more of his peers CTI makes multi computer control easy copies of the TBrain program running on multiple PCs can communicate directly with one another Communication takes place over your existing wired or wireless Ethernet network connection Most existing multi computer control systems employ a simplistic client server control paradigm in which all layout control is performed by a single server PC based on requests from several client computers This creates a bottleneck since the serve
8. Random Varl 10 Varl Generate a random number from 1 to 10 Sound1 Sound Var1 mp3 Play the randomly selected sound file The Internet is an excellent resource for finding train related sound files collected by railfans worldwide that are usually available for free download There are also a number of excellent sound effects CDs featuring a wide variety of train related sounds So put some new life into your old model railroad With Sound it s fast easy and fun Note TBrain s multimedia related functions employ the Windows Media Player ActiveX control This control is a standard part of all Windows Operating System versions 98 and later TBrain supports version 8 9 10 and 11 of the Windows Media Player WMP TBrain will determine the version of WMP on your system and adjust itself accordingly If your system s WMP is older than version 8 Tbrain will let you know In that case you can download a free upgrade to a newer version from the MicroSoft website A link on the Downloads page of the CTI website will take you straight there We recommend using Version 12 on Windows 7 Version 10 or 11 on XP systems and Version 9 on Windows 98 systems If you experience problems getting multimedia to work using the Windows Media Player you may wish to try TBrain s integrated media controls which don t rely on WMP You can make 147 that choice using the Settings MultiMedia menu item TBrain s
9. s B connection to a common B terminal on the Sentry The Signalman ae C i The sophisticated signaling hardware available Monee set today presents specific control requirements beyond the simple on off control provided by the modules we ve examined thus far Microprocessor Since a typical signaling network can easily involve tens or even hundreds of individual Aue signal lights it s important to find an approach to signal automation that minimizes cost The ie Signalman module CTI Part SM001 is just B Supply the answer Brightness Adjust Signal Controls The Signalman works with all popular signal technologies including common anode LEDs common cathode LEDs bipolar LEDs and incandescent bulbs And because it is specifically designed to exploit the flexibility available through computer control it can implement any signaling protocol at a cost well below that of conventional hard wired signal control products 35 Since we ll be examining the Signalman in great detail in the later section on automated signaling we ll wait to take a closer look at the Signalman until then The YardMaster Switches are an essential part of every model railroad and a natural candidate for computer control CTI s YardMaster control module makes that task quick easy and remarkably affordable The YardMaster CTI Part TBO15 provides 16 SPDT solid state controls optimiz
10. ve learned how to control turnouts controlling signals on your CTC screen will seem like a piece of cake TCL provides a built in Signal action statement to tackle that job as part of a When Do The format of a signal statement is Signal x y z lt signal state gt From here on in things should begin to look familiar x y z refers to the CTC panel coordinates of the signal we want to throw The value of lt signal state gt indicates the desired signal aspect cc Tbrain s schematic editor toolkit provides two styles of signals termed fixed and addressable The same Signal action statement is used to control both Controlling Fixed Signals Fixed signals those which are shown superimposed on a track section in the schematic editor toolkit correspond to the common three aspect red yellow green signal heads found on most layouts Using the Signal action statement you can control each of the signal s three lamps from within your TCL program The lt signal state gt of a fixed signal can be any valid TCL value but the most common ones will be a combination of the color identifiers Red Green and Yellow Setting a fixed signal equal to one of these values will illuminate the corresponding lamp of the signal on the CTC screen For example the TCL statement When Do Signal 10 5 1 Green would illuminate the green lamp and turn off the red and yellow lamps of the fixed
11. 57 Programming Signals Using Color Identifiers With each of our signals named we can now control them just as we would any other TCL entity by making them a destination in the action clause of a WHEN DO TCL provides several mechanisms that facilitate working with signals The simplest and most often used are the color identifiers RED GREEN and YELLOW A signal may be controlled simply by setting it equal to the desired color in a WHEN DO statement For example WHEN block3 occupied TRUE DO block3 RED block2 YELLOW blockl GREEN The Signalman responds to color identifier commands as follows e Setting a signal equal to RED activates the first controller to which that signal is wired For instance in our example setting signal block1 wired to Signalman controllers 1 2 3 equal to RED activates controller 1 e Setting a signal equal to GREEN activates the second controller to which that signal is wired controller 2 in the case of signal block1 above e Setting a signal equal to YELLOW activates the third controller to which that signal is wired controller 3 in the case of signal block1 above This makes the wiring rules quite simple e For 2 color signals 1 Wire the RED signal light to any Signalman controller 2 Wire the GREEN light to the next higher numbered controller e For 3 color signals 1 Wire the
12. Common Switchman Close Controller Switchman Controller power3 Switchman Controller Failsafe Capacitor Discharge Switch Machine Circuit 68 Summary In this lesson you have learned the following How to use Train Brain or Switchman controllers to activate a switch track How to control switch tracks from a TCL program How to optimize the control of N turnouts using N 1 controllers Techniques for making switch operation failsafe Recommended Practice Exercises Add a non derailing feature to this TCL program that automatically throws each switch ahead of an oncoming train whenever the switch is in the improper direction 69 Slow Motion Switch Control Introducing the YardMaster In the previous lesson we learned how to control a dual coil switch machine using two Train Brain or Switchman controllers We then cut our cost in half by using the time sharing technique to control turnouts with just a single controller per switch machine While that approach worked well for dual coil switch machines what about single coil solenoid machines such as those from Kato and LGB and slow motion stall motor machines like those from Tortoise or SwitchMaster There s a CTI solution for those too It s called the YardMaster Designed especially to operate stall motor and single solenoid switch machines the YardMaster makes turnout control remarkably affordable un
13. In this section we ll introduce some additional features of the TCL language Then we ll look at several examples illustrating how to attack some of the most common model railroad control problems using the CTI system Finally we ll show how to design sophisticated control panel displays specifically tailored to your railroad s operations Lesson 11 Introducing Variables In earlier lessons you learned to control the operation of your layout interactively from the keyboard and to run your layout automatically using sensors These two techniques provide an almost endless variety of control possibilities However you ll soon find applications that demand more sophisticated control That control is available in TCL through the use of variables In this lesson we ll show you how to use variables to greatly expand the capability of your TCL programs Variables are storage locations that reside within your TCL program Unlike controllers and sensors they have no hardware counterparts Nonetheless they are powerful tools indeed Variables can be used to remember past events They can be used to count or perform arithmetic and logical operations They can be set equal to TRUE or FALSE can hold a numerical value or can even be set equal to a text string Variables give your TCL programs an entirely new dimension Let s illustrate the use of variables with a simple example We ll return yet again to our automated station stop We already know
14. OFF 3 VHEN Scommand STOP DO train OFF Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to write TCL programs using TBrain s TCL program editor e How to program the operation of CTI using a series of WHEN DO statements e How to control your layout from keyboard commands entered at the PC Recommended Practice Exercises e Try adding a new command called STEP to the TCL program we just created which causes a stopped train to start run for 4 seconds and then stop e Use the Train Brain s remaining 3 controllers to operate additional devices sound units signals lights etc and write TCL code to control them via commands entered at the PC In the next lesson you ll learn to run your model railroad using your TCL program 23 Lesson 2 Running Railroads Now that you ve created your TCL program it s time to put it to work on your railroad If you haven t exited from TBrain since you entered your TCL program in Lesson 1 we suggest that you do by selecting Exit from the File menu in order to get a feel for opening existing railroad files Be sure you ve saved your work before exiting If you haven t TBrain will remind you to do so Run the TBrain program again and choose Open Railroad from the File menu Find and open the railroad file you saved in Lesson 1 It s name should also appear in the Recent Files list in the File menu You can also open it by clicking on it ther
15. SOUND bell wav Repeat Of course we ll now need a way to turn off the repeating bell sound once the train has cleared the crossing This is accomplished by setting SOUND equal to TCL s OFF keyword For example WHEN at_crossing FALSE DO SOUND OFF Stop bell after train clears crossing Note The OFF keyword can also be used at any time to terminate a sound before it runs to normal completion Mixing Sounds It s possible to simultaneously mix sounds from two audio CDs two sound files or an audio CD and a sound file It s for this reason that Tbrain provides two identical multimedia tools For example the following TCL code starts our warning bell sound effect as the train nears the crossing playing it repeatedly until the train has safely passed It then superimposes a whistle blast in this example presumably on track 4 of our sound effects CD as the train approaches the crossing WHEN at_crossing TRUE DO As train approaches crossing Sound bell wav Repeat Start bell sound repeat it till train has passed Wait 5 Sound CDTrack 4 Blow a warning whistle blast as train nears WHEN at_crossing FALSE DO Once train clears crossing SOUND OFF Turn off repeating bell sound Tbrain allocates sound tasks to its two multimedia tools on an as needed basis If a Sound command is executed and Multimedia Tool 1 is currently idle then the sound will be played in
16. Tbrain s clocks will now operate at a rate 10 times faster than real time Any ratio up to 500x may be produced in this manner Precise Measurement of Time Sometimes we may wish to measure time intervals to a resolution finer than the 1 second granularity afforded by the time and session operators TBrain provides a time measurement called Stop Watch that s accurate to 1 100 of a second StopWatch counts time continuously while TBrain is running The value of StopWatch may be copied to a variable for further processing or may be operated on directly using any of TBrain s arithmetic operators In TCL StopWatch may be treated as a real operand indicating time in seconds or as an integral operand indicating time in hundredths of seconds As an example the following TCL code calculates the scale speed of an HO train in miles per hour by measuring the time taken to travel between two sensors spaced 5 feet apart Sensors Enter_SpeedTrap Exit_SpeedTrap Variables Speed Constants Distance 60 0 length of speed trap in inches Actions When Enter_SpeedTrap True Do StopWatch 0 zero the stop watch Wait Until Exit_SpeedTrap True Then Speed Distance Speed StopWatch calculate speed in inches sec Speed 4 94 convert to HO scale miles hour Status Speed Speed MPH print the train s speed Note The conversion factor from true inches per second to scale miles per hour for various model r
17. and the red LED is lit 33 of the time This creates a very effective approximation to pure yellow for most bipolar LEDs However actual results will vary depending on the relative red and green luminous intensities and wavelengths of the LEDs used in your brand of signals You may wish to experiment with different color mixes to achieve the best results Yellow hue can be adjusted using the Yellow Tint slider control in the Signals section of TBrain s Settings Hardware Settings menu item Moving the slider to the left increases the amount of red in the color mix while moving it to the right increases the amount of green 61 Checking Out Your Signals Here s a simple TCL program to check out your signal wiring We ve assumed you ve wired a 3 color signal as indicated in the wiring instructions above Note If you ve used a bicolor LED based signal change the 3 to 2 and 13 to 14 ein the Signals section since your signal only consumes two Signalman outputs QKeys R G Y Signals sig1 3 spare 13 Actions WHEN R LEFT DO sigl RED WHEN G LEFT DO sigl GREEN WHEN Y LEFT DO sigl YELLOW Just click on the appropriate Quick Key to produce the desired signal aspect The code should work with any signal type If the signal doesn t follow the correct color sequence or if more than one light is illuminated at the same time check the wiring of the signal s control leads to the Signalman s controllers Many
18. are wired in series between the isolated rail of the track block and the power source see below The detector s AE eastbound and AW westbound terminals are wired to the A terminals of two Train Brain Watchman or Sentry ports The B terminal is wired to the corresponding B terminals of those same sensor ports Train s Motor From Track Power Completes Circuit L2 To Isolated Rail To Sensor Port 1 2 B AW To Sensor Port 2 A Current AE To Sensor Port 1 A Detection Logic AE AW B To Sensor Ports To Track Power To Track Power D Current Detection Sensor Current Detection Wiring Diagram 1 of 2 Identical Sensors Shown With the current detector installed run the TBrain program and check the sensor status indicators corresponding to the current detector With no train present both should read FALSE Drive an engine into the isolated block Once the engine s wheels have entered the block one of the two sensors should respond as TRUE Bring the engine to a stop and change direction Bring the train up to speed again This time other sensor should now respond as TRUE When the engine vacates the block both sensors should return to FALSE 175 If the directional sense seems backwards to the geographic orientation of your layout i e AE responds to westbound traffic flow simply reverse the wiring to the L1 and L2 terminals If your applica
19. or more correctly As a result of its decidedly high tech nature one aspect of DCC actually makes it harder to control your decoder equipped engines using your PC To illustrate consider the station stop example we ve used repeatedly throughout this User s Guide to illustrate automated train control Recall that in our lesson on controlling conventional locomotives our TCL code for a station stop looked something like this When at station True Do cabl brake On wait 10 cabl brake Off Now on the surface the TCL code we just introduced to implement the same station stop for a decoder equipped engine looked nearly identical When at station True Do enginel brake On wait 10 enginel brake Off So what s the problem Well there s one important point we ve failed to consider What happens when we change engines With conventional engines that never mattered Any conventional engine placed on the track will respond in exactly the same way That s because on a conventional layout we re actually controlling the SmartCab not the engine But in DCC things are different Here we re controlling the engine itself Put another engine on the track and the TCL code above although it executes just as before will have no effect The new engine with its own DCC address will completely ignore our command telling engine to stop We have a couple of obvious options First we could reprogram our new engine
20. outperforms many of the highest priced train power packs available today We ll begin by taking a brief walking tour around the Smart Cab You may wish to have a Smart Cab board handy as we go through this description As with the Train Brain observe ESD precautions when handling the Smart Cab board For reference position the board so that its modular telephone style connectors are located to the lower left Many of the components on the Smart Cab will be familiar to Train Brain users since both boards share a number of common features Since these functions were already discussed when we introduced the Train Brain here we ll concentrate on those items unique to the Smart Cab Microprocessor The Smart Cab s microprocessor plays the biggest role in controlling locomotive operation The microprocessor handles communications with the PC automatically manages speed changes to simulate the prototypical effects of momentum oversees the function of the digitally controlled voltage adjustment unit and selects output voltage polarity for direction control The microprocessor and its PC interface occupy the lower left hand quarter of the board Digitally Controlled Voltage Adjust The Digital Voltage Adjustment unit DVA occupies the lower right hand quarter of the board Under control of Smart Cab s microprocessor the DVA performs locomotive speed control providing precise output voltage selection in 100 distinct steps The DVA when
21. s the ideal SwitchMan ay F choice for controlling dual coil switch Poeci machines solenoids accessory motors lighting etc Switch Power To control the Switchman s outputs from TBrain simply give each one a name and include them in the Controls section of your TCL program based on their location in the CTI network just as you did with the Train Brain s controls And as always be sure to designate any unused Switchman controllers as spare Because the Switchman s transistor based controls work a bit differently from the electromechanical relays found on the Train Brain let s spend a few moments to take a closer look Functionally each Switchman control output can be viewed as a single pole single throw SPST switch that when activated connects that control s connector terminal to the GND terminal of the Switchman For convenience in wiring two GND terminals are provided on the Switchman They are identical and are connected together on the board PC Controlled Control a Common Output GND Functional Representation of a Switchman Control Output To operate an electrical device using the Switchman simply connect the positive output of an appropriate DC power supply to one lead of the device Then connect the device s other lead to one of the Switchman s 16 control terminals Finally wire the negative terminal of the DC power supply to the Ground GND termin
22. 145 i Train Brain Photodetector Interface In this case the 1 5 Volt power supply was chosen for convenience a D Size battery Any D C supply voltage may be used simply change the value of the current limiting resistor according to the input voltage Be sure to observe resistor wattage ratings when using higher supply voltages Radio Shack specifies an operating current of 100 milli amps for their photodiode In that case the current limiting resistor s value can be calculated using Ohm s Law as follows R Vin Vphotodiode Iphotodiode Vin 1 2 Volts 0 1 Amps In our case Vin equals 1 5 Volts so R turns out to be 3 Ohms 130 Next we need to be sure that the impedance change of the phototransistor as it switches from light to dark is adequate to trigger the Train Brain s sensor port To reliably detect the state of the sensor the Train Brain requires valid logic levels at the input of the sensor port These are Logic 0 lt 1 0 Volts Logic 1 gt 2 0 Volts The graph below shows the voltage measured across the phototransistor as the distance between the transmitter and receiver is increased These results show the phototransistor voltage to remain in the valid logic 0 region up to a distance of about 9 5 inches 4 2 e amp 3 gt E 2 S D T E E a AL E ee E E T 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Separation inches Measured Phototransistor Voltage vs Tr
23. CTI Software To install the CTI software place the CTI Installation Disk into your CD Rom drive and from the Windows desktop select Start Run At the Open prompt type x setup where x is the letter of your CD Rom drive Click OK and follow the onscreen instructions That s all there is to it If you d like to create a shortcut to your CTI software on your Windows desktop simply right click on any open space on the desktop and select New ShortCut from the pop up menu Browse to C Program Files x86 TBrain tbrain exe Click Next Then click Finish Now you re ready to roll Software Authorization The CTI software as shipped or downloaded via Internet runs in Demo mode Demo mode provides full functionality however after 10 minutes the program will cease communicating with the CTI network At that point you can continue working offline or restart the program To authorize normal operation select Settings Software Authorization from the program s main menu enter the authorization code printed on the back of the CD case then click OK From now on the software will run normally when started For those who downloaded the software via the Internet authorization codes are available from CTI Electronics The software with unlimited Version 6 upgrades costs 49 95 E Mail sales cti electronics com for details Introducing the Train Brain Before installing your CTI hardware it will help to become a b
24. Recall that in the Controls section we defined train to mean controller 1 on our Train Brain board As a result typing GO causes controller 1 s relay to close providing power to the train Conversely our program s second WHEN DO statement WHEN command STOP DO train OFF opens control relay 1 removing power from the train when STOP is entered at the keyboard It s important to note that the conditions following a WHEN and the actions following a DO need not be limited to single items In TCL any combination of conditions or actions are equally valid For example our program s third WHEN DO includes a list of three actions WHEN command PAUSE DO train OFF WAIT 5 train ON As we ve already learned train OFF causes the train to come to a stop The second action WAIT 5 is something new As its name implies the WAIT command causes execution of the remaining items in the DO list to be delayed by the number of seconds specified in this case 5 WAIT times may be specified to an accuracy of 1 100th of a second For example to cause a delay of five and one quarter seconds the corresponding WAIT command would be WAIT 5 25 Once 5 seconds have elapsed the third action restores power to the train and this WHEN DO statement is complete This capability to chain together a list of operations allows complex action sequences to be carried out in response to a single command from the keyboard Well that s our first TCL prog
25. So that s your first TCL program You re well on your way to mastering the art of computer controlled model railroading Summary In this lesson you have learned e How to open an existing railroad in the TBrain program e How to monitor and manually activate controllers using the Control window e How torun your TCL programs using TBrain Recommended Practice Exercises e Try running any supplemental practice exercises you created in Lesson 1 25 Lesson 3 Fully Automatic Operation Thus far you ve learned how to control the operation of your model railroad interactively from your PC using keyboard commands that you create In this lesson you ll learn to take the next big step having the PC control your layout automatically To illustrate the point we ll create an automated station stop Each time the train arrives at the station it will stop After 10 seconds two whistle blasts will blow to signal its departure and the train will leave the station To automate the operation we ll use the second half of our Train Brain board its sensor ports The Train Brain s sensor ports are ideal for detecting trains A variety of sensor kits including magnetic infrared light sensitive and current detecting sensors are available from CTI Here we ll consider a magnetic sensor part number TBO02 M The detector s two leads connect directly to one of the Train Brain s sensor ports The detector is then positioned at an appropriate point along t
26. To make programming the operation of your model railroad quick and easy CTI Electronics invented TCL the Train Control Language TCL is not a complicated computer language It uses a simple set of English language based commands to describe the operation of your railroad Using this description the CTI system learns to run your layout Later we ll introduce TBrain s powerful Graphical User Interface GUT tools which turn your PC into a true Centralized Traffic Control CTC facility You ll learn to build realistic CTC screens that portray train locations block occupancy signal and switch status in full color all updated in real time based on sensor reports sent back from your layout These CTC screens will also serve as interactive control tools responding to the click of a mouse to throw switches route trains set signals whatever But now we re getting ahead of ourselves As with all new things it s best to start out simply Our first step is to learn some TCL And there s no better way to do that than to jump right in and try out some examples Mastering the following few lessons will make you an expert These examples were purposely designed to be very simple some may even seem nonsensical They are solely intended to help you learn to use CTI with the least amount of effort You will then be able to apply these concepts to real world situations on your model railroad We highly recommend that you take the time to work
27. Typical PhotoSensor Schematic 174 Applications Note 3 Using CTI s Current Detection Sensor Kit Current detection is an excellent means to determine train location in layouts using block wiring A current detecting sensor responds to the presence of the finite resistance of a train s motor or conductive wheelsets in an isolated track block One sensor is required for each block Since the current detector is an all electronic device it requires no visible sensors on the layout as in infrared sensing and required no actuators mounted on engines as in magnetic sensing CTI s current detector CTI Part TB002 CD extends this concept by also sensing a train s direction of travel This capability makes it ideally suited to use in automating signaling systems where knowledge of not only block occupancy but also direction of travel is important Each of CTI s current sensor circuit boards features two such sensors We ll examine the function of a single sensor here The current detector circuit requires no additional power supply since it derives its own power from the track voltage It requires a minimum track voltage of 1 5 Volts to guarantee detection Note that the SmartCab maintains an idling voltage of 1 5 Volts for just this purpose so that a stopped train or abandoned rolling stock can still be detected as occupying the block The current detector s line terminals designated L1 and L2 on the PC board
28. a When Do statement For example When at_station True Do Log The train has arrived The current value of a variable or any other TCL entity can be printed in a message by preceding the entity s name by the symbol in the message text For example to display the current value of variable varl we might write When Do Log The value of varl var1 151 Section 7 Digital Command Control DCC Digital Command Control DCC uses instructions sent electrically via the rails to special purpose decoders installed in each engine to control the operation of trains This is in contrast to conventional locomotive control in which the voltage level to the track itself is varied to control the train s operation DCC makes it very easy to control the operation of multiple trains running on the same track No block wiring is required and any number of trains can be run simultaneously National Model Railroad Association NMRA sponsored industry standards define the operation of DCC based equipment ensuring the interoperability of hardware from various manufacturers Using CTI with DCC CTI s powerful TBrain model railroad operating system provides direct fully integrated support for DCC DCC hardware and the CTI system can now be joined working in tandem as a seamless integrated system Your command control system can respond automatically to CTI s sensors and work in partnership with CTI s a
29. above text to WHEN LeftMouse 15 10 1 Having done so we can immediately fill in the rest of our WHEN DOs to control our turnout WHEN LeftMouse 15 10 1 Do Switch 15 10 1 On WHEN RightMouse 15 10 1 Do Switch 15 10 1 Off That s it Now whenever we click on the turnout it s image will throw on the CTC panel Of course we ll also want to add action statements to the above WHEN DO s to handle the throwing of the physical turnout on our layout but we already know how to do that Try this technique on one or more of the turnouts on your sample track schematic Be sure to check out the Insert Grid Position feature of the TCL editor Then run your TCL program and try clicking on the turnouts on the CTC panel and see them throw in response to your mouse clicks to portray the state of the corresponding physical switch in your layout Controlling 3 Way Switches Tbrain s schematic editor toolkit also includes a variety of 3 way switches These are controlled with the same Switch statement we used above to program our 2 way switch We ll just need to be able to command an additional throw direction Three way switches can be controlled using the following rules e Setting a 3 way switch to the value 0 will throw the image to the straight non diverting aspect e Setting a 3 way switch to the value 1 causes the switch image to throw to the left hand curved aspect e Setting a 3 way switch to the value
30. actions directly into the When Do for the code start button 99 Panning CTC Panels In cases where the entire track schematic is too large to be viewed onscreen in its entirety the user can manually pan around the track schematic at any time using the slider controls located along the right and bottom edges of the CTC panel Panning may also be performed automatically from within a TCL program For example when a train travels into a region of the track schematic that is currently offscreen the CTC panel can automatically pan to follow the train into the newly occupied region of the track schematic Auto panning is accomplished using the Pan x y z action statement which causes grid square x y to be positioned at the upper lefthand corner of the window occupied by CTC panel z For example When Block4_Occupied True Do Pan 20 20 1 100 Introducing Sprites At this point we re able to draw a realistic schematic of our track layout We know how to make it respond to mouse clicks and how to update it in real time to portray the ownership of track blocks the position of turnouts and the state of signals on our layout But one very important aspect of our CTC panel is still missing What about the trains As with a prototypical CTC panel we d also like to be able to portray the locations of trains as determined by reports sent back by our sensors as they move about the layout We can and in this section y
31. adapter lt not supported gt DigiTrax LocoBuffer II LocoBuffer USB lt not supported gt Lionel TMCC lt built in gt 3 party USB to COM adapter lt not supported gt Wangrow System One lt built in gt 3 party USB to COM adapter lt not supported gt Once your DCC hardware is installed you II need to tell Tbrain which DCC system you re using and to which of your PC s interface ports it s connected To do so select the DCC System Setup item from Tbrain s main menu Make the appropriate selections and you ll be ready to roll Creating Your DCC Fleet Roster The first step in automating the operation of your DCC system is to create the database that TBrain will use to control your fleet of DCC equipped engines TBrain s built in fleet roster tool makes the process quick and painless To begin select the DCC Engine Data item from Tbrain s main menu In response TBrain opens its fleet roster tool which for the moment contains only an empty list box and some buttons Click on the New button to add a new engine to the fleet TBrain opens its engine data editor worksheet where you ll give the new engine a meaningful name and specify its DCC address and decoder parameters 153 Engine Name DCC Address inertia Method Name and Address RFID Tag Name BNSF_7520 DCC Address 3 OK Cancel Addressing Mode Speed Resolution Inertia Adjust User Defined C 14 steps C Program CVs 3 4 0 Useri C 28 steps
32. any higher than 18 Volts D C This power supply enters the Yardmaster through the V and V terminals located at the top of the left hand connector strip A few words of warning are in order Many model railroaders will be accustomed to using the accessory voltage output of their train transformer to power their switch machines This A C voltage is incompatible with the integrated circuits used by the YardMaster Likewise even the D C output of most train transformers is incompatible with the YardMaster since that voltage is seldom more than a rectified copy of the raw A C sine wave Apply only a filtered D C power supply to the YardMaster s V V inputs and be sure to wire it in the proper polarity positive voltage to V ground to V A wide variety of low cost filtered D C power supplies exist Examples include CTI s own TBO003 C see the Accessories page of our catalog or Radio Shack s Part 22 504 Any electronics store will sell a good quality reasonably priced filtered 12V D C supply If you re not sure that your DC power source is sufficiently filtered simply connect one or more good sized capacitors e g 4700 uF across its outputs Be sure to observe correct polarity and choose capacitors rated for at least 1 5 times the output voltage of the supply Observe Polarity and Voltage Ratings V Unfiltered DC Power Supply YardMaster Filtering an Unfiltered Power Supp
33. are provided by TCL s If Then Else statement In it s simplest form the syntax of the Jf Then statement is When lt conditions gt Do lt actions gt If lt conditions gt Then lt actions gt EndIf lt actions gt In it s more general form the Jf Then Else statement s syntax is When lt conditions gt Do lt actions gt If lt conditions gt Then lt actions gt Elself lt conditions gt Then lt actions gt Elself lt conditions gt Then lt actions gt Else lt actions gt EndIf lt actions gt The keywords If Then and EndIf are mandatory as part of all Jf statements Optionally any number of Elself clauses as well as a final Else clause may also be included 107 The syntax for specifying conditions in an Zf clause as well as in an Else or ElseIf clause is the same as that for a When clause If the conditions are met the actions following the Then keyword are executed If the conditions are not met the actions within the Then clause are skipped Looping Once a When Do statement is triggered there may be situations when it is desired that some or all of its actions repeat a given number of times or indefinitely until some other condition is met That capability is provided by the Until Loop statement This statement takes the form When lt conditions gt Do lt actions gt Until lt conditions gt Loop lt actions gt EndLoop lt actions gt The actions bet
34. as the Signal action statement For example When Signal 2 2 1 Red Do testing a fixed signal When Signal 3 3 2 RYG Do testing an addressable signal 95 Re Coloring Track Images On the Fly Color is probably the most important visual tool for quickly portraying changing layout conditions to a human operator TCL provides a full set of built in functions that make it easy to change the color of on screen images in response to physical events taking place on your layout The first of these is the Color Track action statement which takes the form Color Track x y z lt color value gt As usual x y z refers to the CTC panel grid location of the track section to be re colored lt Color value gt indicates the desired color of the track section TCL recognizes several of the most common colors by name These include BLACK WHITE GRAY RED GREEN BLUE YELLOW BROWN and PURPLE These can be used directly in the Color Track command For example When DO Color Track x y z Blue However your PC has the ability to display over 16 million colors And all are available in TCL Since it would obviously be impossible to come up with a unique name for each one the TCL Editor includes an Insert Color Code feature available in TBrain s Edit menu that lets you choose from a visual sampler of each available color Simply pick from the color palette that appears as a result of selecting
35. coil switch machine connected to the Yardmaster is shown below Simply connect the switch machine power supply s and outputs to the V and V terminals of the Yardmaster respectively and each of the machine s control leads to a YardMaster controller OpenSwitch A 12V CloseSwitch B Filtered DC YardMaster Single Coil Switch Machine Basic Connection of a Single Coil Switch Machine to the YardMaster To throw the switch simply pulse one of the two YardMaster controllers connected to the switch machine For example to control the turnout using a Quick Key we could write Controls OpenSwitch CloseSwitch spare 14 QKeys Open Close Actions When Open Left Do OpenSwitch Pulse 0 1 When Close Left Do CloseSwitch Pulse 0 1 74 Optimized Control Of Single Coil Solenoid Driven Switch Machines If cost is a concern using a variation on the traditional capacitor discharge switch machine circuit we can control a single coil machine using a single Yardmaster controller A wiring diagram illustrating this technique is shown below Observe Polarity and Voltage Ratings Single Coil Capacitor Switch Machines Direction1 1 12V Filtered Be Direction2 YardMaster Direction16 Optimized Connection of Single Coil Switch Machines to the YardMaster A second advantage of this approach is that it is failsafe than
36. commanded also maintains an idling voltage for use with systems employing current detection To optimize performance with a variety of model railroad gauges the maximum output voltage supplied by the Smart Cab is adjustable using the tweaking potentiometer located near the center of the PC board To change this setting see Maximizing Smart Cab Performance later in this section Of course the output of the Smart Cab will always be limited by the voltage supplied by your transformer even if the maximum voltage adjustment is set to a higher value Direction Control Under command from the Smart Cab s microprocessor the Direction Control Unit automatically regulates output voltage polarity to control the direction of the locomotive On board safeguard logic will automatically bring a moving train to a full stop before carrying out a direction change request from the PC The direction control unit is located near the top right hand side of the Smart Cab board 40 Power Generation amp Conditioning The Smart Cab s power conditioning unit PCU generates the actual voltage supplied to your locomotive The PCU continually monitors Smart Cab s output voltage and responds instantly to maintain a constant output voltage independent of changes in load Automatic overload protection and thermal shutdown circuitry are included in its design The PCU employs a state of the art high efficiency voltage regulator occupying the upper half
37. controller 2 on Train Brain 1 etc Since there are four controllers on each Train Brain the fifth name listed corresponds to controller 1 on Train Brain 2 and so forth The order in which controllers are listed is important because that s how CTI forms an association between your meaningful name and a physical controller in your Train Brain network That s also why any unused controllers must be designated as spare This allows CTI to keep track of precisely which controller corresponds to which name If you re ever in doubt as to which names correspond to which physical controllers use the Network Show Modules menu item to see where TBrain thinks each controller name is located With the controllers aptly named we re ready to move on to the Actions section of the TCL program It s here that you ll tell TBrain how to run your layout As you can see the Actions section of a TCL program consists of a series of statements of the form 21 WHEN lt these conditions exist gt DO lt these actions gt Each WHEN DO statement describes one aspect of the operation of your railroad It s the one and only statement you ll need to know to become an expert TCL programmer Let s look at our program s first WHEN DO statement a bit more closely WHEN command GO DO train ON In TCL the command keyword refers to your commands entered at the keyboard Thus our first WHEN DO statement says When I type GO turn on the train
38. controlling the levers and lamps independently The illustrations below show the available aspects for switch and signal levers 98 o Off 1 On 2 3 1 istathrown Switch x y z lt signal aspect value gt for US amp S Switch Levers Switch x y z lt signal aspect value gt for US amp S Signal Levers The example below illustrates the control of switch and signal levers and the transmission of the commands using the code start button Here the switch lever is assumed to be located at grid square 1 1 1 the signal lever 1 5 1 and the code start button 2 10 1 move the switch lever When SLeftMouse 1 1 4 1 Do SSwitch 1 1 1 2 When SLeftMouse 3 1 4 1 Do SSwitch 1 1 1 3 move the signal lever When LeftMouse 1 5 8 1 Do Switch 1 5 1 3 When SLeftMouse 2 5 8 1 Do Switch 1 5 1 4 When LeftMouse 3 5 8 1 Do Switch 1 5 1 5 respond to the code start button When LeftMouse 2 10 1 Do If Switch 1 1 1 2 Then SSwitch 1 1 1 0 EndIf If Switch 1 1 1 3 Then Switch 1 1 1 1 EndIf If Switch 1 5 1 3 Then Switch 1 5 1 0 EndIf If Switch 1 5 1 4 Then Switch 1 5 1 1 EndIf If S Switch 1 5 1 5 Then Switch 1 5 1 2 EndIf add actions to control the physical turnout and signal here Of course we ll also want to add the action statements to configure the physical turnout and signal on the layout We can add those
39. couldn t be solved So good luck Enjoy the world of computer control And most of all Happy Railroading CTI Electronics 181
40. each engine in the consist To remove an engine from the consist simply reverse the above process Click on the engine name in the consist then click anywhere in the available engines list box to return the engine to the pool of available motive power Once the consist is configured click the Activate button to program the decoders in the selected engines to switch to consist mode Note All engines in the consist must be standing still on the track with the DCC system operational for this programming to occur You can define consists at any time but you ll need to activate them before the consist definition takes effect Once activated all members of the consist will now respond in unison to commands sent to the consist s DCC address To illustrate create a new DCC throttle and click its list box The list should now include the name of your newly defined consist Select it as the item to be controlled by this throttle When you move the speed slider control all members of the lash up should now respond in unison Members oriented in the forward direction should move forward and members oriented in the backward direction should now move in reverse To disband an active consist select the desired consist in the Consists window s list box then use the Disband button to deactivate it Tbrain will ask you to confirm the deactivation Tbrain will then de program the decoders in all members of the consist to return them
41. five beacons correctly set up and ready to roll As was the case in our earlier station stop example when a train exits the staging yard onto the mainline the transponder or RFID reader in block A will detect it and send a report to TBrain In response TBrain will automatically update BeaconA to point to that train But what about the remaining blocks that aren t transponder equipped instead having a simple block occupancy sensor For each of those blocks we ll achieve the same functionality as our hardware beacon with a single line of TCL code Since a beacon is a TCL entity just like any other we can assign it a value as part of the action ina When Do For instance When SensorB True Do BeaconB BeaconA In this statement when the block occupancy sensor in block B detects a train entering block B from block A we copy the value of block A s beacon our hardware beacon into the beacon for block B a soft beacon As a result BeaconB now points to the DCC engine currently 168 occupying block B It s just as if block B had been transponder equipped Then we ll simply do the same for each of our remaining track blocks for example When SensorC True Do BeaconC BeaconB Next we ll add TCL code to stop a train as it enters a new block if traffic is present in the block ahead Here s a representative When Do statement for one of our blocks in this case block B When SensorB True Do When a train enters block
42. form SUB SubroutineName Parami Param2 lt actions gt ENDSUB The SUB keyword signals the beginning of a subroutine declaration It is followed by a unique name for the subroutine we re about to create Next a list of names for the parameters passed to our subroutine is given enclosed in parentheses with each name separated by a comma Occasionally a subroutine may not require any parameters at all In that case an empty set of parentheses is required e g SUB MySubWithNoParams Next a set of TCL action statements form the body of the subroutine Collectively these define the functions performed by the subroutine Any statements that can be placed in the Do clause of a When Do can also be used in a subroutine Finally the TCL keyword ENDSUB denotes the end of the subroutine declaration Subroutines may be declared anywhere in the Actions section of a TCL program However a subroutine s declaration must be made prior to the first use of that subroutine by a When Do statement so that the subroutine is known to the compiler when a call to it is encountered Once a subroutine is declared it may be called from a When Do statement or from another subroutine by including its name as part of that When Do s list of actions as shown below When lt conditions gt Do lt actions gt SubroutineName Param1 Param2 lt more actions gt 118 The subroutine s name is followed by a list
43. integrated media controls employ an older legacy sound driver used in earlier versions of TBrain before WMP existed It lacks the fancy graphics of the media player and is limited to playing audio CDs and wav audio files but due to its simplicity has a high probability of working on virtually all versions of Windows 148 Lesson 21 Odds and Ends Using Tbrain s Simulator Feature The TBrain program provides a simulator feature that allows checking out your TCL code before using it on your layout In fact you don t even need a CTI network installed so you can run it on any PC Simulator mode is activated using the Simulate item in TBrain s Railroad menu In simulator mode sensor activation can be simulated by clicking on the sensor indicator in the Sensors window select Sensors in the View menu to activate the sensor screen In addition while in Simulate mode sensors may be the target of the actions in a TCL When Do statement allowing simulated operational scenarios to be constructed and played back via TCL During live operation sensors cannot be assigned values via TCL since their values are tied directly to the states of the physical sensors on the layout TCL based assignments to sensors made during non simulated operation are ignored In response to a simulated sensor activation your TCL code s WHEN DO statements will respond just as though an actual sensor triggering had occurred on you
44. is communicating reliably with the tag Once you ve decided on the best mounting location for your situation installation is straightforward Connect the reader and network PCBs using the supplied ribbon cable as shown in the photo above The RFID module requires a power supply in the range of 9 to 12 Volts D C the same as all other CTI modules Power enters through the power supply jack located on the network PC board The reader connects to the CTI network using the same PC interface as all CTI modules Simply install your RFID reader s anywhere into your CTI network using the modular phone jacks located on the network board Remember to connect your CTI boards to form a closed loop always wiring from RED to GREEN see Hooking Up Your CTI System in Section 1 if you d like more details RFID Tag ID Codes Once a tag is installed on a train the identification code reported by that tag must be associated with that train To do so we ll use the RFID Tag textbox in the Engine Data worksheet for this engine Use the DCC Engine Data menu item to open the Engine Data worksheet for a new or existing engine 165 RFID Tag Identification Code 2 Add A New Engine to the Fleet i kololia Name and ddress RFID Tag Name BNSF_7520 DCC Address 3 01004473FC OK Cancel Addressing Mode Speed Resolution Inertia Adjust User Defined C 14 steps C Program CVs 3 4 0 Useri C 28 steps C Program Cis 23 24 0 User2 128 steps
45. is just another TCL entity so in a more complicated example feel free to operate on it in any way allowed in TCL A type 2 message box again provides a prompt and a series of clickable buttons However in this case the user may select any combination of the buttons instead of just one Then when the user clicks the OK button placed in the query box automatically by Tbrain the box closes and a value indicating the combination of buttons pressed by the user is placed in the QueryResponse entity In this case that value is a bitmask with a bit representing the state of each of the buttons A 1 indicates that the corresponding button was pressed a 0 indicates that it was not Most often our TCL code will then need to test each bit in the bitmask and take some action if a particular bit is set To make that task easy TBrain also provides an array of TCL entities called QueryBit Following a user s response to a type 2 Query QueryBit 0 will be True if the leftmost button was pressed and False if it was not QueryBit 1 will be True if the next button was pressed etc This makes it a simple matter for our TCL code to test the state of each button As an example consider a signaling application in which IR sensors are located at the boundaries between track blocks to detect the entry and exit of trains into and out of blocks In this case at startup we d need a way to initialize signal states assuming
46. load 36 We think it s worth comparing SmartCab s features to the throttles employed in other computer control systems which consist of nothing more than a simple transistor turned quickly on and off to vary motor speed This technique is commonly used to control the speed of high horsepower industrial motors Unfortunately when applied to the tiny motors used in model trains which lack sufficient torque it causes vibration noise overheating and premature motor wear Its only advantage is that it s cheap We think you ll be quite surprised at how much better your engines perform when run by the SmartCab Since we ll be looking at automated train control in the very next section we ll take a much closer look at the SmartCab there Module Summary The following table summarizes the capabilities of CTI s control module family CTI Control Module Summary Controls Controls Maximum plete per Control Type Current Voltage paaa EH oe Module Per Control finale Tan Brain Brain ae binge Taps 12 50 7 50 witc 120 Volts SPDT Relay 10 Amps Dash 8 l 12 50 NA NA A SPST Transistor 2 Amps HOORNEN me e e e m ce w e e e e ee l peee e 20 Volts Installation Like the original Train Brain just plug any of CTI s other control or sensing modules anywhere into your CTI network using an additional module phone cord always remembering to wire from Red output to Green input Any number of modules can be combin
47. loop ole ejo ejo ojo To CTI Modules From CTI Modules Modular TypeA TypeB Phone Cords cTI Diplexer USB Cable Type A to Type B A USB based CTI Network The next time the PC is powered up Windows should announce that newly installed plug and play hardware has been detected The new hardware should be identified as a CTI to USB Bridge If you get such an indication then the bridge board has successfully established communications with the PC The LED on the CTI USB Bridge should change from Red to Yellow Yellow indicates that the board has established communications with the PC but is not currently exchanging data with the CTI network We ll change that shortly as we check out the CTI system hardware 15 Checking Out Your CTI System Now it s time to check out your CTI network Begin by applying power to each of the Train Brain boards See the description of the Train Brain s power supply requirements in the Installation section above if you have any questions You can tell a lot about the Train Brain by watching the LED located near the center of the board Soon after power is applied the LED should light That means the Train Brain board has successfully powered up checked itself out and is ready to begin communicating with the PC Verify that all Train Brain boards are behaving this way If not recheck the power supply Ifa voltmeter is available verify that the voltage is between 9 and 12 vol
48. lt Color gt control with graphical sprites above It works just the same with message sprites Use the name of one of the recognized common colors or insert a color code using TBrain s Insert Color Code tool in the Edit menu The font controls string is something new It consists of a group of control fields each separated by the character and collectively enclosed between double quotes The first control field the only one of which is mandatory is the font name which must be specified precisely as the font is named in Windows The next field is an optional font size In addition Bold and Italic fields may be added to further control the font face Placement of the message text may be controlled by a 2 character text alignment field which takes one of the values UL upper left UC upper center UR upper right CL center left CC center center CR center right LL lower left LC lower center LR lower right For example 103 Draw Message 3 2 1 Hello World In Blue Using Courier 12 Bold ItalicSUL displays its Hello World message in blue using an italicized bold 12 point Courier font beginning in the upper left corner of grid square 3 2 1 Since entering the font control string can be an error prone process TBrain provides a failsafe shortcut found under the Edit Insert Font Control menu item Using this method TBrain automatically fills in the font control of a Draw M
49. of the board The PCU produces a smooth continuous DC waveform This is in marked contrast to other systems whose throttle consists of nothing more than a simple transistor turned quickly on and off to chop the DC waveform You ll be surprised how much smoother quieter and cooler your engines run with the Smart Cab and as a result how much longer they last The PCU s heatsinks may feel warm during operation This is perfectly normal Natural convection cooling is used to dissipate heat so locate the Smart Cab board so as to ensure adequate ventilation If the power module gets too warm it will automatically shut down If the heatsink feels unusually hot you are overloading the unit If so see Maximizing Smart Cab Performance later in this section Digital Power Supply In addition to the power supplied for use by the locomotive the Smart Cab board requires a separate power supply dedicated to its onboard digital computer This digital supply enters the Smart Cab through the black power supply jack located in the lower left hand corner of the PC board As with the Train Brain this power supply should be in the range of 9 to 12 Volts D C The same low cost U L approved power supply available from CTI for use with the Train Brain is also compatible with the Smart Cab For those who wish to supply their own power source the Smart Cab board is shipped with the appropriate power supply plug to mate with Smart Cab s pow
50. of values to be passed to it as parameters again enclosed in parentheses with each value separated by a comma If the subroutine receives no parameters an empty set of parentheses is required A value passed to a subroutine may be any valid TCL identifier including predefined TCL keywords e g On Off True False numeric values user defined constants entity names controls sensors signal names etc text strings CTC panel coordinates etc When the subroutine call is encountered execution of the calling When Do moves to the first action statement in the referenced subroutine Once the subroutine has completed execution resumes at the next action if any following the subroutine call Subroutine Calling Rules A When Do may call multiple subroutines and subroutines may call other subroutines Because TCL is a multi tasking language in which multiple When Do statements execute concurrently it is possible for two or more When Do s to desire access to the same subroutine simultaneously In this case TBrain automatically arbitrates between the conflicting requests If a subroutine is currently owned by a When Do execution of any additional When Do s that attempt to call that same subroutine are temporarily suspended at the point of the call Their execution resumes once the subroutine is again available for use Generally this behavior is transparent to the user but it should be kept in mind when writing subroutines t
51. place It also requires the installation of new transponder equipped decoders into all locomotives This can make it difficult and expensive to incorporate transponding into an existing model railroad Fortunately there s another alternative During the years in which transponding was being developed and debated by the NMRA something interesting happened a revolutionary new technology emerged Developed independently of model railroading radio frequency identification or RFID for short uses radio waves to transfer data from an electronic tag attached to an object to a reader for the purpose of identifying and tracking the object The RFID tag includes a tiny radio transmitter and receiver An RFID reader transmits an encoded radio signal to interrogate the tag The tag receives the message and responds with its identification information RFID is now used in many applications A tag can be affixed to any object to manage inventory collect tolls identify people animals etc But for our immediate purposes it can also be used to identify trains As you can tell from its description RFID solves very much the same problem as DCC transponding But RFID has a number of significant advantages All of the complicated block wiring and decoder installation required to use DCC transponding are gone In fact RFID requires no wiring at all Installation simply involves placing the tag on the train and the reader near the track And becau
52. procedure for each error message until your TCL program is error free Check the Network Status pane on TBrain s status bar It should now read Online Running That means the network is communicating normally and that TBrain is now running your TCL program If the status pane indicates Offline you probably didn t select the go online at startup option in TBrain s Network Settings window in Lesson 1 You can go online manually by clicking the Online toolbar button or by selecting Network Online on TBrain s main menu 24 Before we try out each of the commands we ve created to control our train take a few minutes to poke around in some of TBrain s other menus Tbrain s View menu lists a number of items that are useful for controlling and monitoring the operation of your railroad The most important ones will be the CTC panels but we ll examine those later For now select Controllers from the View Menu A Controls window appears Recall that in our TCL program we defined a single controller named Train which was the first controller on our Train Brain board The remaining controllers were designated as spare Each of these controllers is shown in the Controls window The lighted pushbutton next to each controller name represents its current state At this point all should be green Off Try clicking one of the pushbuttons The button s color should change t
53. shown below Simply connect each of the machine s control leads to a YardMaster controller OpenSwitch CloseSwitch aL ov 1 Filtered DC y YardMaster Stall Motor Switch Machine 330 Ohm 1 4 Watt Resistor Basic Connection of a Stall Motor Switch Machine to the YardMaster Because stall motors can be left running after the turnout moves into position the TCL code to control the switch using our QuickKey simply becomes When Open Left Do OpenSwitch On CloseSwitch Off When Close Left Do OpenSwitch Off CloseSwitch On Note The resistor shown in the wiring diagram above is optional but highly recommended It serves two very useful functions First since stall motor machines are left on continuously the resistor reduces the current draw of the switch machine while the points are held for extended periods in their stalled position thereby keeping the YardMaster and switch machine both running nice and cool Second the resistor eliminates the possibility of a short circuit in the switch machine wiring possibly damaging the YardMaster s output circuit as well as the switch machine Unfortunately the terminal strips commonly sold by many hobby suppliers to facilitate wiring to Tortoise machines do not mate accurately with the connecting fingers on the Tortoise machine A slight physical misalignment between the terminal strip and the Tortoise machine s edge connector results in a
54. signal manufacturers regrettably don t color code their wires so it s often hard to tell which is which If the signal is too bright or too dim adjust the Signal Brightness slider control in the Signals section of Tbrain s Settings Hardware Settings menu item If the signals don t seem to work at all make sure they are the correct type for use with the Signalman board you are using Other Signaling Applications In the above discussion we ve concentrated on railroad related signaling But to the Signalman a signal is just a collection of lights Use your imagination and you ll come up with lots of other applications for the Signalman The real world is full of illuminated visual indicators and reproducing these in miniature can really bring a model railroad to life TCL makes controlling signals so easy there s virtually no limit to the effects you can achieve Here are just a few e Airport guidance lights that flash in sequence to guide planes toward the runway Blinking warning beacons atop communications towers water towers etc Marquis signs with chaser lights at circuses carnivals movie theaters etc Traffic lights that sequence regularly on a timed basis Flashers on police fire equipment tow trucks school busses etc Blinkers at construction sights Campfires that flicker randomly using a random number generator to control the LED 62 Section 5 Controlling Switches Switches are an essential part
55. strings However humans can always use some help in making their TCL code more understandable to other humans and to themselves when they try to read code they wrote a year ago Many programming languages provide the means to declare human friendly user defined constants that can help make programs easier to understand TCL is no exception In the Constants section of your TCL program you can declare and assign a value to constants of your own choosing Then you can use them in your TCL code to make it easier to understand what your code is doing Any value that can be understood by TCL can be declared as a constant For example Constants Diverging On Occupied True NORAC Rule281 Number_of_Blocks 8 110 Then the more meaningful constant s name can be used in your TCL code wherever the less meaningful value would have applied For example When Block Occupied Do Switch1_Direction Diverging Signal3 NORAC_Rule281 This version of code is much more meaningful than the generic equivalent When Block True Do Switch1_ Direction On Signal3 111 Indirect Addressing The TBrain program assigns every entity in the CTI system controllers sensors signals SmartCabs and variables a memory location or address in PC memory where that entity s value is stored When we access the entity as part of the action in a DO or the condition in a WHEN we are in reality accessing this memory
56. supplied to the Signalman via its black power supply jack to provide power to its microprocessor 55 Heatsink Installation Before powering up your Signalman board s install the heatsink supplied with each of the boards using the mounting hardware provided The heatsink should be attached to the voltage regulator located next to the board s power supply jack near the upper left hand corner of the PC board Heatsink A Lock Washer Nut Bolt is Voltage Regulator Heatsink Mounting Procedure Adjusting Signal Brightness Signal brightness may be adjusted at any time by using the Tbrain program s Settings Hardware Settings menu item Simply position the Signal Brightness slider bar to achieve the desired brightness Note that when using the incandescent version of the Signalman the voltage applied to the signals and therefore the maximum signal brightness is determined by the setting of the Signalman s onboard voltage adjustment potentiometer The software controlled brightness adjustment within Tbrain then yields a lamp intensity that is a percentage of this maximum value Power up Signal State After initial power up or following a reset the Signalman places all signal controllers in the OFF state i e no signal lamps illuminated Your TCL code can then initialize the signals as desired to configure the initial state of your railroad operations 56 Lesson 8 Controlling Your Sig
57. the Insert Color Code tool and the TCL editor will automatically insert the corresponding color code into your TCL program The color code may look like a rather meaningless sequence of numbers and letters To TBrain it indicates the relative intensity of the PC s three primary colors Red Green and Blue from which all other 16 million colors are produced It s important to note that despite its name the Color Track statement can control the color of any onscreen image including pushbuttons and text not just that of a track section For example Color Track could be used to implement lighted pushbutton switches whose color portrays information about the physical item the switch controls For instance if we placed a pushbutton symbol at grid location 10 5 1 on our CTC panel we could write When LeftMouse 10 5 1 Do Color Track 10 5 1 Green Turn the button Green When RightMouse 10 5 1 Do Color Track 10 5 1 Red Turn the button Red 96 Re Coloring Track Blocks The Color Track command is quite useful but more often than not we ll be interested in changing the color of an entire track block for example to indicate block ownership block occupancy rather than of that of an individual track section We could of course change the color of a block by writing a Color Track statement for every track section in the block but fortunately there s a much
58. the name of the sound file you wish Tbrain to play The filename should always be enclosed within double quotes Tbrain supports virtually all popular sound file formats Note If the sound file is not located in the same directory as the Tbrain program you ll need to specify its full path in the filename e g SOUND C My Sounds bell wav If Tbrain can t find the sound file TCL program execution simply continues with the next action statement Using the SOUND statement you can also play a track of an audio compact disk For example WHEN at_station TRUE DO SOUND CDTRACK 5 Play arrival announcement Here CDTRACK 5 tells TBrain to play track 5 of the audio disk currently in the CD drive 145 Playing Sounds Repeatedly A Sound statement may optionally be followed by the REPEAT keyword which tells Tbrain to play the selected sound file or CD track repeatedly This technique is particularly useful for playing sounds that are generally long in duration but which are made up of a simple sound snippet which is repeated many times For example to ring a warning bell while a train is in a grade crossing we could use a sound file that might be several minutes in length and therefore consumes a large amount of disk memory Alternatively we could use a very short sound file consisting of a single bell ding which is played over and over using the REPEAT keyword For example WHEN at_crossing TRUE DO
59. this characteristic and may be used as sensors Examples include manual switches magnetic reed switches photo transistors CdS photocells Hall Effect switches thermistors TTL logic gates motion detectors pressure sensors etc To illustrate the point let s interface the Train Brain s sensor port to an infrared photodetector This is a popular choice for detecting trains on model railroads An infrared transmitter photodiode is positioned on one side of the track An infrared receiver phototransistor is positioned on the opposite side As long as light from the photodiode reaches the phototransistor the transistor conducts providing a low impedance path between its collector and emitter As the train passes it breaks the light beam With no infrared light hitting the phototransistor it stops conducting and presents a high impedance between its collector and emitter From this description it s clear that the phototransistor meets the definition of a Train Brain sensor Photodetectors are inexpensive and very reliable While CTI sells an infrared detector for the do it yourselfers among us we ll use parts readily available at Radio Shack to illustrate the design and construction of a Train Brain infrared sensor The Radio Shack part numbers are 276 143C photodiode and 276 145 phototransistor The circuit below is all that s required Sensor Port R 3 Ohms Connector A i Train Brain I Board l B l 276 143C l 276
60. to communicate with the Smart Cab we ll first need a simple TCL program like the one shown below A Very Simple Smart Cab Program Controls Spare spare spare spare Sensors Spare spare spare spare SmartCabs cabl As you already know the Controls and Sensors sections refer to the Train Brain board in our rudimentary CTI system For now they re not being used at all and are listed as spare We ll be using them in the next lesson when we demonstrate automatic Smart Cab control In your TCL programs the SmartCabs section tells the CTI system how many Smart Cab boards are installed and gives each one a meaningful name As we ve already mentioned Train Brains and Smart Cabs can be intermixed in any way in your CTI network In the SmartCabs section you list the Smart Cabs in the order that they appear in your CTI network It doesn t matter if there are Train Brains located between them Like everything else in the TCL language Smart Cab names must be 16 characters or less and must begin with a letter which may be followed by any combination of letters numbers or the underscore character _ Here we ve given our only Smart Cab the name cabl Now it s time to try out that Smart Cab Enter the above railroad file using the TCL editor or open the existing copy at C Program Files Tbrain Lesson5 Now check out TBrain s View menu You should find that the throttles selection is now enabled a result of d
61. to give it the same DCC address as the old one prior to placing it in service Second we could rewrite our TCL code to use the name of the new engine Neither of these alternatives is very attractive In this lesson well examine two more palatable alternatives transponding and RFID DCC Transponding The 3rd generation DCC decoders now hitting the market have been designed to address this train identification problem These new decoders include a bidirectional communications capability allowing them to respond to an inquiry from the command station with a beacon identifying their engine That way when a train is detected at the station Tbrain will know which engine it is and can create a command specifically addressed to that engine to stop it Akin to the VHS BetaMax rivalry of the 1970s two versions of this beacon technology have emerged The first introduced by DigiTrax is generically termed transponding The second developed by Lenz is known as RailComm Sadly the two approaches are incompatible After years of dragging its heels the NMRA has finally made a decision adopting the later approach as the DCC industry standard Each method has its share of advantages and disadvantages In the end will one win out over the other Only time will tell Either way TBrain will support both systems Currently TBrain includes built in support for DigiTrax 160 transponding which is the more matu
62. track sections are laid down by activating the Pushbutton tool in the toolkit Likewise the color of the button can be set at design time using the color tool and can be changed during operation by your TCL program Signals Signals can be placed at any point along the track schematic using one of the Signal tools from the toolkit When placed they will be displayed with all signal lights dimmed Later using TCL code you ll be able to activate any combination of signal lights to portray any signal aspect Text Text can be placed on the schematic to label sidings switches etc Text is placed by activating the Text tool in the toolkit Then each time you click in a grid square you ll be prompted to input the text and be given the option to select it s font size and alignment The color of each text item can be controlled at design time using the Schematic Editor s color tool just as with regular track sections The color of text can also be changed while your layout is running using instructions in your TCL program Note however that the textual content of a static text item is fixed and can t be changed during operation of your layout Later we ll learn about a special type of text called message text whose content can be changed at any time using instructions in your TCL program Use static text for things that won t change siding turnout numbers pushbutton labels etc whi
63. train has passed the station Therein lies another application of variables Consider the TCL program listing below Yet another automated station stop Controls station_stop whistle spare spare Sensors at_station spare spare spare Variables count Actions WHEN at_station TRUE DO count WHEN count 10 DO _ station_stop ON wait 10 whistle PULSE 2 wait 1 whistle PULSE 2 station_stop OFF count 0 80 Compare the WHEN DO statements of this version of the program with those of Lesson 3 Notice that the WHEN at_station TRUE condition no longer results in a station stop Instead its DO clause looks like this DO count The plus sign is a predefined TCL operator which means add one to what s on the other side of the sign in this case the variable count There s a complementary minus sign operator too Thus count gets incremented every time the at_station sensor is triggered In other words the variable count is keeping track of how many times the train has passed the station n The second WHEN DO statement looks very much like the WHEN DO of our original station stop program Only this time the WHEN condition requires that the variable count be equal to 10 Therefore the tenth time the train passes the station the train will stop as desired One more important point Note that at the end of the second WHEN DO the program sets count back to zero so it can again begi
64. turn on the transformer feeding the Smart Cab and using a Smart Cab pop up throttle select the maximum speed setting of 100 4 Slowly begin turning the adjustment screw clockwise The output voltage of the Smart Cab should begin to rise Stop when the train reaches the highest speed you ll ever want to run Your Smart Cab is now optimized to your railroad s operation All 100 command steps are now available for use with your locomotive Controlling Idling Voltage For use in systems employing current detection sensors the Smart Cab may be commanded to maintain a small idling voltage at a throttle setting of 0 so that a stopped train may still be detected by the current sensor This feature may be enabled disabled using the Settings Hardware Settings menu item in the Tbrain program Check the Maintain Idling Voltage checkbox to enable the idling voltage feature and uncheck the checkbox to turn off the idling voltage feature 47 Diagnosing Performance Problems Under normal use Smart Cab should work fine with all D C operated gauges from Z through G In rare circumstances a few minor adjustments may be required These are summarized below Problem Solution Some of my Z or N gauge engines creep slowly at a speed setting of 0 For layouts using current detecting sensors Smart Cab may be commanded to maintain an idling voltage at a speed setting of 0 Be sure this feature is turned off when no
65. us give each of the Train Brain s sensors a meaningful name The same rules governing controller names also apply here And just like for controllers sensor names must be listed in the order in which they occur on your Train Brain boards Here we just need one sensor to detect when the train has arrived at the station Much of the remainder of the program should look familiar You ve seen the format of the WHEN DO statement before when you used it to accept your commands from the keyboard Now you ll use it again to check for the arrival of the train at the station Sensors can trigger events automatically by including them as a condition in a WHEN DO statement In TCL activated sensors are defined as TRUE Inactive sensors are defined as FALSE Our station stop s WHEN clause looks like this WHEN at_station TRUE This statement tells TBrain to monitor the state of the Train Brain s first sensor which we ve named at_station As the train reaches the station the sensor is activated i e it becomes TRUE and the WHEN condition is satisfied That causes TBrain to begin executing the list of commands following the DO As a result of the first two commands in the list station_stop ON WAIT 10 the train stops and waits for 10 seconds Notice that turning the station_stop controller on causes the train to stop That s because we ve wired the track power to the normally closed side of the SPDT switch Activating the relay bre
66. 2 causes the switch image to throw to the right hand curved aspect e Setting a 3 way switch to any other value will draw the image in its default state i e no throw position indicated The TCL keyword Unthrown can be used to redraw a switch in its default state 91 Controlling 4 Way Switches Tbrain s schematic editor toolkit also includes a set of 4 way double slip switches These are controlled with the same Switch statement we used above to program our other switches We ll just need to be able to command an additional throw direction Four way switches can be controlled using the following rules e Setting a 4 way switch to the value O will throw the image to the horizontal or vertical through aspect e Setting a 4 way switch to the value 1 causes the switch image to throw to the diagonal through aspect e Setting a 4 way switch to the value 2 or 3 causes the switch image to throw to either of its two diverging aspects e Setting a 4 way switch to any other value will draw the image in its default state i e no throw position indicated The TCL keyword Unthrown can be used to redraw a switch in its default state Using Onscreen Turnouts as Conditions in TCL The state of an onscreen turnout icon may be used as a condition in a TCL When Do statement The format is the same as the Switch action statement For example When Switch 2 2 1 On Do 92 Controlling Signals Now that you
67. A Wait Until SensorB False Then wait for the traffic ahead to clear BeaconA Brake Off then allow this train to proceed EndIf Here we ve detected the presence of a train in block A by using the fact that block A s beacon has a non zero value Here s why that works When a transponder sends TBrain a detection report TBrain points that block s beacon at the engine currently in the block thereby making the beacon s value non zero Once the train moves into another block TBrain automatically returns the vacated block s beacon value to zero In that way a non zero beacon value serves to indicate the presence of traffic in the block while a zero valued beacon indicates the block is vacant 169 Using Soft Beacons With Non Transponder Equipped Engines As we ve seen above soft beacons mimic the behavior of hardware beacons In fact they can even be used to implement beaconing with non transponder equipped locomotives Let s reconsider the example we just introduced that used one transponder and 4 soft beacons to automate a 5 block mainline loop fed by a staging yard entering the mainline via block A This time we ll tackle the problem using only soft beacons and engines with no transponders For blocks B through E things will work exactly the same as before But this time block A will be just a bit different Having an occupancy detector block A will still know when a train enters it But without a transponder i
68. ALSE Drive an engine over the insulated rail section When the engine s wheels reach the insulated rail the sensor should respond as TRUE Once the engine passes the sensor should return to FALSE Instead of wiring the L terminals of the detectors to the center rail they may alternatively be wired to a dedicated power supply with a common ground to the track s power supply This approach will allow for train detection even when no power is being supplied to the train see the wiring diagram below 177 Train s Metal Wheel Completes Circuit Insulated Outside Rail Current D ee To Sensor Port A To Sensor Port B Sensor Power Supply Current detection systems can run into problems when used with dirty track A dirty spot in the track can temporarily interrupt current flow causing a train to vanish for a few milliseconds which the CTI system is fast enough to detect To solve the dirty track problem the TBrain program s sensor detection logic has a built in filter algorithm specifically designed to deal with intermittent track contact To invoke it simply follow the name of any current detection sensors with a in the Sensors section of your TCL code For example Sensors block 1_occupied block2_occupiedi etc The degree of filtering may be controlled using the slider bars in the Settings Hardware Settings menu item 178 Applications Note 5 Using CTI s DCC Block Occupancy Sen
69. B BeaconB BeaconA Copy block B s beacon from block A If SensorC True Then If there s traffic ahead in block C BeaconB Brake On stop the train that s in block B Wait Until SensorC False Then wait for the traffic ahead to clear BeaconB Brake Off then allow this train to proceed EndIf All the When Do s for blocks B through E will look the same To prove it here s the When Do for the next block block C When SensorC True Do When a train enters block C BeaconC BeaconB Copy block C s beacon from block B If SensorD True Then If there s traffic ahead in block D BeaconC Brake On stop the train that s in block C Wait Until SensorD False Then wait for the traffic ahead to clear BeaconC Brake Off then allow this train to proceed EndIf But what about block A Being transponder equipped the When Do for block A will be a bit different In that case when a train enters block A there s no need to copy a beacon value using a TCL statement The hardware transponder or RFID reader will identify the train itself and Tbrain will update block A s beacon automatically In fact we don t even need an occupancy sensor for block A The transponder fills that role too Here s a look at the When Do for block A When BeaconA lt gt 0 Do When a train enters block A If SensorB True Then If there s traffic ahead in block B BeaconA Brake On stop the train that s in block
70. C Program Cys 23 24 0 User 128 steps Implement in Software O User C Short 1 127 Extended 1 9999 Throttle Control Button 1 Select a control 2 Which decoder function s 3 Select a picture for button to program should this button control this button optional o klane ape K E Button Behavior E z i Latched C Momentary e LI Throttle Button Setup Addressing Mode Speed Steps At a minimum yov ll need to specify a name for the engine as well as its decoder s DCC address address width and speed resolution Engine names must begin with a letter which can be followed by any combination of letters numbers and the underscore character _ Choose a name that will make the engine easily identifiable for example its road name and running board number e g CSX9308 PRR2332 etc In addition you can program the appearance and behavior of the control buttons that will appear when an onscreen throttle is assigned to this engine For each button you can choose which of the DCC decoder s function outputs will be controlled and select a mnemonic picture to be displayed on the button Once you re finished setting up the engine click OK The editor worksheet closes and the name of your newly defined engine appears in the list box of your fleet roster You can continue adding more engines using the New button To change the setup of an existing engine select the engine by click
71. Displaying Beacon Values on CTC Panels The name of the train currently pointed to by a beacon may be displayed on a CTC panel by referencing the beacon s name in a Draw Message TCL action statement For example the TCL statement When SensorxX True Do S Draw Message 5 5 1 BeaconXx would print the name of the train currently occupying block X at CTC panel coordinates 5 5 1 171 If a beacon is currently unassigned an reference to it in a Draw Message statement will print an empty string Remembering Beacon Values at Shut Down If you use Tbrain s Archive Restore Layout feature TBrain will remember where each train stopped when you last turned off the layout and will restore the beacons for those locations the next time you start up If you ve moved or changed the trains since then simply reinitialize the beacons manually for the new starting locations and new trains before you start things running 172 Appendix A Application Notes Applications Note 1 Using CTI s Infrared Sensor Kit Infrared IR sensors are an inexpensive and reliable means to detect moving trains A train passing between the transmitter and receiver breaks the infrared light beam triggering the sensor This note describes the use of CTI s Infrared Sensor Kit Part TBO2 IR Lesson 15 details the interfacing of IR sensors to the Train Brain and describes how to program with infrared sensors in TCL CTI s Infrared Se
72. L program save you from having to write and debug similar code multiple times and make your program much easier to read and maintain To illustrate the use of subroutines in TCL let s look in more detail at the example we alluded to above Assume we have a simple CTC panel with 5 turnouts and that we want to open close a turnout each time we click on its image on the CTC screen using the left right mouse button Normally this would require us to write 10 separate copies of the sequence of TCL actions to control a switch and update its image on the CTC panel But with a subroutine we can reduce the number of copies of that code to just one Consider the following TCL program Controls SwitchDirection SwitchPower 5 Actions SUB Throw Switch SwitchToThrow ThrowDirection CTC Coordinate SwitchDirection ThrowDirection JATT yas SwitchPower SwitchToThrow PULSE 0 25 ADT Oy ds SwitchDirection OFF Switch CTC_Coordinate ThrowDirection ENDSUB Ihen S LeftMouse 5 5 1 Do Throw _Switch 0 On Soy L Ihen SRightMouse 5 5 1 Do Throw Switch 0 Off 5 5 1 Ihen SLeftMouse 5 6 1 Do Throw Switch 1 On 5 6 1 Ihen SRightMouse 5 6 1 Do Throw Switch 1 Off 5 6 1 Ihen SLeftMouse 5 7 1 Do Throw Switch 2 On 5 7 1 Ihen SRightMouse 5 7 1 Do Throw Switch 2 Off 5 7 1 Vhen SLeftMouse 5 8 1 Do Throw
73. On This will cause the lever to move to the left or right and illuminate the corresponding indicator lamp when we click on its left or right side with the left mouse button Setting a lever to Off moves it to the left normal position Setting it to On moves it to the right or reverse position Signal levers are automated in the same way except that their levers have three positions The left hand position traditionally set the signal to allow train movement to the left on the CTC panel The right hand position set the signal to allow train movement to the right The center position set signals in both directions to red Code to automate a signal lever placed at 5 5 1 might look something like When LeftMouse 5 6 7 1 Do Switch 5 5 1 0 When LeftMouse 6 6 7 1 Do Switch 5 5 1 1 When LeftMouse 7 6 7 1 Do Switch 5 5 1 2 The current position of a switch or signal lever can be tested using the value of Switch x y z Code Start Buttons On the prototype US amp S CTC panel the selected turnout and signal positions were not commanded until the operator pressed the code start button located below the levers on the CTC panel and the corresponding indicator lamps did not light until feedback was received from the physical plant that the commanded physical state had been reached TBrain s US amp S levers can mimic this operation as well The Switch command for switch levers includes aspects for
74. RED signal light to any Signalman controller 2 Wire the GREEN light to the next higher numbered controller 3 Wire the YELLOW light to the next higher numbered controller 58 Blinking Signal Aspects Any of the lamps in our signal may be made to blink using the color identifiers RED BLINK GREEN _ BLINK and YELLOW _BLINK For example WHEN DO blockl RED BLINK produce blinking red aspect The blink rate of the signals may be adjusted at any time using the Blink Rate slider control in the Signals section of Tbrain s Settings Hardware Settings menu item Compound Signal Aspects Using the color identifiers it s also possible to activate more than one signal light simultaneously Just list all desired colors in any order separated by a dollar sign For example WHEN DO blockl REDSYELLOW BLINK red over blinking yellow WHEN DO blockl REDSGREENSYELLOW turn on all signal lamps To turn off all the lights of a multi colored signal use the keyword OFF For example WHEN DO blockl OFF turn off all signal lamps 59 Programming Signals Using Signal Indicator Strings Color names are great for use with multi colored signals but they don t make much sense when used with positional signals crossing flashers etc where all signal lamps are the same color Another easy m
75. RWARD select speed direction cabl 20 MOMENTUM_2 decrease to 20 of current speed low momentum cabl BRAKE _ON activate brake no change to throttle setting With these few examples as a starting point the function of this lesson s TCL program should be clear First the Quick Key labeled RUN lets us get the train throttled up to cruising speed by clicking the LEFT mouse button and lets us bring the train to a halt by clicking the RIGHT mouse button when we re through Of course we could already do all that using the Smart Cab pop up window Defining a Quick Key just serves to make things a bit more convenient The third WHEN DO is our automated station stop It uses the Train Brain s at_station sensor to detect the arrival of the train In response to its arrival the DO clause applies the brake on the Smart Cab bringing the train to a smooth stop After pausing at the station for 10 seconds the brake is released and the train throttles back up to cruising speed That s all it takes to control your locomotives in TCL The functions of the Train Brain and Smart Cab are fully integrated the Train Brain s sensors can be used to automatically control the function of the Smart Cab Many once tricky train control operations are now easy Your trains can now respond prototypically to trackside signals without miles of complicated wiring The whole job can now be done automatically by your computer and Smart Cab of course
76. Set direction of PRR_2332 to reverse When Do ATSF_123 FL On Turn on headlight of ATSF_123 With these few examples as a starting point the function of this lesson s TCL program should be clear First the Quick Key labeled RUN lets us get the train throttled up to cruising speed by clicking the LEFT mouse button and lets us bring the train to a halt by clicking the RIGHT mouse button when we re through Of course we could already do all that using an onscreen throttle Defining a Quick Key just serves to make things a bit more convenient The third WHEN DO is our automated station stop It uses the Train Brain s at_station sensor to detect the arrival of the train In response to its arrival the DO clause applies the brake on the DCC equipped engine bringing the train to a smooth stop After pausing at the station for 10 seconds the brake is released and the train throttles back up to cruising speed 156 That s all it takes to control your DCC equipped locomotives in TCL The functions of your CTI system and DCC command station are now fully integrated the Train Brain s sensors can be used to automatically control the function of your DCC equipped engines An Example of Automated DCC Equipped Engine Control Controls spare spare spare spare Sensors at station spare spare spare Okeys run Actions WHEN run LEFT DO enginel momentum 50 enginel direction Forward nginel speed 100
77. The CTI Model Railroad Control System User s Guide Version 6 1 0 CTI Electronics P O Box 9535 Baltimore MD 21237 www cti electronics com Email info cti electronics com Technical Support support cti electronics com Copyright 2014 CTI Electronics All rights reserved Table of Contents Introduction hn bth oad Soe atts oe weet se ee we Bed 5 Section 1 Installing CTI 2 2 24 22834244684 58s 4 7 Introducing the Train Brain 0 8 Hooking Up Your CTI System 12 Checking Out Your CTI System 16 Troubleshooting 2 2200 18 Section 2 Using CT eniin Wires Lire OL eed ee od eee Be 19 Lesson 1 Building Railroads 2 2 20 Lesson 2 Running Railroads 2 24 Lesson 3 Fully Automatic Operation 26 Lesson 4 Using Quick Keys 30 Variations on a Theme The Train Brain Module Family 32 Section 3 Locomotive Speed Control 39 Introducing Smart Cab 0 000004 39 Lesson 5 Interactive Train Control Using Smart Cab 43 Lesson 6 Automatic Train Control Using Smart Cab 45 Maximizing Smart Cab Performance 47 Section 4 Controlling Signals 2 2 2 2 2 00 49 Introducing the Signalman 00 0 49 Choosing a Signalman Configuration 51 Lesson 7 Hooking Up The Signalman 52 Lesson 8 Controlling Signals from TCL a a 57 Section 5 Co
78. Wangrow In this lesson we ll show how easy it is to add computer automated operation to any DCC based layout So let s get started 152 Note The following discussion assumes some basic familiarity with DCC For an excellent overview of DCC we recommend Digital Command Control by Ames Friberg and Loizeaux ISBN 91 85496 49 9 Also fully read the user s manual that came with your DCC system Setting Up Your DCC System If you re just getting started with DCC begin by hooking up your DCC system following the installation instructions that came with your command station One of the big advantages of DCC is that it requires very little wiring The setup procedure is straightforward and the installation of a basic setup should take just a few minutes Note Some DCC command stations provide a built in PC interface Others require an add on interface module The table below summarizes these requirements However the DCC market place evolves rapidly so be sure to consult the documentation from your DCC manufacturer for the most detailed and up to date information DCC System COM Port Interface USB Interface Ethernet Lenz Atlas Roco LI 101F LI USB LI USB Ethernet LI USB Ethernet NCE Power House Pro lt built in gt 3 party USB to COM adapter lt not supported gt NCE Pro Cab lt not supported gt ProCab USB interface lt not supported gt Easy DCC lt built in gt 3 party USB to COM
79. _Permissive_East Sig_Permissive_West Sig_Permissive_North Sig_Permissive_South Arrow_East Arrow_West Arrow_North Arrow_South Caution1 Caution2 Caution3 Caution4 Square Circle Triangle Lock You can type the desired sprite s name directly into your TCL code but the TCL editor also has a built in feature that will take care of the job for you so you won t need to remember the name of each sprite It s called Insert Sprite Name and is found in TBrain s Edit menu When activated you ll get a pop up window showing a graphical representation of each available sprite Simply click on its image and the code name for the selected sprite will be inserted into your TCL code automatically 101 lt Color value gt specifies the color in which the sprite should be drawn Color values for sprites follow the same rules as those for track sections You can use the name of one of the recognized common colors or you can insert a color code using TBrain s Insert Color Code tool in the Edit menu For example the code to draw a sprite in a track block whenever a train is detected in that block might look something like When block1_sensor True Do Draw Sprite 10 5 1 Train_East in Blue Re Coloring Sprites You now know how to draw a sprite at any grid coordinate on your CTC panel Once it s drawn you can also change its color at any time That s handled by the Color Sprite action statement which takes the
80. _Switch 3 On 5 8 1 Ihen SRightMouse 5 8 1 Do Throw Switch 3 Off 5 8 1 Vhen S LeftMouse 5 9 1 Do Throw Switch 4 On 5 9 1 Vhen SRightMouse 5 9 1 Do Throw Switch 4 Off 5 9 1 117 In the above TCL program a single subroutine performs all of the actions necessary to control a turnout and update its image on the CTC panel This general purpose subroutine is called by one of the program s ten When Do statements anytime the user clicks on the image of a turnout on the CTC panel To tailor the subroutine for use with a particular turnout and throw direction the calling When Do passes three parameters to the subroutine the array index of the turnout to be thrown the direction in which it should be thrown and the grid coordinates of its image on the CTC panel Armed with that information the subroutine throws the selected physical turnout in the desired direction and updates its onscreen image to portray it s new orientation Once the subroutine s actions are complete execution resumes at the next action statement in the calling When Do In this particular case there s nothing left for the When Do statement to do and its execution ends Let s examine more formally the statements needed to create and use subroutines First each of our subroutines must be declared To do that we ll use the TCL SUB statement which takes the general
81. able from CTI See the Accessories page of our catalog They can also be found at any electronics store or mail order supply house Siding D Switch 3 Siding C Siding B To Mainline Switch 1 a Siding A Automated Yard Ladder Example Track Layout 65 direction Train Brain Controller 12V Filtered power i Dual Coil DC Switch Machines 2 Train Brain Controller Train Brain Controller Train Brain Controller 4 Note Diodes are required to eliminate sneak paths through parallel turnouts Controls direction powerl power2 power3 Actions WHEN command A DO direction OFF wait 0 1 powerl PULSE 0 1 WHEN command B DO direction ON wait 0 1 powerl PULSE 0 1 power2 PULSE 0 1 WHEN command C DO direction ON wait 0 1 powerl PULSE 0 1 power3 PULSE 01 wait 0 1 direction OFF wait 0 1 power2 PULSE 0 1 WHEN command D DO direction ON wait 0 1 powerl PULSE 0 1 wait 0 1 direction OFF wait 0 1 power2 PULSE 0 1 power3 PULSE 0 1 Time Sharing Wiring Diagram and TCL Code Example 66 The time sharing circuit can be implemented much more cost effectively by using the Switchman for our power controls as shown in the circuit below direction Train Brain 12V DC Controller Power Dual Coil Supply powert Switch Mac
82. affic ahead to clear BeaconA Brake Off then allow this train to proceed EndIf Un assigning Beacons TBrain automatically un assigns a beacon i e sets its value to 0 whenever a train is interpreted as having vacated that beacon s track block Specifically a beacon is set to zero when a another transponder reports that the train has moved into an adjacent track block or b a TCL action statement assigns the same value to another beacon TBrain does not un assign a beacon as the result of a train departure report from a transponder This serves as a failsafe mechanism since the apparent departure may be due to a derailment or intermittent track contact which falsely causes a block to appear vacant TBrain requires positive acknowledgement of the movement of a train into an adjacent block using one of the two methods described above before it will declare an earlier block as unoccupied A beacon currently pointing to a train may be unassigned manually using the Clear Beacon button in the DCC Beacons window Simply select the beacon from the Beacon Name list and then click the Clear Beacon button All beacons may be cleared using the Clear All Beacons button Beacons may also be unassigned automatically as part of the actions in a When Do statement by setting the beacon equal to the TCL Off keyword or the numeric value 0 For example When SensorX False Do BeaconX Off Unassign beacon once train departs
83. age matters Smart Cab won t be damaged if the voltage is reversed it simply won t operate If that s the case just flip the direction switch on the train transformer supplying the raw power or swap the two wires entering the Smart Cab The voltage applied to the IN terminals should not exceed 25 Volts D C Now all that s left to do is to connect the output of the Smart Cab to your track The output of the Smart Cab is found on blue OUT A B terminals on the right hand side of the board Simply wire one of the two outputs to each rail of your track That s it Your Smart Cab is ready for action In the next lesson we ll check out the operation of the Smart Cab and see how easy it is to control your trains interactively from the PC Note As with conventional train power supplies if multiple Smart Cabs are used to run more than one train on the same track in a common grounded layout each Smart Cab must be powered by a separate transformer 42 Lesson 5 Interactive Train Control Using Smart Cab In this section you ll put the Smart Cab board to work controlling your trains In order to check out the Smart Cab we ll begin by trying some interactive control using the mouse This example assumes that we ve set up a rudimentary system consisting of one Train Brain board and one Smart Cab board connected to the PC If your system differs simply make the appropriate changes to the TCL program examples we ll be using In order
84. agram for the yard is shown below Time Sharing The optimization technique we ll be using is called time sharing The trick here is to think backwards from the way we did above This time instead of wiring two controllers to the open and close direction control lines of each switch machine we ll now wire a single controller to each switch machine s common power lead Then we ll wire the open and close control leads of all of our switches to a single Train Brain controller Our switch machines will then time share this single direction controller To throw a particular switch we ll simply set the shared direction control relay for the desired throw direction and then pulse the power control lead of the chosen switch machine A wiring diagram and TCL code to control our yard ladder using time sharing are shown below In this case we ve implemented the circuit with the Train Brain s relay based controllers so that new users can build it using the Starter Kit However the circuit can be constructed more cost effectively using the Switchman s solid state controllers We ll see how in a moment Note that in the time sharing circuit blocking diodes are required in the path from the direction controller to each turnout coil to prevent current flow via the sneak paths that result from multiple solenoid coils being wired in parallel For your convenience the diodes used in this circuit are avail
85. ailroad scales is as follows O 2 73 OO 4 32 HO 4 94 N 9 09 136 Scheduling Calendar Based Events TBrain is also aware of time on a broader scale via a series of calendar based TCL entities named Day Date Month and Year defined as follows Day Integer corresponding to the day of the week 1 Sunday 7 Saturday Date Integer through 31 corresponding the current day of the month Month Integer corresponding to the month of the year 1 January 12 December Year Integer representing the calendar year These entities are initialized from your PC s system clock when TBrain begins executing or whenever TBrain s Reset button is pressed In addition each of these entities may be set to any point in time via the actions in a When Do statement Once set these entities may be used as the conditions in a When Do statement to schedule calendar based events For example When At Station True Day gt 1 Day lt 7 Do only stop at this station on weekdays Enginel brake On The calendar entities are automatically updated each time TBrain s internal Time entity strikes midnight progressing at a rate determined by to the current FastClock setting in Tbrain Summary In this lesson you have learned the following How to set and read TBrain s clock functions from within a TCL program How to use the time and session operators to trigger time based events How to precisely measure time intervals u
86. ain Brain and Signalman modules is shown below Train Brain Train Brain Modular Phone Cords CTI Diplexer To PC A CTI System Using Train Brains and SignalMen Next you ll wire your signals to the Signalman To hook up your signals simply consult the wiring instructions for the appropriate version of the Signalman given in the following illustrations Once wired the control of signals from within your TCL program will be completely independent of the type of signaling hardware used As a first experiment we recommend you hook up just a single signal Once you have things wired jump ahead to the section entitled Controlling Your Signals from TCL 52 Wiring Common Anode CA LED based Signals This is a common form of LED based multi light block signal In the CA configuration the anode terminal of all of the signal s LEDs are wired together usually within the signal unit itself and connected to a positive voltage Each signal light is controlled by connecting disconnecting its cathode terminal to from Ground To control common anode signals use the wiring diagram shown below CA version of the Signalman and follow the SignalMan CA Version Controllers Common va Anode Separate Cathodes Common Anode LED based Signal Wiring Wiring Common Cathode CC LED based Signals This is also a common form of LED based multi light block signal In the CC configuration t
87. akes no change to the corresponding lamp leaves it set to its current state Each lamp of an addressable signal head has an associated lamp number The N th character of the signal control string controls the N th lamp on the targeted signal head For example a TCL code statement to control an addressable 3 lamp signal might be When Do Signal 5 5 1 RYG This code would set the signal s 1st lamp to Red the 2nd to Yellow and the 3rd to Green The number of characters in the control string must equal the number of lamps on the targeted signal head The figure below indicates the lamp numbers for each style of addressable signal head A representative signal aspect for each signal is shown along with a signal control string that would program the signal to that aspect 94 GYRWGYRW RYGW 6 GB os RYG 88 RYGWR Addressable Signal Lamp Numbers and Representative Signal Control Strings GYRWGYRWR Note For simple Red Green Yellow block signaling on the CTC panel TBrain also provides a set of easy to use absolute permissive signaling icons that can share a CTC grid panel square with any track segment These are controlled using TCL s sprite related action statements See Introducing Sprites below Using Onscreen Signals as Conditions in TCL The state of an onscreen signal icon may be used as a condition in a When Do statement The format is the same
88. aks this connection stopping the train The next command whistle PULSE 2 is something new But actually it s nothing more than a shortcut PULSING the whistle controller for 2 seconds is exactly the same as doing the following whistle ON WAIT 2 whistle OFF The PULSE command turns the indicated controller on for the number of seconds specified and then turns it off again 28 A second later another PULSE command activates the whistle again Having blown two whistle blasts to signal its departure the final command allows the train to leave the station As with the WAIT command PULSE times can be controlled to an accuracy of 1 100th of a second For example to produce a quarter second pulse the appropriate command would be PULSE 0 25 Let s try this program Run TBrain and open this TCL program using Open Railroad from the Files menu Start your train equipped with the actuator The train should proceed normally around the track Now start your TCL program using the Run toolbar button From now on every time that the train reaches the station it will stop wait for 10 seconds the whistle will blow and the train will depart And it will all happen automatically Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to install sensors on your layout and connect them to the Train Brain e How to check the state of a sensor in a TCL program e How to make your PC monitor and run your model railroad auto
89. al of the Switchman That s all there is to it 33 Then to activate the device simply set the corresponding Switchman control equal to On or Pulse the control just as with a Train Brain control The Switchman will then turn on the corresponding transistor closing the switch to complete the circuit and activating the device being controlled Setting the Switchman control equal to Off will turn off the transistor opening the circuit and deactivating the device Any combination of supply voltages may be used to power multiple devices controlled by the same Switchman Simply connect the terminals of each of the supplies to one of the GND terminals on the Switchman The figure below illustrates two devices each powered by a different supply voltage connected to the Switchman Switchman A 12V Device Connecting DC Powered Devices to the Switchman Note The Switchman can control devices powered by voltages up to 28 Volts DC at up to 2 Amps per device 4 Amps pulsed However total instantaneous current through any one board should not exceed 10 Amps Lesson 9 illustrates the use of the Switchman to control dual coil solenoid based switch machines so we ll be seeing it again there Note Because the Switchman employs transistors as its switch elements never connect the voltage from an external power supply to the Switchman and never use it to control an AC powered device O
90. all physical sensors suffer from some type of false alarm mechanism Magnetic reed switches suffer from mechanical switch bounce which can lead to multiple detections per switch closure Current detection sensors suffer from intermittent loss of contact between the train s wheels and the rails resulting from dirty track making it appear as though the train has momentarily vanished Fortunately TBrain s sensor algorithms have built in filtering logic that can recognize each of these real world situations and reject the false alarms they can cause To activate the appropriate filter you ll just need to tell TBrain what type s of sensors you re using To do so simply follow the names of each sensor in the Sensors section of your TCL program with the corresponding filter identifier Tbrain will then apply the appropriate filter algorithm to the raw reports arriving from each physical sensor The filter identifiers are as follows Magnetic sensor no identifier TBrain applies switch bounce filter Infrared sensor asterisk TBrain applies car gap filter Photocell asterisk TBrain applies car gap filter Current detector number sign Brain applies dirty track filter For example the following TCL code declares 4 sensors 2 magnetic one IR or photocell and one current detector Sensors sensorl sensor2 sensor3 sensor4 132 Adjusting Sensor Filter Thresholds You can tailo
91. als by definition have one red one yellow and one green lamp These lamps colors are fixed The user has only the ability to selectively turn each of these fixed color lamps on or off Addressable signals in contrast allow the user to control the color of each lamp from within their TCL program enabling the creation of virtually any signal lamp configuration In addition the color of the signal head itself can be selected at design time using the Color tool in the schematic editor toolkit This allows the color coding of signals thereby facilitating the visual association of a signal with a given track on the CTC panel Addressable signals are controlled using the same Signal statement we introduced above However due to their increased programmability the lt signal state gt of an addressable signal demands a bit more flexibility The lt signal state gt of an addressable signal is specified using a signal control string A signal control string is a collection of characters enclosed between double quotes Each character of the string controls one of the lamps on the signal head Acceptable characters for use in a signal control string are R_ Sets the corresponding lamp to Red G Sets the corresponding lamp to Green Y Sets the corresponding lamp to Yellow W Sets the corresponding lamp to White Turns off the corresponding lamp colors it dark gray Makes the corresponding lamp invisible x M
92. ame color this has the effect of changing the black donut we just drew to a red and white striped one while leaving the surrounding region unchanged Donut image for use with Donut image for use with Draw And_ Picture Draw Or_Picture The net result we ve drawn an object of arbitrary shape onto the CTC panel without affecting the surrounding region And we did it without knowing the color of that surrounding region That s All Folks We ve quickly introduced a lot of information in this lesson Tbrain s graphics tools will allow you to implement prototypical CTC displays of your layout Hands on experimentation is the key to learning to use these tools effectively 106 Lesson 14 Advanced Programming Concepts The TCL language statements you ve learned thus far are all many users will ever need to control their model railroad However for those who would like to take their TCL programs to the next level TCL also provides many of the features found in more powerful higher order programming languages We ll take a look at some of them in this lesson If Then Else Statements We ve seen how the actions in a When Do statement are executed once the conditions in the statement s When clause are satisfied However there may be times when we would like some of these actions to be conditionally executed or to select from a variety of possible actions based on other circumstances These capabilities
93. ample how about a motion detector to turn on your railroad whenever someone approaches the layout or a photo detector to automatically turn on the street and house lights in your layout whenever the room lights dim The Train Brain s sensors are designed to detect the flow of current from pin A to pin B on the sensor connector The Train Brain supplies its own current for this purpose NEVER connect any source of current to the sensor pins The sensitivity of each of the Train Brain s sensor ports may be individually adjusted using the potentiometer located just behind the terminals of each port as shown in the figure below Precise sensitivity adjustment is seldom necessary For most applications a mid range setting should work just fine Less i More Sensitive Sensitive ee Sensitivity Adjust Sensor Port A B Adjusting Train Brain Sensor Port Sensitivity The Train Brain s sensor ports are compatible with a wide variety of sensing devices Acceptable sensors include magnetic reed switches IR photo transistors CdS photocells Hall effect switches current detection sensors TTL compatible logic gates and manual switches A variety of inexpensive highly reliable and easy to use sensor kits which connect directly to the Train Brain s sensor ports that are ideal for use in detecting trains are available from CTI Electronics We recommend that you try them first For ardent do it yourselfers Lesson 15 takes a more deta
94. and display the name of the train That means your DCC system s transponding hardware and TBrain are communicating and TBrain now knows which train is approaching the station Armed with that knowledge and a small change we ll soon be making to the TCL code for our station stop TBrain will then be able to stop it 161 As you ll recall our original DCC station stop example looked like this When at station True Do enginel brake On wait 10 enginel brake Off We didn t like that approach because the name of our train was embedded in our TCL code Change to a new engine and we d need to change our TCL What we d really like is a way to access our engine indirectly using the value of our StationBeacon beacon Since the beacon identifies which train is near the station our TCL code would then work for any train Consider the following When At Station True Do StationBeacon Brake On Wait 10 StationBeacon Brake Off This is the new beaconized version of our station stop Note that in this code the name of our engine is nowhere to be found Instead we see the name of our beacon preceded by TCL s pointer to operator Thus the target of our When Do s actions will be the TCL entity currently pointed to by the TCL entity StationBeacon That should give you a hint Functionally beacons in TBrain are TCL pointers Whenever a DCC transponder reports that it has detected a train enteri
95. ansmitter Receiver Separation TCL Programming with PhotoSensors Now that we ve interfaced our photosensor to the Train Brain programming it in TCL warrants some discussion since the characteristics of photodetectors necessitate some special handling The most noticeable difference with photodetectors is that they work backwards They detect light and so respond as TRUE whenever the train isn t present A passing train breaks the light beam switching the sensor to FALSE We can simply take this negative logic into account when writing TCL code For example here s a simple program that can be used to test our photodetector circuit Controls cl 131 Sensors light_detected Actions WHEN light_detected FALSE DO cl Pulse 0 25 Alternatively we can let TBrain handle the negative logic for us By following the sensor s name with a in the Sensors section we can tell TBrain to automatically reverse its polarity Thus the following TCL code would produce exactly the same result as that shown above Controls cl Sensors light_detected Actions WHEN light_detected TRUE DO cl Pulse 0 25 Sensor Port Filtering A second nuisance with photodetectors can occur when the gaps between train cars pass the sensor The gaps momentarily re establish the light beam causing the sensor to re trigger Ifa WHEN DO statement associated with the sensor has run to completion the gap will cause it to execute again In fact
96. any trains will be running Wait Until SQueryBusy False Then NumberOfTrains QueryResponse A type 4 query box allows the operator to select one entry from a list box containing a user specified collection of items The control string of the Query command consists of the 4 type select field and a query prompt followed by the list of text items used to populate the list box Once the operator selects an entry from the list box QueryResponse is set equal to the position in the list of the selected item the first item being at position 0 This functions much like a type 1 query except that the items are now presented as a list rather than as a collection of push buttons For example When Reset True Do SQuery 4 Which train shall I run SantaFe B amp O PRR Wait Until SQueryBusy False Then TrainSelect SQueryResponse A type 5 query box is useful on DCC operated layouts It allows the operator to select one entry from a list box containing the names of all engines and consists currently defined in the DCC Fleet Roster See the Digital Command Control section of the User s Guide for more information on using TBrain with DCC operated layouts In this case the control string of the Query command consists of the 5 type select field a query prompt and an optional filter string indicating which type s of roster items should appear TBrain wil
97. aracteristics of the Train Brain s sensor ports so they ll be easy to interface to your favorite sensor As an example we ll then describe hooking up the Train Brain to an infrared emitter detector A simplified schematic diagram of a Train Brain sensor port is shown below Here for the purpose of illustration a generic sensor is modeled as a simple SPST switch When the switch is open it presents a high electrical impedance so no current can flow from pin A to pin B on the sensor connector As a result the input to the TTL inverter is pulled to a logic 1 by the resistor tied to 5 Volts In that case the output of the inverter is logic 0 and the sensor is read as FALSE If the switch is closed a low impedance path is created between pins A and B of the sensor connector This connects the input of the TTL inverter to GROUND logic 0 Now the output of the inverter switches to a logic 1 and the sensor is read as TRUE amp I 5 Volts f l H Train Brain Board I I 1 Sensor Port i Connector Sensor I To piei l A Microprocessor l T l O l l i k l I rea A i l O 1 Sensor TRUE DEERE i 0 Sensor FALSE I l l I oe I I Train Brain Sensor Port Schematic 129 As such a Train Brain sensor is defined as any device that alternately presents a high or low electrical impedance across the inputs of the Train Brain sensor port in response to some external stimulus Many devices exhibit
98. as part of the action ina DO clause These operators are illustrated in the following examples WHEN DO varl 4 amp varl varl AND 4 varl 31 varl varl OR 3 varl 8 varl varl XOR 8 varl var2 varl NOT var2 Variables can interact with one another as well as with Train Brain controllers sensors signals and SmartCabs as part of the condition in a WHEN or the action in a DO For example WHEN varl lt var2 DO var3 var4 copy the value stored in var4 into var3 var5 var6 multiply var5 by the value stored in var6 var7 cabl speed copy the speed setting of cab1 into var7 cab1 speed var7 copy var7 into the speed setting of smartcab1 Enough Already Wow We ve hastily introduced many applications of variables in this lesson It s not important that you master the more esoteric uses of variables at this point In fact you may never need some of them For now simply keep in mind that they exist and that they can help rescue you from some of the more tricky control problems that you may encounter in the future Summary In this lesson you have learned the following How to create variables and use them in a WHEN DO statement How to use TCL s arithmetic and logical operators to change the value of a variable How to use TCL s comparison operators to test the value of a variable How to chain together multiple conditions in a WHEN clause Recommended Practice Exercises A
99. automatically sets the corresponding TCL mouse entity equal to the coordinates of that grid square CTC coordinates are three dimensional x y z X refers to the horizontal axis column coordinate 1 to 50 of the mouse click Y corresponds to the vertical axis row coordinate 1 to 50 of the mouse click Z corresponds to the number of the CTC panel in which the click occurred 1 to 4 As an example lets say the user clicks the left mouse button on the grid square located at column 3 and row 2 on CTC panel 1 Tbrain responds by setting the TCL entity LeftMouse equal to 3 2 1 As a result we can simply test for this value as a condition in a WHEN clause When LeftMouse 3 2 1 Do That s all it takes to respond to mouse events in TCL In some cases we may want to know if the user clicked anywhere within a range of grid squares Suppose we have a track block which runs horizontally from x y 5 3 to x y 10 3 on CTC panel 1 We can test if the user clicked anywhere on that track block as follows When LeftMouse 5 10 3 1 Do This technique can be extended in all dimensions For example if we wanted a WHEN DO that triggered whenever the user clicked on any grid square on any CTC panel we could write When LeftMouse 1 50 1 50 1 4 Do 89 Throwing Turnouts We now know how to respond to mouse events on our CTC panels Next we ll need to learn how to update a turnout image on the screen in response to that mous
100. ay to convey information to the human operator One final form of sprite is designed to do just that We learned earlier to place static text on the CTC screen While we can change the color of that text at any time using the Color Track statement we can t change what that text says A message sprite on the other hand allows us to display a textual message that can be changed at any time to communicate changing layout conditions Message text can be displayed by a When Do in your TCL program using the Draw Message action statement which takes the basic form Draw Message x y z message text By now you re quite familiar with the meaning of the coordinate position x y z Message text consists of any combination of printable characters and spaces surrounded by double quotes The text between the quotes will be displayed at the specified grid coordinates when the Message statement executes For example When at_station True Do Draw Message 10 10 1 The train has arrived The text color font face font size and text alignment can all be controlled using the more general form of the Draw Message command Draw Message x y z lt message text gt In lt Color gt Using lt Font Controls gt For example Draw Message 3 2 1 Hello In Red Using Arial 10 The above action statement displays the message Hello in red Arial 10 point text We ve already used the
101. ays wiring from RED to GREEN That s all there is to it An example of a simple CTI network consisting of Train Brain and YardMaster modules is shown below Train Brain YardMaster Train Brain YardMaster Modular Phone Cords CTI Diplexer To PC A CTI System Using Train Brains and YardMasters Next you ll wire your turnouts to the YardMaster To hook up your turnouts simply consult the appropriate wiring instructions for the style of switch machines you ll be using given in the following illustrations As a first experiment we recommend that you hook up just a single turnout And because in this application incorrect wiring or a mistake in your TCL code can result in power being continuously supplied to a switch machine until you verify correct operation we recommend that you keep one hand on the On Off switch of your switch machine power supply just in case 73 Controlling Single Coil Solenoid Driven Switch Machines Single coil solenoid based switch machines work a bit differently than their dual coil counterparts Single coil machines employ a pair of permanent magnets housed inside the same solenoid coil D C current passing through the coil creates a magnetic field that attracts one magnet and repels the other Throw direction is determined by the polarity of the applied D C voltage Single coil machines are easily identifiable by their two control leads A wiring diagram illustrating a single
102. click at the desired location s on the track schematic A small block boundary symbol will appear To remove an existing block boundary simply click on it again with the block boundary tool selected Once block boundaries are defined if you desire they can be made invisible using the Settings Hide Block Boundaries menu item Selecting Foreground Background Colors You can change the color of track sections at design time as well as change them while your TCL program is running e g to portray block ownership To change track colors now select the color tool from the toolkit and select the desired track color from the pop up color palette All future track sections will be drawn in the newly selected color To change the color of an existing track section simply click on it while the Color tool is activated The track section will be redrawn in the newly selected color To change the color of an entire track block hold down the Shift key while clicking on any track section within that block In response the entire track block will be redrawn in the newly selected color The Color tool can also be used to change the background color of the CTC panel Simply select the desired color using the color tool then click on any empty grid square on the CTC panel The background color of the CTC panel will change to the newly selected color 86 Pushbuttons Pushbuttons can be placed on the schematic in the same way that
103. d square When creating your own sprites it will help to know that CTC panel grid squares are 25 by 25 pixels when the large grid is selected and 15x15 pixels for small grid including the horizontal and vertical grid lines The default background color for the CTC panel is the standard Windows XP background color Red 236 Green 233 Blue 216 Drawing Transparent Images Computer graphics are by definition rectangular However it would be convenient to have at our disposal the means to draw objects of arbitrary shape on our CTC panels without disturbing the surrounding CTC panel s background Of course we could include our irregularly shaped object as part of a larger rectangular image but in that case we d need to hard code our CTC panel s background color into the image itself precluding its use on multiple CTC panels which may have different background colors as well as the sharing of the image with other users who may prefer a different color background Fortunately TBrain provides a more elegant solution Here it s best to illustrate with a simple example Suppose we d like to draw a red and white striped donut shaped object on our CTC panel While the donut is round our image file is rectangular In this case we d like to have the 4 corner regions of our rectangular image drawn in the CTC panel s background color In addition we d like to look through the donut hole and see the CTC panel s background H
104. dat In this case we ve used the to indicate that TBrain should write the actual text string As a result we d find two sentences in the file as desired 127 Reading Text Strings From Files Text strings may also be read from files When a text string enclosed in quotes is encountered in the file during a Read space is allocated for the string in the memory heap the string is placed at that location in the heap and a pointer to that location is placed in the FileData buffer The string or more precisely the pointer to it can later be moved from the buffer to a variable and used as any normal TCL text string For example if the file myfile dat contains This is a string FSO IS LUNES Then we could for example write Read MyFile dat Varl FileData Var2 FileData Draw Message 3 2 1 Varl Status Var2 128 Lesson 15 A Closer Look at Sensors Sensors play an important role in automating the action on model railroads They are the eyes and ears of your control system Unfortunately there are nearly as many opinions as to what constitutes the perfect sensor for model railroading as there are model railroaders For that reason the Train Brain s sensor ports have been designed to be general purpose in nature You ll find that they are quite flexible and can interface directly to a wide variety of sensors The purpose of this section is to describe the electrical ch
105. dd an additional WHEN DO statement to the station stop program that blows one long whistle blast whenever the train arrives at the station but does not stop 82 Lesson 12 WHILE DO s By now you re probably quite familiar with the use of the WHEN DO statement to control the operation of your layout using TCL In this section we ll look a bit more closely at the behavior of the WHEN DO and introduce its twin the WHILE DO statement Although we ve used WHEN DO statements repeatedly there s one aspect of their use that we ve taken for granted until now exactly how they re triggered We know that the actions in the WHEN DO begin executing as soon as all of the conditions in its WHEN clause are satisfied But what happens once the list of actions is complete If all the conditions listed in the WHEN clause are still satisfied will the WHEN DO statement execute again The answer is No That s because WHEN DO statements are edge triggered They detect the transition from their conditions being not satisfied to being satisfied and won t trigger again until another such transition occurs That s a fortunate thing Consider for example the previous lesson where we used a sensor to count the number of times a train passed the station The small fraction of a second that the train was positioned over the sensor is a virtual eternity to your PC It could have executed the WHEN DO statement that counted sensor triggerings many many times And
106. dead short circuit between power and ground We ve seen this happen repeatedly The cost of about 2 cents for the resistor is therefore a great insurance policy 76 Optimized Control Of Stall Motor Driven Switch Machines If cost is a concern using the circuit shown below we can control a stall motor switch machine using a single Yardmaster controller Stall Motor Switch Machines Direction 1 9V Filtered DC YardMaster 9V Filtered DC Direction16 i A B Resistors are 330 Ohm 1 4 Watt Optimized Connection of Stall Motor Switch Machines to the YardMaster In this case the TCL code to control our switch simply becomes On Off When Open Left Do Directionl When Close Left Do Direction Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to wire stall motor and single coil solenoid switch machines to the YardMaster e How to control switch machines from a TCL program via the YardMaster e Optimization techniques for controlling multiple turnouts using the YardMaster e Methods for making switch operation failsafe Recommended Practice Exercises e Wire one of your turnouts to the YardMaster and experiment with controlling it interactively using a Quick Key e Try using the optimization and failsafe technique appropriate for your chosen style of switch machines T11 Section 6 Programming Tips
107. der 5 per switch The Yardmaster is compatible with all popular brands of stall motor and single solenoid switch control hardware We ll begin with a brief introduction to the YardMaster and then look at some circuits and TCL code ideas for controlling each of these styles of switch machines using the YardMaster A block diagram of the YardMaster is shown below PG Communications Switch Microprocessor Machine Controls Switch Power YardMaster circuit ee Protection YardMaster Block Diagram 70 Switch Machine Controllers The YardMaster provides 16 switch machine control outputs each independently programmable from the PC The YardMaster s control circuits are accessed via the terminal strips located along the left and right sides of the board The numerical designation of each controller is indicated next to its connector on the PC board In contrast to the simple On Off controls found on the Train Brain and Switchman each of the Yardmaster s output circuits is a dual transistor totem pole driver You can think of each output as a single pole double throw SPDT switch providing a remotely controllable connection from the output terminal to either the positive V or negative V input terminals of the Yardmaster Each of the YardMaster s outputs is rated to drive a momentary load of up to 1 Amp and a continuous load of up to 0 2 Amps PC Controlled NC V Control Output V NO Func
108. described in the Applications Note on the use of TCL s Indirect Addressing operators on our website Where Are Pointer Variables Allowed In general anywhere that an entity name is required it s perfectly acceptable to substitute a pointer to instead That includes the actions in a DO clause and the conditions in a WHEN clause Thus the statement WHEN varl var2 DO var3 var4 is perfectly legal 112 Accepting User Input At times it may be useful to query the operator for information Such interaction with the operator may be performed from within a When Do using TCL s Query action statement The Query statement causes Tbrain to display a pop up box on the screen containing an informative prompt to the user and providing a context sensitive means for the user to respond to that prompt The user s response is then returned in a TCL entity which may be processed using TCL action statements The appearance and functionality of the query box are controlled using a text string that accompanies the Query command in the TCL code Let s illustrate using a simple example Say our layout is a loop of track with a 3 train passing siding At startup we ll ask the operator which of the 3 trains he would like to run Here we ll assume TCL code has already been written to route a particular train onto the mainline based on a variable named TrainSelect All we ll then need is a means for the operator to set the value of the TrainS
109. dition in a WHEN clause or as a data source in a DO As always be sure to designate any unused Dash 8 controllers as spare The Watchman PC Conversely the Watchman CTI Part TB010 is Communications an all sensing version of the Train Brain It features a i 8 sensors The Watchman s sensor ports are identical to those of the original Train Brain As Sensors Microprocessor with the Train Brain the sensitivity of each of the Watchman s sensor ports may be individually adjusted using the tweaking potentiometer located D soss Adjust just behind the terminals of each port Watchman 32 To access the Watchman s sensors from Tbrain simply give each one a name and include them in the Sensors section of your TCL program based on their location in the CTI network They may then be used as part of the condition in a WHEN clause As usual be sure to designate any unused Watchman sensors as spare The Switchman PC Communications Frankly many model railroad applications won t require the 10 Amps of current carrying capacity provided by the Train Brain and Dash 8 In such cases a more Switch economical alternative exists The Microprocessor fe ee Switchman CTI Part TB013 provides 16 transistor based controls each rated to carry up to 2 Amps 4 Amps pulsed at voltages up to 28V D C With built in protection for use when driving inductive loads it
110. e If you open TBrain s TCL Editor again the code you typed in Lesson should reappear Now we re ready to run your TCL program Well almost First let s find out how to locate and correct any errors that will inevitably find their way into your TCL programs If you re not a good typist you may have some unintentional errors already but if not let s create one In the first WHEN DO statement misspell the controller name train as trane i e WHEN command Go Do trane On Now try to run your TCL program by selecting Run from TBrain s Railroad menu or by simply clicking on the Green Run icon on TBrain s toolbar Before it runs your TCL program TBrain first makes sure it understands everything When you try to run this version of your TCL code a pop up window will appear with an error message that reads something like Can t recognize trane in line 7 This was obviously due to our spelling error To locate the problem simply click on the error message in the pop up window You ll be immediately transported to the location in your TCL program where TBrain encountered something it couldn t understand with the error highlighted in your TCL code Simply make the necessary corrections and try running the program again This time TBrain will hopefully find everything to its liking and the execution of your TCL program should begin If not you ve made some errors of your own Repeat the above
111. e Do Blink LB2 When s2 True Do Blink amp LB2 When s3 True Do Blink LB3 When s3 True Do Blink amp LB3 When s4 True Do Blink LB4 When s4 True Do Blink amp LB4 Local Variables Some subroutines may benefit from having access to a set of their own local variables While we could of course clutter up the Variables section of our TCL program by defining numerous global variables intended only for use privately within our various subroutines it is more appropriate to allocate these private local storage locations as part of the subroutine itself Such local variables may be created by appending their names to the subroutine declaration s parameter list For example the following code randomly chooses the direction of a turnout when the turnout is clicked using the left mouse button In this case we only need to pass two parameters to our subroutine the array index of the turnout and its location on the CTC panel grid These values are passed to the subroutine into its local variables SwitchNum and CTC_Coordinate The subroutine declaration then allocates a third local variable CoinToss for use within the subroutine The subroutine chooses a switch direction by first randomly setting this local variable to either 0 or 1 120 Controls SwitchDirection SwitchPower 5 Actions SUB HeadsOrTails SwitchNum CTC Coordinate CoinToss CoinToss SRandom CoinToss 2 SwitchDirection CoinToss SwithPower Sw
112. e click That s easy too since TCL provides a built in Switch action statement that when included in the actions of a WHEN DO does the whole job The format of a switch statement is Switch x y z lt switch state gt x y z here is hopefully self explanatory It refers to the CTC panel coordinates of the onscreen switch we want to throw As with our mouse click x refers to the column position 1 to 50 of the turnout y refers to its row position 1 to 50 and z refers to the CTC panel number 1 to 4 lt Switch state gt determines the throw direction of the switch lt Switch state gt can be any valid TCL value including the name of another TCL entity The throw direction of a switch is determined according to the following rules e Setting a switch to the value Off or False or 0 will throw the image to the straight non diverting aspect e Setting a switch to the value On or True or 1 causes the switch image to throw to the curved diverting aspect e Setting a switch to any other value will draw the image in its default state i e no throw position indicated The TCL keyword Unthrown can be used to redraw a switch in its default state Armed with this information we now know everything we need to throw our turnout by clicking on it with the mouse But first let s introduce one more feature that makes the job even easier We need to specify the x y z coordinates of the s
113. e examples throughout this manual to demonstrate important features of CTI We recommend that you work through each example on your own We have kept each one simple generally requiring little more than a simple loop of track and very minimal wiring So try them We bet you ll even find them fun Some lessons also suggest one or more follow up exercises for you to try on your own These supplemental examples will give you a chance to practice what you ve just learned In all cases the follow up exercises use the same wiring as the main lesson so they require very little effort So without further ado let s get started Section 1 Installing CTI In this section you ll learn to set up and perform the initial checkout of the hardware components of your CTI system When finished your CTI system should be fully operational System Requirements The CTI system is designed to work with all IBM PC or compatible computers meeting the following minimum configuration Memory 128 Mega Bytes Operating System Microsoft Windows XP 7 8 Monitor Super VGA color monitor or higher T O One serial COM or USB port Sound Sound Blaster compatible sound card optional The CTI software is designed to work best with your PC s display set to a screen resolution of at least 800 x 600 pixels and 24 bit or higher True Color color mode selected These settings can all be adjusted using the Windows Control Panel tool if necessary Installing the
114. e train to stop Clicking the left button on the pause key will cause a running train to stop for 5 seconds then resume running Try out this program in TBrain Load the program and start it running then select Quick Keys from the View menu Notice that the first two Quick Key buttons are labeled with the names that we assigned to them in the Quick Keys section of our TCL program Position the mouse cursor over the Quick Key labeled throttle Click the left mouse button The train should start running Click throttle again this time using the right mouse button The train should stop Start the train again and try clicking on pause This simple example illustrates how easy Quick Keys are to define and use Employ Quick Keys for all your most commonly used commands Try to develop a consistent style for example LEFT button to turn things on RIGHT button to turn things off Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to create Quick Keys and use them as a condition in WHEN DO statements e How to access and use Quick Keys from within TBrain Recommended Practice Exercises e Add an additional Quick Key called Step which performs the same function as the Step command you defined in Lesson 1 31 Variations On a Theme The Train Brain Module Family The original Train Brain s versatile combination of control and sensing capabilities make it a great choice for automating almost any aspect of your mod
115. e we d like the PC to randomly throw a turnout each time a train approaches based on the flip of a coin Appropriate TCL code might be WHEN at_turnout TRUE DO When the train approaches the turnout coin_toss RANDOM Pick a random number coin_toss 2 Convert it to a heads 0 or tails 1 value switch_direction coin_toss Throw the turnout based on the coin flip switch_power PULSE 0 25 This simple technique can be used to generate a wide variety of random events on your model railroad Use it to randomly configure routes dispatch trains sequence house lights whatever So try giving your layout a mind of its own It s fast easy and fun Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to initiate random events on your model railroad e How to randomly choose 1 of N possible outcomes 144 Lesson 20 Sound We all invest countless hours to make our model railroads look like the real thing But for all our efforts our trains still glide silently down the track past cities and towns that while meticulously detailed never raise as much as a whisper It takes sound to give these motionless scenes the animated quality needed to seem real Sound can truly bring a model railroad to life If only you could have a library of hi fidelity sounds diesel horns steam whistles air brakes crossing bells track clatter station announcements whatever that can be accessed insta
116. eclaring one or more Smart Cabs in your TCL program Select Throttles from the View menu A single on screen Smart Cab throttle should appear with the name of our Smart Cab cab1 Turn on the train transformer that s connected to the Smart Cab and turn its speed control all the way up to full power The train shouldn t move 43 Then using the mouse grab and drag the Speed slider on the on screen throttle sliding it slowly upward to bring the train to a gradual start The train should respond and begin moving as power is increased to the Smart Cab You can also enter a numerical speed setting at the keyboard from 0 to 100 by first clicking in the text box below the slider control Bring the train to a comfortable cruising speed then enter a speed of 0 this time using the keyboard simply type 0 then press lt ENTER gt The train comes to an abrupt halt H o Bring the train up to cruising speed again Then enable the adjustable momentum feature by sliding the Inertia slider upward The farther up the slider is moved the more simulated inertia is applied For now select a midrange setting Select a Speed of 0 again This time the train comes to a smooth stop That s the Smart Cab s built in momentum feature simulating the inertia of a real train Bring the train up to speed again Now try the Brake feature by clicking the Brake button using the mouse The button signals that the brake is applied and
117. ed in any way to meet your layout s control and sensing needs Just like the original Train Brain all CTI modules require a filtered DC power supply in the range of 9 to 12 Volts DC 37 Which Modules Are Right For My Model Railroad Confused Don t be In general there are few wrong answers when it comes to choosing a CTI module for a particular application Our modules are very flexible and most functions can be performed by more than one CTI s Train Brain module family is merely designed to provide the best combination of price and performance to allow you to automate your model railroad at the most affordable price possible To help you decide which modules are best suited to your railroad s needs we ve put together the following quick reference chart We ll also see each of the module types put to use in the real world examples that follow later in this user s guide Light Duty Control Medium Duty Control Heavy Duty Control Sensing CTI Module Applications Quick Reference Guide Application LED based signals Incandescent lamp based signals Crossing flashers and other warning lights Medium current dual coil switch machines up to 3 Amps Single coil switch machines Slow motion stall motor switch machines Low current low voltage layout lighting Crossing Gates Small DC motors DC solenoids under 28V 2 Amps High current dual coil switch machines over 3 Amps Large DC motors DC so
118. ed to drive stall motor switch machines Each YardMaster can control up to 16 turnouts and is compatible with all popular slow motion switch machines e g Tortoise and SwitchMaster and single coil solenoid driven machines e g Kato and LGB el PC Communications Switch Microprocessor Machine Controls Switch Power YardMaster Circuit XA Protection With built in thermal protection to guard against overheating and clamp diodes to protect against the voltage transients that occur when driving inductive loads such as the solenoids and motors found in switch machines the YardMaster can handle all of your railroad s switching needs A later section of the User s Guide is dedicated to the important task of controlling turnouts There we ll be examining the YardMaster in much more detail so we ll hold off on any further discussion of the topic until then The SmartCab And of course how can we forget those trains CTI s SmartCab CTI Part SC001 is a fully computer controlled throttle that provides automated speed direction and momentum control of DC operated trains L PC Communications Protection eee a Overload Microprocessor Smart Cab SmartCab supplies a fully regulated Power Supply Digitally Controlled Direction DC output controllable in 100 digital ia eee en steps It continually monitors its output maintaining output voltage to within 0 1 regardless of variations in
119. el railroad After 15 years in service it still remains a workhorse of our product line You just can t improve upon a classic But some applications naturally require more control than sensing while others need more sensing than control And automating a typical model railroad may involve controlling anything from a tiny LED based signal head drawing a few milliamps to a G gauge dual motored engine pulling a lighted passenger train drawing several amps Fortunately there s a whole family of Train Brain modules that let you tailor the CTI network to your application In this section we ll take a brief look at the other members of the CTI module family Then in later sections we ll examine the use of these modules as we tackle some real world model railroad control applications The Dash 8 The Train Brain 8 or Dash 8 for short CTI Part TB008 is an all control version of the Train Brain It features eight high capacity 10 Amp SPDT relay co i PC controllers identical to those on the original Train Brain Communications High current high voltage AC power No problem Whatever you can imagine to control the Dash 8 is up to the task Microprocessor Controls To control the Dash 8 s relays from Tbrain simply give each one a name and include them in the Controls section of your TCL program based on their location in Dash 8 the CTI network They may then be used as part of the con
120. elect variable at startup Here s some TCL code that does just that using the Query command When SReset True Do SQuery 1 Which train shall I run SantaFe B amp O PRR Wait Until QueryBusy False Then TrainSelect SQueryResponse Now when our TCL program runs or anytime we hit the reset button a query box will be displayed on the screen Its appearance will be defined by the contents of the text string enclosed in double quotes that accompanies the Query statement in our TCL code above Let s look at what the text string in our example contains The first item in the string is the number J This tells TBrain to create a type 1 query box This type of query box presents the user with a number of buttons As soon as the operator clicks one of those buttons the query window closes and an indication of the button the user clicked is returned in TCL The next field of our string fields are separated from one another by the dollar sign character is the text Which train shall I run This is the prompt that will be displayed to the user The remaining fields each as usual separated from its neighbors by a define the buttons that will appear in our query box Here we ve specified three button fields SantaFeSB amp OSPRR As a result our query box will contain 3 buttons imprinted with the names SantaFe B amp O and PRR Once the query box has been displayed we ll ty
121. er jack You ll need to hook up your power supply to this plug The outer conductor is GROUND The inner connector is 12 Volts Always double check your wiring Hooking Up Your Smart Cab Now that you re a bit more familiar with the Smart Cab board it s time to install it in your CTI system Smart Cab uses the same PC interface wiring as the Train Brain Any combination of Train Brains and Smart Cabs may be connected to the PC The boards can be wired in any order Since we ve already discussed the details of hooking up the CTI system to your PC we ll merely provide a bit of review here See Hooking up your CTI System in Section 1 for the full story The example below shows a simple CTI system consisting of two Smart Cabs and two Train Brains The order in which things get connected doesn t matter Just remember to connect whatever boards you use to form a closed loop always being sure to wire from RED to GREEN 41 Train Brain SmartCab Train Brain Modular Phone Cords cTl Diplexer To PC A CTI System Using Train Brains and Smart Cabs That s all it takes to interface your Smart Cab to the PC Next it s time for the power supply wiring to the transformer and track Raw train related power enters the Smart Cab through the blue JN terminals located near the upper left hand corner of the board Wire the D C output of any toy train transformer to these terminals The polarity of the input volt
122. er of loops needed for your model railroad gauge but do not exceed the maximum number of turns given in the table The block occupancy detector is sensitive enough to reliably detect a resistance of several Kohms e g resistive wheelsets However under some circumstances this super sensitivity may also allow it to detect unwanted signals e g absorbent ballast in humid weather or the capacitance across the rails of a long track block If false triggering occurs the detector may be made less sensitive by installing resistors in the locations shown The lower the value of the resistor the less sensitive the detector becomes Begin by trying a value around 50K Ohms and decrease the resistance until any false triggering ceases Do not use values below 1 K Ohm 179 Port A A i To Sensor Port B DCC Block Occupancy Sensor Wiring Diagram Example illustrating 3 loops through transformer From Booster To Isolated Rail Connections To Sensor Port f DCC Block Occupancy Sensor Booster s Max Max Number Output Current of Loops 3 Amps 5 5 Amps 4 10 Amps 2 De sensitizing Resistor Locations With the block occupancy detector installed run the TBrain program and check the sensor status indicator corresponding to the detector With no train present it should read FALSE Drive an engine into the isolated block Once the engine s wheels have entered the block the sen
123. erful computer control system able to tackle your railroad s most demanding remote control needs But discrete control and sensing is just the beginning With CTI you can also have precise control over your locomotives speed direction momentum and braking all from your PC Control your trains interactively from the CTI control panel or let the PC control them automatically Your engines can change speed stop and start smoothly in response to signals make station stops or run according to timetables all under computer control The CTI system has been engineered to be remarkably easy to use All hardware and software is included With no electronics to build and no software to write you can have your CTI system up and running in minutes All electrical connections simply plug right in And CTI interfaces directly to your PC s external COM or USB port so no changes to your computer are necessary 5 The CTI system is completely modular You ll buy only as much control capability as you need And the system is easy to expand as your model railroad grows Any number of CTI s control modules can be combined in any way to suit the needs of your model railroad The CTI system is a single fully integrated and cost effective solution to model railroad computer control We believe that the CTI system represents the most flexible the most affordable and the most user friendly model railroad control system ever produced And our users ag
124. es Tbrain Lesson4 A Simple Example of Quick Keys Controls train spare spare spare Qkeys throttle pause Actions WHEN throttle LEFT DO train ON WHEN throttle RIGHT DO train OFF pause LEFT train OFF wait 5 train ON 30 The first step in using Quick Keys is to name each of the keys as you want them to appear on your CTI control panel That s the purpose of the OKeys section of the TCL program Quick Key names must begin with a letter which can be followed by any combination of letters numbers or the underscore character _ Try to limit Quick Key names to 8 characters or less so their name will fit entirely on the key Once named Quick Keys can be used as a condition in a WHEN DO statement The possible values of a Quick Key are LEFT RIGHT and CENTER These values correspond to the buttons on your PC s mouse For example clicking the left mouse button when the mouse cursor is positioned over a Quick Key causes that Quick Key to take on the value LEFT The value CENTER is only defined for systems with a 3 button mouse If you have a mouse with 2 buttons use only the values LEFT and RIGHT With those definitions in mind the function of the TCL program listed above should become clear Clicking the left mouse button while positioned over the Quick Key named throttle will cause the train to run Clicking the right mouse button while positioned over throttle will cause th
125. essage statement at the current cursor location in the TCL Editor window Referencing TCL Entities in a Message The current value of a variable or any other TCL entity can be printed in a message by preceding the entity s name by the symbol in the message text For example to display the current value of variable varl we might write When Do Draw Message 10 10 1 The value of varl var1 If a variable currently holds a text string that string can be included within a message by preceding the variable s name by symbol For example If cab1 direction Forward Then varl Eastbound Else varl Westbound EndIf Draw Message 5 5 1 The train is traveling var1 Manipulating Message Text Messages are just a specific form of sprite As a result the commands available for use with other sprites i e Color Sprite Move Sprite Erase Sprite will work with messages as well To change the text content of a message it isn t necessary to erase the old text first Simply set the sprite equal to the new text and the old text will be automatically replaced by the new Do It Yourself Sprites If none of TBrain s built in sprites suit your needs user defined graphics may be drawn on the CTC panels from within a When Do using the Draw Picture action statement which takes the general form Draw Picture x y z image filename 104 Virtually all graphics image
126. ethod for assigning a value to a signal in TCL is called a signal indicator string A signal indicator string tells TBrain which signal lamps should be activated and which should be turned off by graphically illustrating the desired signal aspect For example to control our crossing gate flasher we might write WHILE at_crossing TRUE DO flasher wait 1 asher wait 1 Here we ve used a signal indicator string to alternately flash each light of the crossing flasher once per second An asterisk in the string indicates that a lamp should be lit while a dash indicates that it should be turned off A in the string indicates that a lamp should be blinked The number of characters between the quotes of the signal indicator string should always equal the number of Signalman controllers used by the signal being controlled The string reads left to right with the leftmost character representing the lowest numbered Signalman controller With that in mind it should be fairly easy to see that the following sets of TCL action statements will have identical results blockl RED is the same as blockl blockl GREEN is the same as blockl blockl YELLOW is the same as blockl blockl RED BLINK is the same as blockl Controlling Discrete Signal L
127. etween PCs TBrain provides a built in bidirectional file buffer accessible via the TCL entity OData OData functions as a first in first out FIFO buffer used to queue data prior to being output to or after being input from another PC To send data to a copy of TBrain running on another PC we first queue it in the JOData FIFO buffer Then we use the Send action statement to move the contents of the buffer to another PC Send takes one argument the name of the PC we re sending the data to enclosed in quotes For example the following When Do writes the contents of three variables to the computer named CTC When Do STOData Varl place 3 variable values into the FIFO buffer SIOData Var2 SIOData Var3 SSend CTC then send the buffer contents to CTC The Send action statement does all of the work The current contents of the JOData transmit buffer on the source PC appear almost instantly in the OData receive buffer of the destination PC The TCL program being executed by the copy of TBrain running on the destination PC detects the arrival of data by examining the nBufLen TCL entity Normally equal to zero InBufLen increments automatically each time a data value arrives over the network A non zero value in InBufLen thus serves as the condition to trigger a When Do statement to read interpret and process the incoming data For example the following When Do executed on PC1 would read the t
128. f an array may then be accessed by specifying it s position or index in the array In TCL array member indices begin with 0 Thus the individual members of the array defined above would be named Light Bulb 0 Light Bulb 1 and Light Bulb 15 So why bother Couldn t we have just given each controller the name directly Well yes But actually by using arrays we save more than just a bit of typing To see why let s imagine we want to write code to blink each of our 16 bulbs in sequence We could of course write things out longhand For example Always Do Light_Bulb 0 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 1 Pulse 1 109 Light_Bulb 2 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 3 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 4 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 5 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 6 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 7 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 8 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 9 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 10 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 11 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 12 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 13 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 14 Pulse 1 Light_Bulb 15 Pulse 1 But there s a more elegant way Always Do Index 0 Until Index 16 Loop Light_Bulb Index Pulse 1 Index EndLoop Here we ve used a variable named Index to indicate which member of the array we want to pulse By incrementing that variable each time through our loop we don t need to exhaustively call out each member of the array Constants The TCL compiler understands a variety of pre defined values e g True False On Off numbers and text
129. f around 15 to 20 Volts D C Never apply greater than 25 Volts D C to the POWER IN input 48 Section 4 Controlling Signals Automated signaling is a natural candidate for computer control on model railroads just as on real ones The CTI system s unique combination of sensing and control features makes it easy to implement prototypical fully automated signaling operations on any model railroad But with so many signal lights to control cost has often limited the amount of automated signaling the average model railroader can afford That s why CTI invented the Signalman the fast easy affordable way to implement fully automated computerized signaling operations In contrast to the profusion of hard wired single function signal control products on the market the Signalman has been specifically designed to exploit the flexibility that s available only through computer control The Signalman works equally well with block searchlight and positional signals It s also ideal for controlling grade crossing flashers traffic lights warning beacons airport runways etc Anywhere a signal light is required the Signalman can do the job It works with all signal technologies including common anode LEDs common cathode LEDs bipolar LEDs and incandescent bulbs Introducing the Signalman In this section you ll see how easy it is to implement prototypical signaling operations that are run automatically by your PC As alwa
130. ffordable control modules Command control owners can use their DCC system to do what it does best run trains while using CTI to cost effectively control switches signals sound etc the entire integrated system operated automatically by CTI s powerful control software The integration of DCC with CTI s family of powerful control and sensing modules now makes it easy to automate the operation of a DCC based layout Many tricky control operations that were simply impossible to perform with DCC alone are now a breeze DCC operated trains can make station stops respond prototypically to trackside signals run according to scheduled timetables and much more all under the full control of your PC and CTI of course At CTI we realized there was no real advantage to marketing yet another DCC system in an already crowded market requiring existing DCC users to fork over more hard earned dollars for yet another command station Therefore we ve instead opted to work closely with existing DCC manufacturers to integrate support for their DCC hardware into our TBrain control software Our DCC ready software supports the following DCC systems e Atlas Each of these systems is well suited to use in a PC e DigiTrax controlled operating environment Collectively they e EasyDCC CVP Products provide our users with a wide range of choices in price eng and performance e Lionel TMCC e Marklin Digital e North Coast Engineering e Roco e
131. fied by its two leads It should be controlled using the BP version of the Signalman In a bicolor device the two LEDs are connected in the same direction either in common anode or common cathode configuration see the figure below A bicolor LED is easily identified by its three leads Bicolor LEDs are electrically equivalent to any other common anode or common cathode device and should be controlled using the CA or CC Signalman Red Red Red Green Green Green Bipolar LED Bicolor LED Bicolor LED Common Cathode Common Anode 2 leads 3 leads 3 leads Use BP Signalman Use CC Signalman Use CA Signalman 51 Lesson 7 Hooking Up Your Signalman Now it s time to install your Signalman into your CTI system The Signalman uses the same PC interface as all of our other modules so hooking it up should be a breeze Since we ve already described the details of interfacing the CTI system to your PC we won t dwell on the subject in much detail here see Hooking Up Your CTI System in Section 1 if you d like more details As with all CTI modules simply install your Signalman board s anywhere into your CTI network using the modular phone jacks located near the upper left corner of the circuit board Remember to connect your CTI boards to form a closed loop always wiring from RED to GREEN That s all there is to it An example of a simple CTI network consisting of Tr
132. file formats are supported e g bmp gif jpg Be sure to include the full pathname to the image file if it s not in the same directory as the TBrain program and to enclose the filename between double quotes for example When Do Draw Picture x y z C My Documents My Pictures My Sprite bmp The image contained in the specified graphics file will be drawn on CTC panel z with its upper left hand corner located at grid coordinate x y To allow fine tuning of the position of the image within a CTC panel grid square the Draw Picture statement uses non integral x and y grid coordinate values For example Draw Picture 1 5 2 5 3 My Image bmp places the upper left hand corner of the image at the middle of the grid square 1 2 of panel 3 Move Picture and Erase Picture action statements are also available These have the same TCL language format as and behave similarly to the Move and Erase commands for use with the standard sprite symbols described earlier Note Because TBrain has no knowledge of the size of your picture the Erase Picture action requires the full CTC panel to be redrawn While this happens nearly instantaneously on newer systems users of older PCs may visually perceive the delay Since sprite graphics are typically small occupying only a single grid square an alternate Erase SmallPicture action statement is available to quickly erase user defined sprite images that occupy only a single gri
133. form Color Sprite x y z lt Color value gt Color values for sprites follow the same rules as those for track sections You can use the name of one of the recognized common colors or can insert a color code using TBrain s Insert Color Code tool in the Edit menu Moving Sprites Trains won t sit still for very long and you ll soon need to update your CTC panel to portray their new locations This can be easily accomplished using the Move Sprite action statement which takes the form Move Sprite x1 yl z1 gt x2 y2 z2 Here x1 yl z1 refers to the current location of the sprite and x2 y2 z2 refers to the desired new location of the sprite The arrow operator is formed using a combination of the minus sign to the right of the zero 0 key on your keyboard followed by the greater than sign to the left of the question mark key on your keyboard In response TBrain removes the sprite from its current location and places it at the new location in the same color that it had before it was moved Erasing Sprites Sometimes you ll want to remove a sprite from the CTC panel without redrawing it somewhere else That s handled using the Erase Sprite statement which takes the form Erase Sprite x y z 102 Message Text While it s said that a picture is worth a thousand words there are still times when a textual message displayed on the CTC panel is the best w
134. h configuration is a simple yet highly versatile one that s applicable to a wide range of control operations Here are just a few NO NO NO NO COM COM COM COM NC NC NC NC Normally Off Switch Normally On Switch Output Selector Input Selector SPDT Switch Configurations You can access the 3 connection points of each SPDT switch using the terminals located along the left hand edge of the Train Brain board Note that the designation of each connector is written next to it on the surface of the PC board NC normally closed indicates the terminal that s connected to the switch s COMMON input when no power is applied to the relay coil NO normally open designates the terminal that s connected to the switch s COMMON input when the relay coil is energized To connect a device to the controller simply insert the wires into the openings on the side of the connector strip Then screw down the retaining screws on the top of the connector until the wires are secured DON T OVERTIGHTEN A little pressure goes a long way Sensors Each Train Brain board is equipped with 4 sensor ports located along the right side of the board Again notice that each sensor connector is labeled on the surface of the PC board These sensors are most commonly used to detect the location of trains and the pressing of pushbuttons by the operator but with a little imagination you ll think up a wide variety of additional applications For ex
135. h of TCL s built in storage locations a meaningful name The rules for naming variables are the same as those for sensors and controls In this case we need only one variable which we ve called should stop The first two WHEN DO statements of our revised TCL program let us set should_stop to TRUE or FALSE using a Quick Key In other words we can use the variable to remember whether or not we want the train to stop when it arrives at the station The third WHEN DO looks very much like that of our original station stop with one very important exception the addition of a second condition in the WHEN clause WHEN at_station TRUE should_stop TRUE DO Now the train will only stop if it is detected at the station AND we have requested that it stop by setting the variable should_stop equal to TRUE Otherwise even though the train is detected at the station it will simply continue on its way This ability to chain together multiple conditions allows complex decisions to be made by TBrain Any number of conditions each separated by a comma or if you prefer by the word AND may be grouped within a WHEN clause In order for the corresponding DO clause to be executed all of the specified conditions in the group must be satisfied Furthermore any number of such condition groups may be combined using the TCL OR operator within a WHEN clause The corresponding DO clause will then be executed whenever any one of the condit
136. hat take a significant amount of time to execute i e those containing long wait or pulse statements In such cases there may be a delay between the call to the subroutine and its execution if at the time of the call the subroutine is already owned by another user For this same reason TCL subroutines are non recursive i e a subroutine may not call itself since it is already owned at the time of the second call An attempt to call a subroutine recursively is flagged as an error by the compiler When Do execution automatically resumes at the action statement following a subroutine call once the subroutine s ENDSUB statement is reached However there may be instances when multiple points of return from within a subroutine are desired This ability is provided via the RETURN keyword which when encountered anywhere in a subroutine causes execution to resume at the next action statement in the calling When Do For example SUB MySub lt actions gt If lt conditions gt Then RETURN EndIf lt more actions gt If lt conditions gt Then RETURN EndIf lt still more actions gt ENDSUB 119 Passing Parameters By Value vs By Reference TCL follows the C language convention of passing parameters to subroutines by value This means that the subroutine receives a temporary local copy of the values passed to it rather than the address of the original global entity itself T
137. he cathode terminal of all of the signal s LEDs are wired together usually within the signal unit itself and connected to Ground Each signal light is controlled by connecting disconnecting its anode terminal to from a positive voltage To control common cathode signals use the CC version of the Signalman and follow the wiring diagram shown below SignalMan CC Version Controllers Common J Cathode Separate Anodes Common Cathode LED based Signal Wiring Wiring Bipolar BP LED based Signals 53 This is a common form of LED based searchlight signal It is easily identifiable because it has only two wire leads In the BP configuration signal color red or green is controlled by the polarity of the voltage presented across the signal s two leads A good approximation to a yellow signal aspect may be achieved by rapidly switching between the two voltage polarities To control bipolar LED based signals use the BP version of the Signalman and follow the wiring diagram shown below SignalMan BP Version Controllers Bipolar LED based Signal Wiring Wiring Incandescent IC Lamp based Signals This is also a fairly common form of multi light block signal Since it employs light bulbs rather than LEDs higher current is typically required than in similar LED based implementations To control an incandescent signal use the IC Signalman and follow the wiring diagram shown belo
138. he contents of a file of unknown length into a variable array When Do I 0 SRead MyFile dat Until ReadBufLen 0 Loop Var I FileData I EndLoop There is a similar WriteBufLen entity whose value indicates the number of entries in the write side of the FileData buffer waiting to be written to file Its value increments by 1 each time we move a piece of data into of the buffer from another TCL entity and is reset to zero when we write data to a file from the buffer The FileData buffer is limited to 1024 entries Any attempt to write or read more data once the buffer depth has reached 1024 will be ignored Break longer writes into multiple shorter ones using Append to perform each smaller write Writing Text Strings to Files Consider the action statements below FileData Hello SWrite MyFile dat After executing these statements we might expect to find the word Hello stored in the file But surprisingly we d instead find a rather meaningless number That s because in TBrain the value of a string is actually equal to a pointer into a memory heap where the sequences of characters contained in all of our text strings are stored by the compiler If we want to write the text itself to a file simply follow the source operand with a percent sign character For example SFileData Trains Are Fun Varl Yes They Are SFileData Varl SWrite MyFile
139. he optimal pulse time As a general rule dual coil solenoid based machines are the power hogs of switch control Some dual coil machines are downright brutish For example switch machines from Atlas and NJI have coil resistances as low as 4 and 2 Ohms respectively At 12 Volts that corresponds to current surges of 3 and 6 Amps needed to throw a switch But you needn t worry The solid state controllers on the Switchman and the electro mechanical relays of the Train Brain and Dash 8 were specifically designed to tackle these heavy inductive loads Dual Coil Switch Machine Switchman Controller Common E OK to use Train Brain controllers here too Switchman Controller A Simple Switch Control Program Controls open close QKeys switch Actions WHEN switch LEFT DO open PULSE 0 1 WHEN switch RIGHT DO close PULSE 0 1 Basic Wiring Diagram and TCL Code Example for Throwing a Dual Coil Switch 64 Optimized Switch Control We ve now learned to use two controllers to operate a turnout But that approach could get rather expensive if your layout has many switches Fortunately we can do much better Here we ll learn to cut our cost nearly in half by throwing turnouts using just a single controller per switch machine To illustrate we ll consider a simple yard ladder with 4 sidings and create keyboard commands to automatically route each siding to the mainline A track di
140. he track The actuator is placed on the train beneath an engine or piece of rolling stock When the actuator passes over the detector the Train Brain s sensor is activated Actuator Magnet 1 cm 0 4 Max a a er oy A Wire To Wire To Sensor Port Sensor Port A B Correct positioning of the actuator and detector are the keys to reliable operation The actuator should pass directly over the detector within a distance of 1 cm 0 4 inches When installing the detector on a new layout it may be completely hidden in the ballast beneath the track When retrofitting into existing trackwork the detector may be installed from above It s tiny size makes it nearly invisible On N gauge layouts it may be necessary to remove the center of a few ties to provide adequate coupler clearance The Train Brain s sensor ports are also compatible with a wide variety of other sensor types If you re interested in trying alternative sensors with the Train Brain now may be a good time to refer ahead to Lesson 15 This example will work equally well with other sensor types Before we begin programming our station stop take a few minutes to experiment with the sensor and actuator Run the TBrain program go online and select Sensors from the View menu 26 Note the state of the sensor indicators which at this point should all be off green Connect the two leads of the reed switch detector to the A and B inputs of one of the sensor ports on yo
141. hines Open hd 4 Common Switchman Close Controller power2 Open L D Common Switchman Close Controller power3 A Switchman Controller Time Sharing Wiring Diagram using Switchman Power Controls In the circuit above a single Train Brain controller is still needed to route the voltage to the Open or Close side of the switch machines If none is available we can implement an all Switchman solution by adding an external relay e g CTI part TB007 as shown below Auxiliary SPDT Relay Module CTI Part TB007 dk 12V Filtered oe DC direction i n a Switchman Controller Dual Coil power Switch Machines Open GS Common Switchman Close o Controller power2 Open z Common Switchman Close o Controller power3 Open Common Switchman Close Controller Time Sharing Wiring Diagram using Switchman Controls External Relay 67 Failsafe Operation Of Dual Coil Solenoid Driven Switch Machines One limitation of your PC is that it can t smell smoke If you make a mistake and accidentally leave a switch machine activated for an extended period of time your nose will realize it fairly quickly but your PC never will It will obediently keep current flowing through the switch machine just as you asked it to until the machine s plastic housing eventually mel
142. how to stop the train automatically each time it approaches the station But while this may indeed be a remarkable piece of computer control it could become a bit monotonous particularly on a smaller layout where station stops would be quite frequent Suppose we wish to selectively enable and disable our station stop feature Unfortunately our sensor is designed to detect the train every time it passes the station How can we make our TCL program only respond to selective ones The solution of course is to use variables Let s make a small change to the station stop program we introduced in Lesson 3 No wiring changes are needed For simplicity we ll use a Train Brain controller to stop the train when it arrives at the station Of course the station stop could be implemented more realistically using a SmartCab The revised TCL program is shown below 78 A Revised Automatic Station Stop Controls station_stop whistle spare spare Sensors at_station spare spare spare Qkeys stop Variables should_stop Actions WHEN stop LEFT DO should_stop TRUE WHEN stop RIGHT DO should_stop FALSE WHEN at_station TRUE should_stop TRUE DO station_stop ON wait 10 whistle PULSE 2 wait 1 whistle PULSE 2 station_stop ON The most notable difference between this version of the program and our original station stop is the addition of a new section entitled Variables This section allows us to give eac
143. hree values sent by the When Do statement above When InBufLen gt 3 Do Varl IOData read 3 values into varl var2 var3 Var2 IOData Var3 IOData InBufLen automatically decrements each time we read a value from the buffer Thus it would return to zero after the three reads are performed by the above When Do Care should be exercised when data can arrive asynchronously or from multiple sources In that case JOData may contain the data from more than one Send statement at the same time In such a situation the above When Do would never execute again since after the first three reads InBufLen never drops below 3 allowing the When Do to retrigger In such cases it is better to process the entire content of the 10Data buffer using a statement like 124 When SInBufLen gt 0 Do Until InBufLen 0 Loop put code to read and process the S IOData buffer here EndLoop There is a similar OutBufLen entity whose value indicates the number of entries in the output side of the sender s OData buffer waiting to be sent Its value increments by 1 each time we move a piece of data into of the buffer from another TCL entity and is reset to zero when we send data to another PC file from the buffer Using this simple technique using messages defined by the user virtually any interaction between PCs is possible See the separate App Note on multi PC operations for a more thorough example of multi PC peer to peer layou
144. hus subroutines cannot directly alter the value of entities passed to them as parameters by value they can only manipulate their own private copy When it is desired that a subroutine alter the state of a global TCL entity passed to it as a parameter the entity must be passed by reference This is achieved by passing the address of that entity to the subroutine using TCL s amp address of operator and using the pointer to operator in the assignment actions to that entity in the subroutine For example consider the following two TCL programs both intended to blink one of four light bulbs in response to the activation of a corresponding sensor The code on the left is incorrect Since in this case the light bulb controllers are passed to the subroutine by value the subroutine only receives a copy of the current state of that controller and therefore lacks the knowledge needed to alter it The code on the right will function correctly By passing the subroutine the address of the lightbulb s controller by reference the subroutine is now able to control it Sensors Sl S2 S3 S4 Sensors Sl S2 S3 S4 Controls LB1 LB2 LB3 LB4 Controls LBl LB2 LB3 LB4 Actions Actions SUB Blink LightBulbToBlink SUB Blink LightBulbToBlink LightBulbToBlink Pulse 1 LightBulbToBlink Pulse 1 ENDSUB ENDSUB When sl True Do Blink LB1 When sl True Do Blink amp LB1 When s2 Tru
145. ights When a signal uses only a single Signalman controller any of the same methods used to activate Train Brain controllers may be used to control the signal For example WHEN DO beacon ON Turn the light on WHEN DO beacon OFF Turn the light off WHEN DO beacon PULSE 0 25 Flash the light These simple techniques are all it takes to control signals from your TCL program 60 Controlling Bipolar and Bicolor LED based Signals The previous discussion tells you everything you ll need to know to control any style of signal from a TCL program but a few additional points are worth mentioning when working with bipolar 2 lead and bicolor 3 lead LED based signals Although the signal contains only red and green LEDs and uses only two Signalman controllers you can still set it equal to YELLOW For bipolar or bicolor LED based signals the Signalman will automatically create the yellow signal aspect by toggling rapidly between the red and green states to synthesize the yellow color For example Signals sig1 2 a single searchlight signal using a bipolar LED WHEN DO sigl RED set voltage polarity to light red LED WHEN DO sig GREEN set voltage polarity to light green LED WHEN DO sigl YELLOW alternate voltage polarities to create synthetic yellow By default when synthesizing yellow the Signalman uses a color mix in which the green LED is lit 66 of the time
146. iled look at the Train Brain s sensor ports and describes interfacing to an infrared sensor built from parts available at Radio Shack If you re in doubt whether your sensors are compatible with the Train Brain or if you need more information on connecting alternative sensors contact us at CTI We d be happy to help 10 Power Supply The Train Brain requires a power supply in the range of 9 to 12 Volts D C Maximum power supply current draw occurs when all relays are on and is about 150 milliamps Power enters the Train Brain board through the power supply jack located in the upper right hand corner of the PC board CTI Electronics sells an inexpensive U L approved power supply which mates directly with this connector For those who wish to provide their own power source the Train Brain board is shipped with the appropriate power plug to mate with the Train Brain s power supply jack You will need to connect your power supply to this plug The outer conductor is GROUND The inner connector is 12 Volts Don t get it backwards The Train Brain has an onboard voltage regulator to convert your raw power supply to the precise 5 0 Volts that its integrated circuits require Nevertheless the power you supply must be clean i e it must always remain within the 9 to 12 Volt range without any voltage dropouts 11 Hooking Up Your CTI System Now that you re a little more familiar with the Train Brain board it s time t
147. in your TCL code you may want to initialize some controllers or variables to a different state To make this easy Tbrain provides a built in entity named Reset that is automatically set momentarily to True whenever a reset occurs That way your TCL program can perform all desired initialization using a When Do statement whose When clause looks like the following When Reset True Do Emergency Stop When the user presses the Emergency Stop button on TBrain s control panel TBrain brings all SmartCabs and DCC throttles to an immediate stop with no momentum At times you may want TBrain to take additional actions in the case of an emergency To make this easy Tbrain provides a built in entity named Emergency which is automatically set to True whenever the Emergency Stop button is activated That way your TCL program can perform any desired actions in a single When Do statement whose When clause looks like the following When Emergency True Do Emergency remains set to True until the user releases the Emergency Stop button Emergency is then automatically cleared to False You can also declare an emergency from within your TCL program If your program detects an unexpected event or condition you can bring all of your trains to an immediate halt by setting Emergency equal to True as part of the actions in a When Do statement Your code must later set Emergency to False to return to normal operation Status Bar Messages
148. ing on its name in the list box Then click the Edit button 154 You ll return to the editor worksheet where the current settings for this engine will be shown Make any desired changes then click OK to update the database An existing engine may be removed from the fleet by selecting it from the list box then clicking the Delete button TBrain will ask you to confirm the engine s removal For your initial testing just add a few engines to the fleet database You can add the rest later Your fleet database will be saved when you exit TBrain or you can save it now using the File Save Railroad menu item When making a large number of changes it s always advisable to save your work periodically Interactive Control of DCC Equipped Engines With you DCC equipped engines entered into the fleet roster TBrain now has all the information it needs to run your trains So let s put those DCC equipped engines to work In this section we ll begin by trying some interactive control using the mouse To do so we ll need an onscreen throttle You can get one using TBrain s DCC New Throttle menu item or by using the New DCC Throttle button on the TBrain toolbar Once your onscreen throttle appears you ll first need to assign it to an engine To do so click on the list box near the top of the throttle A drop down window appears containing the names of the engines you ve placed in your fleet Simply select an engine from the li
149. ion groups is TRUE 79 For example let s suppose we wish to have the train stop at the station as described above In addition we would like to be able to force a station stop regardless of the state of the variable should_stop by using a Quick Key called OVERRIDE Finally we would like to be able to stop the train at any time using a command called BRAKE An appropriate WHEN DO statement might be the following WHEN at_station TRUE AND should_stop TRUE OR at_station TRUE AND override LEFT OR command BRAKE DO station_stop ON Try running the station stop program above using TBrain It is included at C Program Files Tbrain Lesson11 Use the STOP Quick Key which we ve created to enable and disable automatic station stops More on Variables In the previous example we learned how to assign a value to a variable and how to use the variable s value as part of the condition in a WHEN DO statement Before leaving our station stop example let s look at more ways we can use variables to add punch to our TCL programs We ll again address the issue of controlling automatic station stops but take a slightly different approach Instead of requiring the user to decide whether or not the train should stop at the station let s leave the operation fully automated This time we ll say that the train should stop automatically every 10th time it arrives at the station We ll obviously need a way to count the number of times the
150. ises e Add actions statements to the WHEN DO s in the above TCL program to automatically control the turnouts at each end of the mainline 143 Lesson 19 Creating Random Events One of the great advantages of computer control is its repeatability Ask a computer to do something a million times and it will do it exactly the same way every time In model railroading for instance we definitely want to stop a train every time there s traffic ahead or lower a crossing gate every time a train approaches By letting a computer take care of these mundane chores we don t have to worry They ll always get done and they ll always be done right But at a higher level such repeatability can quite frankly get a bit boring Real life has a way of factoring in the unexpected To make our layouts truly lifelike we can if we choose factor some uncertainty into our TCL programs The first thing we ll need is a random number generator Fortunately the TBrain program has one built in which we can access from TCL using the RANDOM keyword Random numbers can be used as a condition in a WHEN clause or as a data source in a DO RANDOM returns a random value between 0 and 65535 In many cases you ll probably want to limit the random number to a particular range of values To produce a random number between 0 and n simply use the random number generator in conjunction with the modulo operator To illustrate suppos
151. it more familiar with the Train Brain board itself You may wish to have a Train Brain handy for reference But first a word of caution Like all electronics containing integrated circuits the Train Brain board can be damaged by exposure to ESD electrostatic discharge Your Train Brain board was delivered in a protective anti static bag We recommend that you store it there until ready for use Handle the board by the edges avoid touching its integrated circuits Keep plastic vinyl and styro foam away from your work area With those few words of warning out of the way let s take a brief tour around the Train Brain The block diagram below portrays the Train Brain s five primary functions We ll look at each one individually For reference orient the Train Brain board so that its modular telephone style connectors lie near the top of the PC board S Power PC i Supply Communications 5 s Mi Controls s Sensors icroprocessor ontrols gt 5 3 4 Sensitivity Adjust Train Brain Module and Block Diagram Microprocessor Model Railroading has entered the space age Each Train Brain board comes equipped with its own onboard microprocessor to handle communications with the PC manage the four control relays monitor the four sensor ports and let you know how things are going You can tell a lot about the function of your Train Brain board simply by watching its onboard LED It s your microprocesso
152. itchNum Pulse 0 25 SwitchDirection Off Switch CTC_ Coordinate CoinToss ENDSUB When S LeftMouse 5 5 1 Do HeadsOrTails 0 5 5 1 When LeftMouse 5 6 1 Do HeadsOrTails 1 5 6 1 When LeftMouse 5 7 1 Do HeadsOrTails 2 5 7 1 When S LeftMouse 5 8 1 Do HeadsOrTails 3 5 8 1 When S LeftMouse 5 9 1 Do HeadsOrTails 4 5 9 1 Up to 32 local variables may be declared by each subroutine Within subroutines local variable names take precedence over global variables of the same name For example any actions within the subroutine above referring to variable CoinToss will affect only the local variable even if a global variable with the same name exists TBrain s Internal Number Formats TBrain s variables are stored as 32 bit signed integers and TBrain s arithmetic operators yield integral results But in some situations it may be useful to employ non integral values We ve already seen one such instance when we specified time delays in Pulse and Wait statements e g Pulse 0 25 In such cases TBrain allows the use of finite precision real operands Numbers containing a decimal point e g 12 34 are interpreted by TBrain as real numbers TBrain stores real operands differently from integral operands so it is important to understand that the values 10 0 a real operand and 10 an integer operand are not synonymous to Tbrain Real data is stored internally to a precision of
153. ite action statement creates the file named in its argument enclosed between double quotes if it does not already exist and clears any prior file contents if it does In some circumstances we may want to add the new data to a previously existing file without destroying its prior contents This is accomplished using the Append action statement If the named file previously exists Append adds the contents of the FileData buffer to the end of any existing data in the file Reading data from a file works in reverse We first use the Read action statement to move the file contents into the FileData buffer then we move the buffer contents to their final destinations For example the following When Do reads three values from a file placing them into variables Varl Var2 and Var3 When Do SRead MyFile dat read the file contents into the FIFO buffer Varl SFileData then move them into varl var2 var3 Var2 FileData Var3 FileData Sometimes we may not know a priori how much data was in the file we ve read In that case we can use the TCL entity ReadBufLen The value of ReadBufLen always reflects how much data is in the read side of the FileData buffer Its value is set equal to the number of values 126 read when we use Read to move data from a file into the buffer and decreases by each time we move a piece of data out of the buffer into another TCL entity For example the following When Do reads t
154. k D Step 3b for block D Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to implement a fully automated cab control scheme using CTI Recommended Practice Exercises e Create a TCL program that operates the cab control system for trains running in the other direction e Add the necessary TCL code to the above program segment to initialize the cab control system interactively handling trains starting in any blocks e Change the above program for use with current detection sensors and add code to find the locations of train automatically on start up Note The Application Notes page of our website has several examples with thorough explanations illustrating cab control systems using current detection sensors and for systems with more than two trains 141 Lesson 18 Reversing Loops Reversing loops need a mechanism for detecting the arrival of a train in the loop and in response throwing the turnout and reversing the track polarity in time for the train s return to the mainline As such they are natural candidates for automated computer control The wiring diagram below shows just how easy it is to implement an automated reversing loop In contrast to simple block wiring in reversing loops both rails must be insulated at each entry exit point of the loop Two controllers are used to provide automatic polarity control for the mainline track TCL code to handle the job is shown below It s rea
155. ks to the capacitor which serves as a hardware based timing element Even if we make a mistake regardless of what we do in TCL current flow through the switch machine is limited to a safe short pulse Now we can operate our switch machine simply by turning its controller On or Off When Open Left Do Directionl On When Close Left Do Direction Off Experiment to find the best capacitor value A standard 4700 uF capacitor should work well for most switch machines If the switch fails to throw reliably try increasing the input voltage up to a maximum of 18 Volts D C or add a second capacitor in parallel with the first Be careful to observe correct polarity when wiring the capacitors and to choose a capacitor with a voltage rating at least 50 above that produced by your switch machine power supply For your convenience the capacitors used in this circuit are available from CTI See the Accessories page of our catalog They can also be found at any electronics store or mail order supply house 75 Controlling Stall Motor Driven Switch Machines As their name implies slow motion stall motor switch machines employ a low current D C motor to move the turnout s switch points The direction of motor rotation and therefore the throw direction of the switch is determined by the polarity of the applied D C voltage A wiring diagram showing a stall motor switch machine connected to the Yardmaster is
156. l automatically populate the list box with the names of all corresponding items in the DCC Fleet Roster Once the operator selects an entry from the list box QueryResponse holds a pointer to the corresponding DCC engine For example 115 When SReset True Do Query 5SSelect a DCC train to run Wait Until QueryBusy False Then EnginePointer SQueryResponse EnginePointer Speed 50 In some cases the user may wish to only populate the list box with particular type s of roster items The ability is controlled through the optional filter string Each filter consists of a 2 character code as follows IM Add included motorized roster entities to the list box EM Add excluded motorized roster entities to the list box IF Add included function only roster entities to the list box EF Add excluded function only roster entities to the list box For example to display all active motorized roster items the code might be Query 5SSelect a DCC train to run IM Filter codes may be combined in any way If no filter string is included all roster items will be added to the list Thus including no filter string is equivalent to Query 5SSelect a DCC train to runSIMEMIFEF Notes Type 1 and Type 2 query boxes can have from 1 to 30 buttons TBrain will automatically size and arrange the buttons based on their number Type 4 and Type 5 query boxes impose no limi
157. l contains all the information you ll need to get the most out of CTI computer control So please take the time to read through it carefully What Is CTI The CTI system is a new approach to model railroading that makes controlling your layout fast easy and fun With CTI you can interface your entire model railroad to any Windows compatible computer Tangled wires and overcrowded control panels are a thing of the past You can now control every aspect of your layout automatically from a state of the art control console displayed in full color on your PC screen The CTI system transforms your personal computer into a sophisticated monitoring and control center linked electronically to remote sites called Train Brains located throughout your layout CTI s software running on the PC communicates with these sites many times each second to monitor and control the operation of your model railroad Train Brains are a simple yet highly versatile family of remote control and sensing devices that works with all gauges AC or DC Their built in sensors can be used to detect the location of trains anywhere on your pike while their remotely controlled outputs can manage the operation of trains switches signals sound units lights accessories and much much more The Train Brains versatility lies in their onboard microprocessor which allows each Train Brain to communicate with CTI s software running on the PC Together the pair form a pow
158. le using message text to communicate changing layout conditions Pictures Graphics images can be placed on the schematic to portray user defined controls structures landforms etc Pictures are placed by activating the Picture tool in the toolkit Then each time you click in a grid square you ll be prompted to select an image filename Virtually all popular graphics file formats bmp jpg gif etc are supported 87 Inserting and Deleting Columns and Rows As you build you CTC panels you may find times when you need to insert an additional column or row or once you re finished you may decide you d like to delete some columns or rows The toolkit has buttons that allow you to do just that Simply select the appropriate tool then click on the CTC panel at the point where you d like to add or remove a column or row The CTC panel will be updated and if you ve already written TCL code TBrain will ask if you d like to have it automatically update any column and row references in your TCL program to account for the changes you ve made to the CTC panel Getting Your Hands Dirty A long drawn out explanation of the Schematic Editor tools will never measure up to the value of some hands on experience Therefore we highly recommend that you jump right in and experiment by laying down a simple track layout Be sure to include multiple track blocks as well as some turnouts signals and pushbutton switches
159. lenoids over 28V or 2 Amps AC motors solenoids High current layout lighting gt 2 Amps Cab Control Reversing Loops Ny a p lt Ra n i O jejeje fe eje e swinman SISTI ojo o signamn Pt tT TTT TT TTT Ty f foana Pt tT TT TT Tt eof af af a varcttaster_ SRR Ree PT EET EE ET ET T smrce Train Detection fey ee ae ele Pushbutton monitoring fa g fel DC Train Speed Control ft fe This module is the most cost effective way to perform the specified function This module will perform the specified function but there is a less expensive way available 38 Section 3 Locomotive Speed Control By now we hope you re convinced that the Train Brain is the ideal solution to many of the control problems found around your model railroad But while the Train Brain is great for discrete control turning things on or off throwing switches etc it is not designed to handle one of the biggest control tasks of all controlling locomotives That s why CTI Electronics invented Smart Cab the fully programmable computer controlled throttle that interfaces to your PC With Smart Cab train speed direction momentum and braking can all be controlled by your computer And best of all Smart Cab uses the same interconnect network as the Train Brain and is fully supported by CTI s control software By combining the capabilities of the Smart Cab wi
160. letting ballast cover the window of the photocell as this will reduce the amount of light striking the cell Adjust the sensitivity of the senor port to ensure that the detector responds reliably under ambient light conditions See Adjusting Sensor Port Sensitivity in Lesson 15 Run the 7Brain program and check the sensor status indicator corresponding to the photocell With light striking the cell the sensor port should read as TRUE Pass a piece of rolling stock over the photocell and verify that the sensor port switches to FALSE Under low light conditions the photocell resistance may not drop sufficiently to transition the sensor port into the TRUE state when no train is present In that case install the resistor supplied with the sensor kit across the A and B inputs of the sensor port connector This helps bias the sensor port toward the detection region making it more sensitive to low light conditions Functionally photocells behave the same o Train Brain Board Optional Biasing Resistor eee as infrared sensors They employ negative logic responding as TRUE when a train is not present and FALSE f when it is They are also prone to Sra a I I 4 I l I retriggering when the gaps between cars 73 sensor Port I I I I pass over the sensor To prevent these ane false triggers the same filter algorithm used with IR sensors may be used with photocells see Lesson 15 0 nn nn e
161. lly quite simple When a train is detected inside the loop the code uses the two Train Brain controllers to reverse the polarity of the mainline in preparation for the train s reentry To avoid cluttering the diagram we haven t shown the wiring to control the turnouts The wiring and TCL code to control turnouts are included in another lesson Note however that there s no need for independent control of the two turnouts at each end Since they must always operate in tandem you can control both using the same Train Brain controller Controls polarity1 polarity2 Sensors in_loop1 in_loop2 When in_loop1 TRUE DO polarity On Set mainline polarity for return from loop polarity2 Off Add code here to automatically throw turnouts if desired When in_loop2 TRUE DO polarity Off Set mainline polarity for return from loop2 polarity2 On Add code here to automatically throw turnouts if desired 142 Insulated Rail Joiners both rails ONS Train Brain Sensor a in_loop1 Direction of Travel Train Brain Sensor in_loop2 N Direction pe of Travel A B aal g5 A B g nS AA SE ce Fee we Oo vo Polarity2 o o oO Fa A Smart Cab A or Wiring Diagram for Manual Throttle B Reversing Loop Control Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to implement a fully automated reversing loop Recommended Practice Exerc
162. location We can set a variable equal to the address of an entity by using the address of operator amp For example the statement WHEN DO varl amp controller1 sets the value stored in varl equal to the address of controllerl In that case we say varl points to controllerl Once such an assignment is made controllerl may be accessed indirectly via the pointer To do so we ll use the pointer to operator For example WHEN DO varl ON activates controllerl The expression varl may be read as the entity pointed to by varl The above WHEN DO has the same effect as if we had written WHEN DO controller ON This technique of accessing an entity through a pointer is known as indirect addressing Operating on Pointer Variables Address arithmetic is allowed on pointer variables Most often you ll use the and operators Assume we ve set varl to point to controllerl using the amp operator as illustrated above Then the statement WHEN DO varl would cause varl to point to controller2 Assuming of course that controller2 is the name of the next sequential controller following controller1 In general adding N to a pointer variable causes it to point to the entity N away from the one to which it currently points When performing address arithmetic on complex data structures like SmartCabs and DCC engines and operators are also available These are more fully
163. ly Output Choose a power supply rated to handle the worst case total current draw for the maximum number of switch machines you ll be throwing simultaneously or better yet write your TCL code to throw switches sequentially to reduce the burden on the power supply The YardMaster itself will draw about an additional 80 mA from this supply And remember that most stall motor machines draw more power when stalled than when moving While their voltages are similar it s best to use separate power supplies for the switch machines and the YardMaster s digital logic The power supply noise that results from driving heavy inductive loads makes it a bad design practice to reuse that same supply to drive digital circuits that require a pristine power supply voltage 12 Lesson 10 Hooking Up amp Using The YardMaster Now it s time to install your YardMaster into your CTI system The YardMaster uses the same PC interface as all of our other modules so hooking it up should be a breeze Since we ve already described the details of interfacing the CTI system to your PC we won t dwell on the subject in much detail here see Hooking Up Your CTI System in Section 1 if you d like more details As with all CTI modules simply install your YardMaster board s anywhere into your CTI network using the modular phone jacks located near the upper left corner of the circuit board Remember to connect your CTI boards to form a closed loop alw
164. m on the app enter the IP address and port of the PC with which the phone should communicate these can be found under that PC s Tools Multi PC LAN menu item Most often this will be the DCC Host PC but if another PC is chosen TBrain will automatically route the commands sent from the handheld on to the DCC Host When the app is started TBrain will upload a copy of the DCC roster to the phone Just select an engine from the roster move the throttle s speed slider and TBrain will do the rest 125 File I O Data may be read from or written to files from within a TCL program To do so we ll use three TCL actions statements SRead S Write SAppend and three TCL entities SFileData ReadBufLen WriteBufLen To facilitate moving data to and from files TBrain provides a built in bidirectional file buffer accessible via the TCL entity FileData FileData functions as a first in first out FIFO buffer used to queue data prior to being written to or after being read from a file To write data to a file we first queue it in the FileData FIFO buffer Then we use the Write action statement to move the contents of the buffer to the file For example the following When Do writes the contents of three variables to a file When Do SFileData Varl place the variable values into the FIFO buffer FileData Var2 FileData Var3 SWrite MyFile dat then write the buffer contents to the file The Wr
165. matically Recommended Practice Exercises e Try connecting a manual SPST switch to another of the Train Brain s sensor ports and write TCL code to blow three whistle blasts whenever the switch is pressed 29 Lesson 4 Using Quick Keys In Lesson 1 you learned to define keyboard commands that allow interactive control of your layout Once you ve created a significant number of commands you ll soon discover two drawbacks to that technique First of all you must remember each of the commands Second you must type them every time you want to use them That can certainly get tiresome during a long operating session Fortunately there s an easier way Quick Keys Quick Keys are soft keys that appear on your CTI control screen Quick Keys are designed to respond to your PC s mouse Anything that you can do by typing in a command at the keyboard you can also do with a click of the mouse on a Quick Key Quick Keys eliminate typing and their function can be displayed right on the key so there s nothing to remember To illustrate using Quick Keys we ll return to the example of Lesson 1 where we defined keyboard commands GO STOP and PAUSE to control the operation of a train We ll tackle the same problem again this time using Quick Keys The same wiring used in Lesson 1 can be used here The TCL program listing below illustrates how to create Quick Keys and use them in WHEN DO statements It s included as C Program Fil
166. more humane way TCL provides a built in action statement called Color Block which does the entire job automatically The format of the Color Block statement is quite similar to that of Color Track i e Color Block x y z lt color value gt Here x y z refer to the CTC screen grid coordinates of any track section within the track block When the Color Block statement executes as part of a When Do TBrain will move out in all directions from the specified coordinate re coloring all track sections comprising that block Using Onscreen Track Color as a Condition in TCL The color of an onscreen track segment or any other displayable entity such as a pushbutton icon may be used as a condition on a When Do or If Then Else statement The format is the same as the Color action statement For example When Color 2 2 1 Blue Do When Color 3 3 2 RGB_FFOOFF Do Going Retro Users modeling the pre computer era can exploit all of the advantages of PC control while remaining true to the prototypical operation of the time Your onscreen CTC panels can employ the levers and pushbuttons found on a traditional Union Switch amp Signal CTC machine These tools can be found by clicking the US amp S button on the schematic editor toolkit They include a switch lever signal level and code start button These lever icons differ a bit from the track items we ve seen so far Due to their large physical
167. n counting to 10 Otherwise it would just keep incrementing upwards to 11 12 etc and the train would never stop at the station again Still More on Variables Before leaving the subject we ll mention a few more handy features of variables When using variables as WHEN conditions an additional set of comparison operators is available in TCL above and beyond the traditional we ve used thus far These additional operators lt lt gt gt lt gt are illustrated in the examples below WHEN count lt 10 condition is satisfied whenever count is less than 10 WHEN count gt 7 condition is satisfied whenever count is greater than or equal to 7 WHEN count lt gt 5 condition is satisfied whenever count is not equal to 5 Comparison operators can be combined to test a variable for a range of values For example WHEN count gt 5 count lt 10 condition is satisfied when count 6 7 8 or 9 A set of arithmetic operators is available for manipulating variables as part of the action in a DO clause These operators are illustrated in the following examples For the purpose of illustration assume the variable varl initially has the value 10 WHEN DO varl 5 varl 10 5 15 varl 3 varl 15 3 45 varl 5 varl 45 5 40 varl 4 varl 40 4 10 varl 6 varl 10 modulo 6 4 81 A set of logical operators amp is available for manipulating variables
168. nals Using TCL Now that your signals are wired it s time to start controlling them automatically from your TCL programs To illustrate we ll consider a simple example using a Signalman to control a collection of signals a 3 color block signal portraying track status a 2 color signal indicating the direction of a turnout a grade crossing flasher and a blinking warning beacon The wiring for our simple example is illustrated below This example assumes the use of Common Anode signal hardware Your wiring may differ slightly refer to the wiring instructions in the previous section S sv lar S e10 7 N Typical Signalman Wiring Example As usual we ll begin by giving each of our signals a meaningful name This is accomplished using a new Signals section of our TCL program In addition to naming our signals we ll also need to let TBrain know how many controllers each signal uses To do so simply list the number of controllers between braces following the signal s name For our example above the Signals section of our TCL program might be Signals block1 3 sidingA 2 crossing 2 beacon 1 spare 8 Note that we ve only used 8 of our Signalman s 16 controllers As with the Train Brain s controllers and sensors we must designate any unused signal controllers as spare This lets TBrain keep precise track of which signals are wired to which of the Signalman s controllers
169. nder We do that by opening the DCC Beacons menu item and clicking the New Beacon button There we ll give our beacon an alphanumeric name e g StationBeacon Since this is a real physical beacon we ll click the Hardware option button in the Beacon Type box more on virtual Software beacons later Defining this as a hardware beacon enables the Beacon ID text box Each hardware beacon has a unique ID number that you defined when you set up your transponder following the directions for your DCC system Enter that identifier in the Beacon ID text box Then click OK Our new beacon now appears in the Beacon Name list box on the left side of the DCC Beacons window If you re not sure of your beacon s ID number TBrain can help Just check the Auto Learn checkbox next to the Beacon ID text box Then drive any transponder equipped engine into the track block containing the beacon transponder When it detects the train the transponder will send a report to TBrain From the contents of the report TBrain will learn the transponder s ID and enter that value for you automatically in the Beacon ID box Now open an onscreen throttle select the engine you ll be running from the throttle s drop down box and start the train moving toward the station As the train enters the track block containing the transponder keep an eye on the Beacon Value list box in the DCC Beacons window The value of our beacon should soon update
170. network behaves intermittently make sure the power supply you are using is clean and always remains between 9 and 12 Volts Never share a Train Brain power supply with a noisy load such as a motor In general train transformers make poor power supplies for computer equipment because they lack sufficient output filtering Try adding a capacitor across the power supply s output be sure to observe polarity or consider using a regulated power supply Once you ve isolated the problem and exhausted all other possibilities if you suspect the Train Brain board is at fault just send it back to us at CTI Electronics We ll fix or replace it free of charge during the warranty period or for a nominal fee if the warranty has expired Provide any information you can about the problem Remember to keep the protective anti static bag your board was shipped in in case you need to return it Place the board in its anti static bag and pack securely in a rigid container 18 Section 2 Using CTI In this section you ll learn to run your model railroad using the CTI system Incorporating the PC into your model railroad will provide you with an incredible amount of flexibility With CTI your PC can respond interactively to your commands or can handle the mundane chores associated with running your layout e g signaling and block control for you completely automatically To be able to run your model railroad the PC must first be taught what to do
171. network to receive updated sensor data as the Until Loop does after each loop iteration Thus when using QuickLoop it is essential that the condition needed to terminate loop execution be achieved through actions within the loop itself For example the following loop might be useful for quickly initializing the states of all turnouts on the layout at startup 108 When Reset True Do I 0 Until I NumTurnouts QuickLoop Turnout I Off Past sk ok EndLoop Waiting Once a When Do statement is triggered there may be situations when it is desired that the execution of some or all of its actions be postponed until some external condition exists That capability is provided by the Wait Until statement This statement takes the form When lt conditions gt Do lt actions gt Wait Until lt conditions gt Then lt actions gt Execution of all actions following the Wait Until statement will be postponed until the conditions in the Wait Until clause are met Arrays Any CTI entities controllers sensors signals Smartcabs or variables may be declared as arrays An array is a related contiguous group of objects of the same type e g controllers To declare an array simply give it a name followed between square brackets by the number of items in the array For example Controls Light_Bulb 16 declares a group of 16 consecutive Train Brain controllers collectively given the name Light_Bulb Each member o
172. ng Soft Beacons with Transponder Equipped Engines To illustrate the use of soft beacons imagine we have a five block mainline loop One block say block A is fed by a staging yard and is transponder equipped Our remaining blocks B C D and E have no transponders only simple block occupancy sensors Many different engines can reside in the yard and as we put those engines into service on the mainline we ll want to track their locations around the layout We ll also want to implement automatic collision avoidance keeping trains a safe distance from other traffic as they move along the mainline Of course as we re writing our TCL code we have no way of knowing what trains those will be So naturally we ll want to write it in a way that uses beacons to tell us To get started we ll need to create five beacons one for each track block As before we ll use the New Beacon button in the DCC Beacons window We ll name our first beacon BeaconA Since this is our transponder equipped track block we ll check the Hardware beacon checkbox and enter the transponder s beacon ID Then click OK If using RFID beacons we can skip this step since Tbrain will create the BeaconA RFID beacon for us automatically Next we ll create four more beacons BeaconB BeaconC BeaconD and BeaconE For each of these we ll check the Software beacon checkbox since these are our detection only track blocks Now we have our
173. ng its track block TBrain automatically points that transponder s beacon to the TCL data structure of the engine that replied to the transponder As such we can use the beacon to access that engine indirectly using TCL s pointer to operator If you aren t yet familiar with TCL s pointer to operator see the discussion on pointers in the Advanced Programming Concepts section of the User s Guide If you re still not comfortable with the concept there s also an App Note on the CTI website that gives the subject a more in depth look The important point here is that the name of our engine no longer appears in the actions of our When Do statement Because we re accessing the engine indirectly via a beacon the code will work the same for any engine we place on the track Feel free to prove it to yourself by running the same experiment using a different engine In addition to applying the brake we can of course control any of the engine s properties indirectly via a beacon For example MyBeacon Speed 50 change speed of th ngine pointed to by MyBeacon MyBeacon Direction change direction of th ngine pointed to by MyBeacon MyBeacon FL On activate headlight on th ngine pointed to by MyBeacon 162 Radio Frequency Identification RFID One drawback of DCC transponding is that it entails the use of complicated block wiring the one thing DCC was invented to eliminate in the first
174. nly the terminal of a DC power supply should be connected to the Switchman s GND terminals 34 The Sentry The Sentry CTI Part TBO14 is CTI s most affordable sensing solution It features 16 easy to m PC use sensor ports on a single compact PC board gt Communications The sensitivity of each port is preset eliminating the adjustment potentiometers of the Train Brain a and Watchman The result is the most inexpensive __ Sensors Microprocessor train detection solution available today Despite its ___ Ek low cost and compact size the Sentry features all g of the sophisticated features of the Train Brain Be Sentry including high speed sampling digital noise pt filtering and latch till read sensor activity reporting To access a Sentry s sensors in Tbrain give each one a name including them in the Sensors section of your TCL program based on their location in the network They may then be used as part of the condition in a WHEN clause As usual designate any unused sensors as spare Electrically the Sentry s sensor ports are identical to those on the Train Brain but there are a few physical differences While the Train Brain provides individual B terminals for each sensor port the Sentry employs a common B terminal For wiring convenience two B terminals are provided They are connected together on the board Simply wire each sensor
175. ns maintains a buffer zone between trains and routes each throttle ahead of its assigned train as it moves from block to block TCL code that performs this algorithm is shown at the end of this lesson This code assumes the use of IR or photocell sensors at the transition between each pair of blocks Of course the speed and momentum of either train can still be controlled manually at any time via the pop up throttle display corresponding to that train s assigned cab on the TBrain control screen Using this TCL program TBrain will take care of all necessary power routing and traffic control for you automatically Whenever traffic is detected ahead a train will come to a smooth stop and will return to its currently selected speed once the track ahead has cleared On startup the algorithm needs to learn the starting location of each train This can be accomplished interactively using keyboard commands or Quick Keys or if current detection sensing is used the code can find the starting location of each train itself automatically For our simple example we ll just assume that operation begins with the trains in block A and B In that case the following initialization is all that s required Variable cabctl_ready is used to flag the start of operations Like all variables it equals FALSE when TBrain begins running or after a reset WHEN Reset True DO a_occupied TRUE Initialize block occupancy flags b_occupied TRUE c_
176. nsor Kit CTI Part TB002 IR contains 1 ahigh intensity narrow beamwidth infrared LED transmitter 2 ahigh photosensitivity infrared phototransisor receiver 3 acurrent limiting resistor assortment A typical IR sensor circuit is shown below The LED transmitter in CTI s sensor kit is designed for a diode current of 40 mA The appropriate current limiting resistor may be found using Ohms Law R Vin VieEp ILep R Vin 1 2 Volts 0 04 Amps CTI s IR sensor kit contains resistor values for a variety of common supply voltages For other voltages calculate R using the equation above and choose the next higher standard resistor Be careful to observe resistor wattage ratings when using higher input voltages For Vin 5Volts Use R 100 Ohms Brown Black Red For Vin 9Volts Use R 200 Ohms Red Black Red For Vin 12 Volts Use R 300 Ohms 100 Ohms 200 Ohms in series Be sure not to mix up the transmitter and the receiver the receiver is the blue device And be careful to observe correct polarity when wiring the circuit see schematic The sensor kit should work well for transmitter receiver separations up to 6 inches At longer distances care must be taken to aim the transmitter directly at the receiver Be wary when using IR sensors in areas which receive direct sunlight or which have strong incandescent lighting both of which emit significant infrared radiation In such cases it may help to use electrical ta
177. ntly and played in full synchronization to the action taking place on your railroad Now you can Tbrain can control your PC s multimedia resources in response to instructions in your TCL program Any sound you can imagine can now be played automatically synchronized to the action taking place on your layout It just takes a single line of TCL code More on that in a moment But first let s examine TBrain s integrated multimedia tools They can be found under the Tools menu There you ll find two items named Multimedia 1 and 2 Open one of them they re identical You ll now see a window that looks like a conventional media player In fact that s exactly what it is Pop in an audio CD and click on the multimedia tool s playlist button Choose a CD track hit the play button and enjoy some music You can also browse to and play multimedia files on your disc drive In fact you can even sit back and watch a DVD But the real power of TBrain s multimedia tools lies in the fact that they can be controlled from within your TCL programs through the SOUND action statement The SOUND statement supports two sources of sounds disk resident sound files and CD audio disks As a first example the TCL code to play a wav file might be WHEN at crossing TRUE DO SOUND bell wav Ring bell on approach to crossing Here SOUND refers to Tbrain s multimedia tools SOUND is set equal to is a text string containing
178. ntrolling Switches 63 Lesson 9 Dual Coil Solenoid Based Switch Control 63 Slow Motion Switch Control Introducing the YardMaster 70 Lesson 10 Hooking Up amp Using The YardMaster 73 Section 6 Programming Tips 004 78 Lesson 11 Introducing Variables 2 78 Lesson 12 WHILE DOs 83 Lesson 13 Designing Your Own Control Panels 85 Lesson 14 Advanced Programming Concepts 107 Lesson 15 A Closer Look at Sensors 129 Lesson 16 Timetables and Time Based Events 134 Lesson 17 Cab Control 0 2 136 Lesson 18 Reversing Loops 142 Lesson 19 Creating Random Events 144 Lesson 20 Sound 0 2 020 000 08 145 Lesson 21 Odds and Ends 149 Section 7 Digital Command Control DCC 152 Using CTI with DCC 000 152 Train Identification Transponding and RFID 160 Appendix A App Notes 173 The CTI User s Manual Introduction Welcome to the world of computer controlled model railroading and CTI By combining the decision making power of the PC with the monitoring and control capability of the Train Brain the CTI system delivers a level of performance and prototypical realism never before imaginable Your CTI system will add exciting new dimensions to your model railroad This manua
179. o begin installing your CTI system The entire process involves just a few simple steps We recommend connecting the CTI network to the PC with power turned off CTI can connect to your computer using either its external serial port often referred to as a COM port or on more modern PCs via a Universal Serial Bus USB port The installation procedure differs slightly for each of the two methods so just following the instructions for the interface you ll be using below Then proceed to the next section of the User s Guide where we ll check out your newly installed CTI system Connecting CTI to a COM port 1 Locate the COM port connector on the back of your computer This will be a 9 pin male connector resembling the one shown below Some computers may be equipped with multiple COM ports You may choose any one 2 Connect the COM port adapter supplied with your CTI system to the PC s COM port 3 Mount the Network Diplexer on your layout at a location that s convenient for connecting to your PC Connect the YELLOW port of the diplexer to the COM port adapter using one of the modular phone cords provided COM Port Connector COM Port Adapter Network Diplexer 4 Decide where you wish to locate your Train Brain boards They may be conveniently placed throughout your layout wherever you desire computer control Mounting holes are provided at each corner of the board Use the spacers provided to prevent damage to the underside
180. o red On and you should hear a click from your Train Brain board as its control relay activates Click the controller s button again The Train Brain s controller deactivates and its pushbutton returns to green Now we re finally ready to try out that first TCL program Recall that we defined the commands GO STOP and PAUSE to control the operation of our train Try typing GO Notice that as you type your command appears in the Command pane of TBrain s status bar Now press lt ENTER gt Tbrain accepts your input and in response executes the WHEN DO statement that accompanied the GO command Tbrain sends the appropriate control to the Train Brain board to close the relay and the train should begin on its way Notice that in the Controller window the indicator for Train is now red signaling that it has been activated Next try the STOP command The train should come to a halt and the indicator for the train s controller should return to Green Use GO to restart the train then try PAUSE The train should stop wait 5 seconds and start again just like you told it in TCL Try typing in a command other than the three we defined The message Unknown Command momentarily appears in TBrain s status bar Next halt the execution of your TCL by using the Halt red square toolbar icon Now try one of the three commands again Note that nothing happens Restart your TCL program and TBrain will again respond to your commands
181. o the underside of the board and to prevent accidental shorting against nails screws staples etc that may be lurking on your layout Don t over tighten the mounting hardware Connect your Train Brain boards to the diplexer using standard 4 conductor modular phone cable to form a ring network as shown below Any number of Train Brain boards may be connected in this fashion All connectors are color coded for easy identification Begin with the RED output connector on the diplexer Connect this to the GREEN input connector on the first Train Brain board Next wire the RED connector of the first Train Brain to the GREEN connector of the second Train Brain As you go you may wish to label each Train Brain board in order as 1 2 etc This will come in handy later on when you program your CTI system Continuing in this fashion connect the remainder of your Train Brain boards always remembering to wire from RED to GREEN Finally wire the RED connector of the last Train Brain board to the GREEN connector on the diplexer jack That s all there is to it When you re finished your Train Brain boards should form a closed loop as shown below 14 Note Even if you re only installing a single Train Brain it s essential to complete the loop If you decide to add additional Train Brain boards in the future simply unplug any one of the existing connections and then reconnect with the new board added to the string to form a bigger
182. occupied FALSE d_occupied FALSE a_cab ON b_cab OFF Assign cabs lead train gets lower numbered cab 139 Controls Sensors SmartCabs Variables Actions WHEN a_cab b_cab c_cab d_cab a_sensor b_sensor c_sensor d_sensor cab 2 a_occupied b_occupied c_occupied d_occupied a_sensor TRUE DO a_occupied TRUE d_occupied FALSE If b_occupied TRUE Then cab a_cab brake ON EndIf Wait Until b_occupied False Then cab a_cab brake OFF b_cab a_cab b_sensor TRUE DO b_occupied TRUE a_occupied FALSE If c_occupied TRUE Then cab b_cab brake ON EndIf Wait Until c_occupied False Then cab b_cab brake OFF c_cab b_cab c_sensor TRUE DO c_occupied TRUE b_occupied FALSE If d_occupied TRUE Then cab c_cab brake ON EndIf Wait Until d_occupied False Then cab c_cab brake OFF d_cab c_cab d_sensor TRUE DO d_occupied TRUE c_occupied FALSE If a_occupied TRUE Then cab d_cab brake ON EndIf Wait Until a_occupied False Then cab d_cab brake OFF a_cab d_cab 140 Step 1 for block A Step 2 for block A Step 3a for block A Step 3b for block A Step 1 for block B Step 2 for block B Step 3a for block B Step 3b for block B Step 1 for block C Step 2 for block C Step 3a for block C Step 3b for block C Step 1 for block D Step 2 for block D Step 3a for bloc
183. of the board and to prevent accidental shorting against nails screws staples etc that may be lurking on your layout Don t over tighten the mounting hardware 5 Connect your Train Brain boards to the diplexer using standard 4 conductor modular phone cable to form a ring network as shown below Any number of Train Brain boards may be connected in this fashion All connectors are color coded for easy identification Begin with 12 the RED output connector on the diplexer Connect this to the GREEN input connector on the first Train Brain board Next wire the RED connector of the first Train Brain to the GREEN connector of the second Train Brain As you go you may wish to label each Train Brain board in order as 1 2 etc This will come in handy later on when you program your CTI system Continuing in this fashion connect the remainder of your Train Brain boards always remembering to wire from RED to GREEN Finally wire the RED connector of the last Train Brain board to the GREEN connector on the diplexer jack That s all there is to it When you re finished your Train Brain boards should form a closed loop as shown below Note Even if you re only installing a single Train Brain it s essential to complete the loop If you decide to add additional Train Brain boards in the future simply unplug any one of the existing connections and then reconnect with the new board added to the string to form a bigger loop
184. of every model railroad and a natural candidate for computer control Because controlling turnouts is such an important aspect of computerized Central Traffic Control we ve dedicated an entire section of the User s Guide to the topic A seemingly endless array of switch control hardware exists today in a wide variety of physical designs and with electrical current requirements ranging anywhere from a few milliamps all the way up to several amps As a result there s no one simple answer to the question How should I control my switch machines In this lesson we ll begin by illustrating the simple control of a dual coil solenoid driven switch using the controllers found on CTI s Switchman Train Brain or Dash 8 modules In the following lesson we ll examine the CTI s YardMaster control module There we ll see how to operate other types of switch control hardware such as single coil solenoid and stall motor driven switch machines In a later lesson we ll learn to integrate the control of the physical switch machines on our layout with our CTC panel s graphical user interface through a simple point and click of their image on our on screen track schematic But for now let s begin with the basics Lesson 9 Dual Coil Solenoid Based Switch Control Thus far all of our examples have dealt in one way or another with turning things ON or OFF Trains either move or sit still whistles either blow or are silent S
185. ok your power supply to this plug The outer conductor is GROUND The inner connector is 12 Volts Always double check your wiring before applying power 50 Choosing a Signalman Configuration To ensure compatibility with the virtually endless variety of signaling products on the market four versions of the Signalman are available identifiable by their part suffix Each is optimized for use with one of four general families of signaling hardware Refer to the chart below to select the appropriate Signalman model for use with your signals Signal Hardware Compatibility Chart Signal Family Required Signalman Version Common anode LED based signals CA suffix Common cathode LED based signals CC suffix Bipolar 2 lead LED based signals BP suffix Incandescent lamp based signals IC suffix Your signal manufacturer s documentation should tell you all you need to know to select the correct Signalman for use with your signaling hardware However one common source of confusion surrounds the use of the terms bipolar and bicolor LED These devices each contain a red and a green LED housed inside the same package The difference lies in the way these two LEDs are connected In a true bipolar device the red and green LEDs are connected in opposite directions see the figure below The polarity of the voltage applied to the device determines which LED is illuminated A bipolar LED is easily identi
186. on by clicking on its name in the Beacon Name list box on the left side of the screen On the right you ll see the Trains list box showing all the engines and consists in your DCC Fleet roster Select the name of the engine being cleared onto the main by clicking on its name in the Trains list box Instantly YardBeacon s value is set to point to the selected engine as shown in the Beacon Value list box As the train enters the mainline the occupancy sensor in block A will detect it At that point we ll want to copy the value of YardBeacon into BeaconA But what about trains already on the mainline loop reentering block A from block E In that case when we detect a train entering block A we d want to copy BeaconE into BeaconA Thus when a train enters block A we ll need to know where the train came from to determine which of the two beacons to copy into BeaconA The direction of the turnout provides us with a simple way to determine that 170 Here s a look at the When Do for block A When SensorA True Do When a train enters block A If SwitchDirection True Then If it came from the yard BeaconA YardBeacon Copy block A s beacon from the yard Else Otherwise BeaconA Beaconk Copy block A s beacon from block E EndIf If there s traffic ahead in block B stop the train that s in block A If SensorB True Then BeaconA Brake On Wait Until SensorB False Then wait for the tr
187. on in the toolkit Then move your mouse to the desired location in the CTC panel and click to lay down the selected track type You can keep clicking to place the currently selected track type into as many grid squares as desired To change to a new track type simply click on a different track template in the toolbar 85 Note Execution of your TCL program must be halted to allow the CTC panel to be edited Changing Erasing Existing Grid Squares If you need to change the track in a particular grid square to a different track type simply select the new track type from the toolkit and click it into place on the desired grid square The old track section in that square will be replaced by the new track type To remove an existing track section from a grid square select the Eraser tool in the toolkit then click on the desired grid square s to remove the existing track section s Defining Track Blocks You ll probably want to divide your track schematic into separate track blocks just as your real layout is constructed so you ll be able to use your CTC panel display to portray block occupancy Tbrain recognizes any discontinuity in the track schematic as a block boundary Several end of block track icons are provided for this purpose In addition you can insert a block boundary at any location on the schematic using the block boundary tool in the track toolkit Select the block boundary tool from the toolkit then simply
188. or small signal applications e g controlling LEDs and bulbs jobs where the Train Brain s high capacity relays would be wasted Each of the Signalman s controllers is designed to operate a single signal lamp Power Supply The Signalman s power supply serves two functions First it converts raw input power supplied by the user to the precise 5 Volts required by the Signalman s microprocessor Second it generates an adjustable voltage available at the V V terminals useful for powering signals On all LED oriented Signalman boards this output voltage is fixed at a value appropriate for powering LEDs On Signalman boards intended for use with incandescent bulbs which have widely varying voltage requirements the output voltage may be adjusted over a range from 1 5V to 12V using the onboard potentiometer This voltage should be set to a value appropriate for your brand of incandescent signals before wiring them to the Signalman Raw power enters the Signalman through the black power supply jack located along the top of the board This raw supply must be filtered and should be in the range of 9 to 12 Volts DC The same power supply available from CTI for use with the Train Brain is also compatible with the Signalman Just plug it in and you re ready to go For those who wish to supply their own power source the Signalman is shipped with the appropriate power supply plug to mate with the power jack You ll need to ho
189. or mounting the reader This choice in turn determines how tags will be attached to your engines Mounting the reader beneath the track with the tag mounted on the undercarriage of the train will be the most common configuration so let s examine that situation in a bit more detail The easiest under track mounting method places the reader PCB under the layout flush with the underside of the benchwork with the track passing overhead on the topside of the benchwork This approach will work well in situations where the combined thickness of the bench surface sound deadening layer e g homasote and roadbed allow the tag to pass within close enough proximity to the reader to allow detection In situations where this is not the case mounting the reader PCB on top of the benchwork will be the preferred solution This approach is illustrated in the figure below Here the reader PCB is placed directly beneath the trackwork in a gap in the roadbed The ribbon cable passes through a hole drilled in the benchwork to the network PCB mounted beneath the benchwork After ballasting the reader will be completely hidden Ribbon cable connection to network PCB beneath layout Tag detect LED Tag Installation on the Train RFID tags come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes from as large as a credit card to as small as a grain of rice CTI sells tags in sizes convenient for N HO and O gauge trains But feel free to experiment with tags you purchase you
190. ortunately TCL allows us to transfer data back and forth between TBrain s clock operators and TCL s variables Thus the wide assortment of arithmetic operators that are available for use with variables may be applied to TBrain s clocks Consider TCL s modulo operator Recall that A modulo B is equal to the remainder when the number B is divided into the number A Thus whenever A is a multiple of B the remainder is zero i e A mod B 0 Now consider the following TCL code ALWAYS DO varl time copy time of day clock into variable var1 varl 00 10 00 test if clock is at a 10 minute interval WHEN varl 00 00 00 DO if so varl will be zero start train train ON Variable varl continually monitors the value of clock operator time Using the modulo function the value of time is checked for a ten minute boundary by dividing 10 minutes into the current value of time and testing for a zero remainder The second WHEN DO then turns on the train every 10 minutes as desired This technique can be used to schedule a wide variety of periodic events 135 Fast Clocking Tbrain s clock operators can speed up real time to implement a scale time appropriate to any model railroad scale The speed up ratio may be set using the Settings Fast Clock item on Tbrain s main menu For example to produce a scale time which is 10 times faster than real time simply move the FastClock slider control to the value 10
191. ou ll learn how There s one important aspect of trains that makes handling them a bit different they move Fortunately TBrain provides an additional set of graphical entities and associated TCL language commands specifically designed for use with moving objects on our CTC panels Borrowing a term from the computer graphics world these entities are generically called sprites Sprites can be drawn anywhere on your CTC panel screen They can be made to change color to disappear to reappear and to move These features make them ideally suited to tackling the job of portraying the locations of trains as they move about your layout All work with sprites is done from within your TCL program using a small set of sprite oriented action statements These statements look very similar to those you ve encountered already when working with the static track entities earlier The first of these is the Draw Sprite action statement which takes the form Draw Sprite x y z lt Sprite Name gt in lt Color Value gt As always x y z refers to the column 1 to 50 row 1 to 50 and panel number 1 to 4 of the CTC screen on which the sprite is to be drawn lt Sprite Name gt can be selected from one of the sprites available in TBrain These are Loco_East Loco_West Loco _North Loco_South Train_East Train _West Train _North Train _South Sig_Absolute_East Sig _Absolute_West Sig Absolute_North Sig Absolute_South Sig
192. ow can we do that without knowing the color of the CTC panel background We ll use two new TCL action statements 105 Draw And Picture x y z image filename Draw Or Picture x y z image filename Drawing images containing transparent regions is a 2 step process First we ll use the Draw And_Picture statement to prepare our CTC panel to accept the new image As its name implies Draw And_Picture logically and s each pixel of the image with the underlying pixel already on the screen instead of simply replacing the existing pixel as Draw Picture did Our image file in this case will be a black and white silhouette of our donut black where the donut will be and white everywhere else Such an image is shown on the left below Since a black pixel and ed with any color yields a black pixel and a white pixel and ed with any color yields a pixel of that same color this action has the net effect of drawing a black donut on the screen while leaving the surrounding region in this case the four corners around the donut and the region seen through the donut hole unchanged With that done we re half way there Next we ll use the Draw Or_Picture statement which logically or s each pixel of the new image with the underlying pixel on the screen This time our image file contains our striped donut on a black background as shown on the right below Since black or ed with any color produces that s
193. pe or heat shrink tubing to form an opaque tube around the receiver to shield it from incidental radiation Train Brain Board aloes Clear Lens Blue Lens Sensor Port Connector Longer Lead i Longer Lead i Vin af BI A Transmitter Receiver Typical Infrared Sensor Schematic Infrared Components 173 Applications Note 2 Using CTI s PhotoCell Sensor Kit Photocells are a simple and reliable means to detect moving trains Since they respond to visible light they can use normal room lighting as their signal source A train passing overhead shadows the photocell triggering the sensor This note describes the use of CTI s Photocell Sensor Kit Part TBO2 PC Photocells are constructed of a photoconductive material usually Cadmium Sulfide CdS whose electrical resistance changes dramatically with exposure to visible light The photocell supplied with the CTI kit exhibits a 10 to 1 resistance change varying from less than 2 KQ in moderate room lighting to greater than 20 KQ in complete darkness CTI s Photocell Sensor Kit CTI Part TB002 PC contains 1 a wide dynamic range Cadmium Sulfide photocell 2 a sensor port biasing resistor To install the photocell drill two small holes 1 8 inch apart and insert the photocell s leads down through the benchwork Wire one lead to the A input of a Train Brain sensor port and the other to the B input It doesn t matter which lead gets connected to which input Avoid
194. perience a significant difference in detection range when the track is powered vs unpowered then the DCC signal may be the culprit Some simple techniques can help in this case First keep all DCC power busses and power feeds at least 12 inches away from the reader If that doesn t do the trick create a small insulated track block 2 to 3 inches long with its own power feed surrounding the reader The benefit of this block is that while the tag is positioned over the reader the engine will be drawing power from the track ahead of and behind the reader and the track directly around the reader will be electrically quiet RF Clean Zone Dirty Shared Track Power Bus 12 minimum avoidance area Clean Dedicated Feeder Wire RFID Reader Track Section 167 Software Beacons Beacons are powerful tools for automating a DCC layout But for most of us it will be too expensive to equip every block on our layout with a transponder or RFID reader Not to worry In addition to supporting hardware beacons Tbrain also includes a soft beacon feature that combined with a bit of TCL programming is just as effective as true hardware beacons With soft beacons we can create virtual transponders that can be used to track the location of locomotives as they travel on the layout even if not every block has a transponder They even work if none of our engines are transponder equipped Usi
195. pically want the execution of the When Do statement that created it to suspend momentarily pending a response for the user We can tell when the user has made his selection by using a built in TCL entity named QueryBusy QueryBusy is automatically set equal to True whenever a query box is displayed and automatically returns to False once that query window is closed As a result we can use the value of QueryBusy as the condition in a Wait Until action statement to delay execution of the remaining actions in our When Do until the user makes his choice i e Wait Until SQueryBusy False Then 113 At that point we ll want to set our TrainSelect variable based on his decision Again we ll rely on a built in TCL entity this time named QueryResponse When a query box is closed QueryResponse is automatically set equal to a valuable corresponding to the operator s input In our type 1 query box this value indicates the button that the operator has pressed A value of O indicates the user selected the leftmost button the one labeled SantaFe in our example Proceeding left to right a value of 1 tells us the operator selected the next button labeled B amp O in this case A value of 2 means the operator chose the third button which we labeled PRR For our purposes in this example we just need to copy this value into variable TrainSelect with the simple assignment TrainSelect SQueryResponse However SQueryResponse
196. ply switch the connection supplying power to the track to the normally open side of controller 1 The code is available as lesson16 tcl on your distribution disk A Simple Timetable Program Controls train spare spare spare Sensors at_station spare spare spare QKeys start Actions WHEN start LEFT DO time 12 00 00 WHEN time 12 01 DO train ON WHEN time gt 12 06 at_station TRUE DO train OFF 134 You ll think up lots of imaginative uses for TCL s timekeeping features For example how about using timetables to run a regularly scheduled interurban service Or use it to automatically control your layout lighting to provide natural day night transitions Timetables can add an interesting challenge to operating sessions Try managing your freight switching operations interactively while TBrain runs interference by injecting regularly scheduled mainline passenger traffic automatically Scheduling Periodic Events Using Timers Tbrain s time and session clocks provide a convenient means to implement automatic timetable operations For example let s consider a light rail commuter service that runs continuously with departures every 10 minutes Using the time operator alone we could write WHEN time 00 00 00 DO train ON WHEN time 00 10 00 DO train ON WHEN time 00 20 00 DO train ON WHEN WHEN time 23 50 00 DO train ON But clearly there must be a better approach F
197. r PC is doing all the work while the clients do virtually nothing Instead CTI uses a more modern distributed peer to peer approach That way each PC can have its own CTI network controlling its own part of the layout This distributes the workload more evenly among the multiple peer computers But communications need not be limited to PCs Using TBrain s built in peer to peer communications technology handheld Smartphone throttle Apps portable tablet PCs and network enabled DCC systems can all be integrated seamlessly into the operation of your model railroad CTI Modules CTI Modules i CTI Modules A A WS Walkaround N p WiFi Throttles N Wireless Router g DCC System Portable Tablet PCs If you haven t already done so to allow your devices to communicate with one another you ll need to first set up your PC network Nowadays this has become a fairly easy plug amp play operation The process varies somewhat between versions of Windows so we won t dwell on the subject here leaving that task to Microsoft On the Windows desktop press the F1 key to invoke Windows Help enter network as the search term and let Windows guide you through the setup process As part of your network setup each networked PC will be given a unique network name TBrain will use those names to route communications between PCs In addition to the PC s name each copy of TBrain will be assigned a
198. r layout All controllers SmartCabs signals and user display functions will operate normally Taking a Break Sometimes reality gets in the way and we need to shut down our layouts On such occasions TBrain can save away the current state of your layout and restore it later when you power up again To do so you ll simply need to use the Archive and Restore items in TBrain s Railroad menu Archiving stores the current state of all hardware entities Train Brain controllers SmartCabs and Signalman outputs TCL variables and CTC screens to disk Restoring does just the opposite It returns all hardware entities variables and CTC panels back to their most recently archived state You can also have TBrain do this for you automatically each time you enter and exit the program by checking the Restore Previous Session s Railroad State checkbox in the Settings Autoload Settings menu item You can also restore TBrain s screen settings CTC panel locations throttles etc by checking the Restore Previous Session s Screen Settings checkbox in the Settings Autoload Settings menu item That way once you have your CTC panel setup just the way you like it you ll never have to do it again 149 Resetting At start up or whenever the operator presses the System Reset button on TBrain s control panel TBrain turns off all hardware controllers and initializes all variables to the value 0 Occasionally
199. r s way of letting you know what it s doing We ll decipher what the LED signal means when we install and check out the CTI system The microprocessor is located near the lower middle section of the Train Brain board It is a complete stand alone computer that contains a CPU ROM RAM and I O all in a single integrated circuit PC Interface The greatest innovation of the CTI system is its interface between your model railroad and the PC The flexibility that s available through your personal computer gives CTI a huge advantage over conventional hard wired control schemes Interfacing any number of Train Brains to your personal computer is easy you ll be doing it in just a few minutes The Train Brain uses inexpensive easy to install plug in telephone cords to connect to the PC Using these connections the Train Brain exchanges control and status information with the PC hundreds of times every second The connections to the computer are in the upper middle portion of the board These two connectors allow any number of Train Brains to connect to the PC Since you ll be installing your CTI system momentarily we won t dwell on the subject any more here Controllers Each Train Brain board is equipped with 4 rugged high capacity control relays located from top to bottom along the left hand side of the board You can think of these as single pole double throw SPDT switches that you can control remotely from the PC The SPDT switc
200. r the amount of filtering that TBrain applies to its raw sensor reports for each of the above filter mechanisms using the slider controls accessed via the Settings Hardware Settings menu Moving a slider to the left decreases the amount of rejection the corresponding filter applies while moving the slider to the right increases the amount of rejection Adjustment of these filter thresholds is seldom if ever necessary However the capability exists if required Adjusting Sensor Port Sensitivity The value of the pull up resistor on the sensor port determines its sensitivity The higher the resistance the more sensitive the sensor port becomes The Train Brain and Watchman modules provide a sensitivity adjustment potentiometer on each sensor port The sensor ports on the Sentry module are fixed Adjustment is seldom critical A mid range setting generally works just fine However if adjustments are necessary simply tweak the sensor port s adjustment knob until the sensor trips reliably as shown in the figure below Less 4 A More Sensitive Sensitive as Sensitivity Adjust Sensor Port A B Adjusting Train Brain and Watchman Sensor Port Sensitivity As a rule it s best to use the least sensitive adjustment setting that will cause the sensor to trigger reliably The higher the sensitivity adjustment is set the more susceptible the sensor port becomes to noise induced false alarms 133 Lesson 16 Timetables and Time Ba
201. ram That s all it takes to program the operation of your model railroad You re simply describing in structured English how you want your layout to work Admittedly we wouldn t really control a train with a simple on or off control Nor would we want to have to type in commands to make our railroad do something We ll learn better techniques later This first lesson is just intended to get us rolling our equivalent to the Hello World program often used as the first step in learning a new programming language 22 A few more points are worth mentioning TCL is not case sensitive Upper and lower case letters are treated exactly alike You can and certainly should place comments throughout your TCL program to improve its readability Anything between the single quotation mark and the end of a line is interpreted as a comment Similarly anything between a pair of curly brackets even if it extends across multiple lines is a comment For example WHEN Scommand STOP DO train OFF This text is a comment This text is a comment that extends across multiple lines The layout of your TCL program is unimportant You can place multiple commands on a single line or spread them out Whatever looks best to you is fine Adopt a style you like and stick with it For example the following are all perfectly acceptable forms of the same thing 1 VHEN Scommand STOP DO train OFF 2 VHEN Scommand STOP DO train
202. re technology Since the NMRA only recently adopted RailComm as a DCC standard no command stations are yet available to take advantage of it As soon as these products enter the market we ll add support for them as well Wiring up transponders isn t quite as simple as the DCC manufacturers like to make it out to be The technique will vary manufacturer to manufacturer so consult your particular DCC system s documentation for details on how to install and configure its beacon capabilities Fortunately once that task is complete TBrain will make working with beacons easy and things will look and feel the same regardless of which beacon system your layout employs To learn to use beacons in TBrain let s consider a simple example As usual it will be our automated station stop We ll be rewriting the TCL code to take advantage of beacons enabling it to work for any DCC engine currently arriving at the station Generally a transponder equipped layout will be divided into a number of electrically isolated track blocks and each block will include its own beacon transponder That way when multiple trains are running on the same mainline we ll be able to know not only which trains are operating but also where each train is located But for this simple example we ll need just one transponder connected to the track block where our station is located To get started we ll need to give TBrain some information about our beacon transpo
203. ree How to Use this Manual This User s Manual is divided into seven sections Section 1 will get you quickly up and running You ll learn the details of the Train Brain and see how easy it is to install and check out your CTI system Section 2 introduces the CTI software You ll learn how to run your model railroad using CTI s powerful operating system 7TBrain and how to program the operation of your layout using CTI s innovative Train Control Language TCL In Section 3 you ll discover the capabilities of the SmartCab You ll learn to dispatch trains from your PC using the CTI control panel and to make your locomotives respond to trackside signals automatically under computer control Section 4 illustrates the use of CTI s Signalman module the fast easy and affordable way to control trackside signals crossing gates traffic lights etc all automatically from your PC Section 5 introduces CTI s Switchman and YardMaster modules that make computerized turnout control quick painless and remarkable affordable Section 6 reveals even more features of the CTI system You ll get numerous tips and suggestions and tackle many of the most common control problems using CTI Finally you ll learn to create interactive control panel displays custom designed for your model railroad Section 7 describes the use of the CTI system as part of a DCC operated layout Experience truly is the best teacher That s why we ll frequently us
204. rning beacon to blink forever ALWAYS DO beacon pulse 1 wait 2 Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e The edge sensitive nature of WHEN DO statements e The level sensitive nature of WHILE DO statements e A special case of the WHILE DO the ALWAYS DO 84 Lesson 13 Designing Your Own Control Panels Once you gain some experience using CTI and develop your own applications for computer control you ll certainly want a control panel that s tailored to your model railroad s operation In our final lesson we ll learn to use TBrain s Graphical User Interface GUI tools to build custom control panels specifically designed for your layout Then we ll introduce the powerful graphics features built into the TCL language which turn your PC into a true Centralized Traffic Control CTC facility You ll learn to automate realistic CTC screens that portray train locations block occupancy signal and switch status in full color all updated in real time based on sensor reports sent back from your layout These CTC screens will also serve as interactive control tools responding to the click of a mouse to throw switches route trains set signals whatever In creating your own control panels TBrain s CTC Panel screens serve as your blank canvas Up to four CTC Panels are available Each is accessible through TBrain s View menu Activate one of the CTC panels using the View CTC Panel menu Note that it consi
205. rself Tags are widely available and are dirt cheap Just be sure to use 725 KHz tags In general the best rule of thumb is to choose the largest tag possible for a given engine A larger tag usually means a larger antenna which equates to increased detection range 164 Tag positioning can best be described as an art rather than a science Steam engines and tenders generally offer the most nooks and crannies in which to mount an RFID tag In contrast the undercarriage on most diesel and electric engines is flat and rides very close to the rails To make matters worse most manufacturers use the belly of the diesel engine body as the location for a ballast weight Being a solid block of metal the ballast weight can interfere with the RF communications between the reader and tag if the tag is mounted there Try to find a mounting location on the engine in which the tag will pass directly over the center of the reader The angle between the tag and reader greatly affects antenna performance For most button shaped tags the face of the reader and the flat surface of the tag should pass parallel to one another For most capsule shaped tags the two should pass perpendicular to one another c Button Tag l Capsule Tag In the end experimentation is the key to finding the optimum mounting location for each engine Try different tag positions and tag styles using the tag detect LED on the reader PCB as a guide to know when the reader
206. se it has gained such widespread acceptance its cost is amazingly low RFID tags can be purchased nowadays for under 1 CTI Electronics has designed an RFID reader CTI Part TB017 especially suited to model railroad applications The module contains a fully integrated 125 KHz RFID tag reader and antenna The reader interfaces directly to the CTI network Simply position the reader near the track connect it into the CTI network and your TCL program can instantly identify any train that passes by the reader Physically CTI s RFID module consists of two small printed circuit boards connected via ribbon cable The network PCB contains the circuitry associated with the CTI network as well as the module s power supply connection The reader PCB contains the RFID circuitry and antenna Power Supply CTI Network Connection Tag Detect LED 9 to 12V DC Ribbon Cable RFID Antenna And Reader Electronics Network PCB 163 Installation is quite simple But before proceeding the most important up front decision will be to select the mounting location of the reader PCB on the layout and the mounting location of the tags on the trains so give this some thought before installing the module The tag must pass within 1 to 2 inches of the reader for reliable detection so the two decisions go hand in hand Reader Installation on the Layout Under the track beside the track or over the track are all possible options f
207. sed Events By now you ve probably noticed that the TBrain program has a built in clock display The clock display consists of a conventional time of day clock as well as a session clock that indicates the elapsed time of the current operating session These clocks are more than just ornamental You can access them from within your TCL programs to implement prototypical timetable operations In TCL the 7IME operator refers to TBrain s time of day clock The SESSION operator refers to TBrain s elapsed time clock You can use both 7IME and SESSION as part of a WHEN condition to trigger time based events The time and session operators are accurate to 1 second Both specify time in 24 hour military format Thus using time 15 seconds after half past two in the afternoon would be indicated by 14 30 15 Using session this same time specification would represent 14 hours 30 minutes and 15 seconds into your current operating session Prior to their use in a WHEN clause both the time and session clocks may be initialized as part of the action in a DO clause allowing simulated time of day operations Here s a simple program that uses timetables A Quick Key named start initializes the time operator to 12 noon At 12 01 the train promptly leaves the station runs for 5 minutes then comes to a stop the next time it arrives at the station You can try out this program using nearly the same set up used in Lesson 3 Sim
208. signal at grid location 10 5 1 Any combination of lamps may be commanded by including each desired color in the lt signal state gt value separated by a For example to light all lamps on the signal we might write When Do Signal 10 5 1 Red Yellow Green Signalman users will note that this is identical to the syntax used for controlling signals with the Signalman In fact it s perfectly acceptable to use the name of a Signalman signal as the lt signal state gt in a TCL Signal statement In that case the on screen image will automatically reflect that of the physical signal on the layout For example When Do Signal 10 5 1 sig Here sigl is assumed to be a physical signal defined in the Signals section of your TCL program See Section 4 Introducing the Signalman for more details on the Signalman 93 Controlling Addressable Signals Fixed signals are adequate for nearly all CTC signaling applications But with the ever growing availability of more sophisticated and prototypical signaling hardware many model railroads have switched to more complex signaling schemes In that case you may wish to have a bit more flexibility in your on screen CTC signal indicators as well That capability is provided through the use of addressable signal indicators The schematic editor toolkit provides a set of addressable signals with 1 2 3 4 6 8 and 9 signal lamps As we learned above fixed sign
209. since we ll be showing how to control them in TCL shortly Try changing the colors of track blocks placing text using the eraser tool etc Once you ve completed your example track schematic save your work by selecting Save Railroad from the File menu 88 Automating CTC Panels With your track schematic entered and saved the next step will be to automate the items on your track diagram to portray changing layout conditions from within your TCL program Let s begin by throwing some turnouts Assume we want to close a turnout on our layout by clicking on its on screen image with the left mouse button and open it by clicking on its on screen image with the right mouse button And of course we ll want the turnout s on screen image to change to portray the state of the physical turnout on the layout Here s how to do it Responding to Mouse Events Before we get to the specific issue of throwing turnouts using a mouse click we first need to address the more general issue of how to respond to mouse events in TCL A mouse event is defined as a click of the left or right mouse button while the mouse cursor is positioned inside one of our CTC panels TCL provides two built in entities that make this very easy They are LeftMouse and RightMouse As their names imply these entities correspond to the left and right buttons of your mouse Anytime you click on a grid square in a CTC panel TBrain
210. sing the stopwatch function How to use the clock operators to schedule periodic events How to perform fast clocking How to perform calendar based events Recommended Practice Exercises e Change the TCL code in the example above to run the interurban service at ten minute intervals during rush hour 6 9 AM 4 7 PM on weekdays and at 30 minute intervals otherwise Hint use TCL s variable comparison operators 137 Lesson 17 Cab Control In this lesson we ll look at using CTI to control the operation of multiple trains running on the same track using a technique known as cab control In cab control the trackwork is divided into a number of electrically isolated track blocks A separate dedicated throttle is assigned to each train traveling on the mainline Each throttle is electronically routed to follow its train as it moves from block to block providing seamless independent speed control of each engine Traditionally cab control has been too complicated to implement automatically instead requiring constant operator intervention to manually switch cabs into and out of blocks and to brake trains as they approach traffic ahead Since the CTI system integrates the functions of the Train Brain and SmartCab computerized cab control is now easy to implement with virtually no additional wiring Throttles can be routed to follow their assigned engines and trains will glide to smooth prototypical stops as they approach other
211. size they occupy more than one grid square To be precise they each consume a 3 column by 4 row area of the CTC panel To place them on the CTC panel simply select the icon from the toolkit and click the desired grid square location of their upper left corner Adding Lever Numbers Levers on a US amp S CTC machine were traditionally numbered sequentially left to right odd numbers for switches and even numbers for signals To add a number to a lever just click on the 97 upper center area of the lever s faceplate A pop up window will appear allowing you to enter a number which will be placed on the faceplate Automating Levers In the old days the track schematic on the CTC panel was seldom more than a static illustration Turnout position and signal status were instead indicated by the position of the control levers and their corresponding indicator lamps TBrain s US amp S levers work that way too To automate their onscreen appearance we ll employ the same Switch command we used to automate the turnout icons in our modern era CTC panels To illustrate let s say we want to throw our switch levers to the left when we click on their left side using the mouse and to the right when we click on their right side For a lever whose upper lefthand corner is located at grid square 5 5 1 code to do that might look something like When LeftMouse 5 6 7 1 Do Switch 5 5 1 Off When LeftMouse 7 6 7 1 Do Switch 5 5 1
212. sor should respond as TRUE When the engine vacates the block the sensor should return to FALSE Current detection systems can run into problems when used with dirty track A dirty spot in the track can temporarily interrupt current flow causing a train to vanish for a few milliseconds which the CTI system is fast enough to detect To solve the dirty track problem the TBrain program s sensor detection logic has a built in filter algorithm specifically designed to deal with intermittent track contact To invoke it simply follow the name of any current detection sensors with a in the Sensors section of your TCL code For example Sensors block1_occupied block2_occupied etc The degree of filtering may be controlled using the slider bars in the Settings Hardware Settings menu item 180 On Your Own Well that s about it In the few examples we ve covered in this User s Guide you ve been introduced to all the techniques you ll need to know to get the most out of your CTI system These examples were purposely kept rather simple to make it easy to learn to use CTI with the least amount of effort But you should now be able to build upon these simple techniques to create a sophisticated computer controlled model railroad As with all new things practice and patience truly do make perfect So we encourage you to experiment with CTI on your layout Start out simple and then just keep going Through our newsle
213. sor Kit CTI s DCC block occupancy sensor CTI Part TBO02 DCC is specifically designed for use on DCC based layouts Conventional current sensors use the voltage drop across a diode as a means to detect current flow This produces a discontinuity at the zero crossing point of the DCC waveform distorting the DCC signal and making it more difficult for the engine s decoder to correctly interpret commands CTI s sensor employs a current sense transformer as its sensing element completely eliminating sensor induced distortion of the DCC waveform To use the sensor simply pass one track lead through the hole in the sense transformer on its way from the DCC booster to the track block s insulated rail DCC Booster The detector s A and B terminals are then wired to the A and B inputs of a Train Brain Insulated Rail m E E E m Oo To Sensor Watchman or Sentry sensor port The detector requires no power supply The number of times the track lead is looped through the transformer determines its sensitivity More loops make the detector more sensitive In most cases one or two loops through the transformer are sufficient to ensure reliable detection Using too many loops may allow a short circuit on the layout to damage the detector by allowing high current to flow through the transformer Experiment to find the minimum numb
214. st and the new throttle will now be assigned to that engine If you defined the appearance of the throttle s control buttons for this engine during your initial fleet roster data entry you should now see the mnemonic pictures you ve chosen displayed on each button With your DCC system powered up and the selected engine on the track you should now be able to run your train Using your mouse grab and drag the throttle s speed slider slowly upwards In response TBrain will send the necessary commands to your engine s decoder and your train should begin to move Bring the engine up to a smooth cruising speed and then try the Brake button to bring it to a stop Click the Brake button again to release the brake Experiment with the Inertia control slider to simulate the effects of the weight of a real train as it starts and stops Try the direction control buttons to reverse the train Exercise any buttons you defined to operate the decoder s function controls lights sound smoke etc Finally bring the train to a stop That s how easy it is to run your trains using DCC and CTI Automatic Control of DCC Equipped Engines In the previous section we learned to control our DCC equipped engines interactively But that s only half the story Your DCC system can also be controlled automatically by instructions in your TCL program 155 All of the abilities to control speed direction momentum and braking that you ve exercised using
215. sts of a blank grid which by default is 50 columns wide by 50 rows deep At lower screen resolutions not all grid squares are visible at one time Scroll bars allow moving up down and right left through the display We can tailor the number of rows and columns in the grid the size of the grid squares and give the CTC panel a meaningful title using the Settings CTC Panels menu item But for now the defaults will suffice Each grid location is identified by an x y coordinate pair The upper lefthand grid square is at coordinate x y 1 1 The upper righthand grid square is x y 50 1 The bottom righthand grid square is at coordinate x y 50 50 Within this viewport we ll build our CTC panel Our first job is to enter our track schematic To do so we ll need to activate TBrain s track toolkit by selecting Schematic Editor from the Tools menu or click on the Track Builder menu button Laying Track Activate the Schematic Editor in TBrain s Tools menu Tbrain responds by displaying a pop up toolbar containing a variety of track templates for straight track curved track turnouts and signals directly akin to the familiar sectional track available for model railroads Using this modular track toolkit you ll construct your track layout in schematic form To activate a track type simply click on its image on the toolbar The active track tool is portrayed as a depressed pushbutt
216. t on the number of items in their list box Multiple queries may be made in the same When Do or in multiple When Do s If the possibility exits for multiple Query statements to execute concurrently in multiple When Do statements then each Query action should be preceded by a Wait Until QueryBusy False statement This ensures that only one query box will appear onscreen at a time eliminating the potential for confusion over which QueryResponse value is associated with which Query If the user closes a query box without making a selection QueryResponse will be set to 1 to indicate that no selection was made 116 Subroutines As you automate the operation of your railroad you ll inevitably encounter situations in which you find your TCL program performing the same kinds of operations over and over again For example if your layout has 50 turnouts youll want TCL code to control each one Every copy of this code will likely be virtually identical to the rest distinguished only by the controller names to which it refers While it s perfectly acceptable to write 50 separate copies of the same code to throw a turnout TCL provides a much more humane solution subroutines As in other programming languages in TCL a subroutine is a piece of code to perform some specific useful task that can be borrowed aka called by multiple users whenever they need to perform that task Subroutines can shrink the size of your TC
217. t operation DCC in a Multi PC Environment Using DCC in a multiple computer environment presents some challenges since the DCC system is connected to only one PC Fortunately TBrain handles this situation for us automatically In the Tools Multi PC LAN menu item check the radio button next to the PC hosting the DCC command station This selection must be made on all PCs in the network Now when a non host PC performs an action targeting a DCC entity engine consist or accessory decoder that command is forwarded via the peer to peer network connection to the DCC host PC The host then outputs the command to the DCC command station for processing An exception to this rule occurs if the DCC system is itself network capable Currently that only applies to XpressNet based command stations connected via to the Ethernet network via the Lenz LI USB Ethernet interface In that case each peer PC can address the DCC system directly so uncheck the DCC Host checkbox on all PCs Using SmartPhone Throttle Apps A number of 3 party apps are now available to turn your SmartPhone into a convenient wireless handheld throttle Currently TBrain supports the WiThrottle app for iOS based phones and EngineDriver for Android based phones Both apps are available for purchase from their phone s respective app stores To use the apps with TBrain first turn the phone app s Automatic Network Config option off Then under the Config ite
218. t using current sensing See Idling Voltage in the previous section Even with the idling voltage disabled a small residual voltage of around 1 2V is present at the rails This may be sufficient to barely start some Z and N Gauge engines when pulling no load If this occurs the problem can be eliminated by installing a pair of diodes between the Smart Cab and your track as shown below 1N5400 or equivalent To Train Transformer Smart Cab L S 2 wil Problem The Smart Cab repeatedly shuts down Solution Smart Cab contains three separate protection circuits each capable of shutting down its output These are short circuit over current and over temperature protection If a derailment or other short occurs the Smart Cab will detect the resulting power surge and protect itself and your trains by temporarily shutting down Once the problem is corrected Smart Cab will automatically come back on line Because of the Smart Cab s high efficiency regulator design overheating should never occur under normal use If shutdowns occur on a regular basis it may be a sign of an intermittent short somewhere on your layout Watch to see if the shutdown always occurs with the train at or near the same location If the Smart Cab s heatsinks seem unreasonably warm check the input voltage at the IN connector The Smart Cab s regulator operates most efficiently with an input voltage o
219. t we ll write our TCL program Let s assume that we want the train to run whenever we type GO at the keyboard When we type STOP we want it to stop When we type PAUSE we want the train to stop wait 5 seconds and then continue on its way again Shown below is a simple TCL program that teaches the CTI system to respond to these commands This TCL file is included as C Program Files Tbrain Lesson1 but we suggest you try creating it yourself to become familiar with using TCL and the TCL editor A Simple TCL Program Controls train spare spare spare Actions WHEN command GO DO train ON WHEN command STOP ane DO train OFF Transformer command PAUSE train OFF wait 5 train ON Wiring Diagram for Lesson 1 20 Tbrain s TCL Editor has the feel of a standard text editor While creating the TCL program for Lesson 1 experiment with the Cut Copy Paste Find and Replace features in TBrain s Edit menu It s also worth spending a few minutes learning some of the shortcut keys and toolbar buttons for each of these functions to help make your editing quick and easy Once you ve finished entering your TCL program you can save it by selecting Save Railroad or Save Railroad As from TBrain s File menu When saving give the railroad a meaningful name like My Lesson1 Railroad files by convention end with a tcl filename extension You don t need
220. t will no longer be able to learn which train that is So in this case we ll need a way to set the value of its soft beacon To do so let s create an additional beacon called YardBeacon When the dispatcher clears a train to enter the mainline he ll point YardBeacon at that train before releasing it from the yard A Type 5 User Query see Accepting User Input in the Advanced Programming Concepts section of the User s Guide would be a good way to allow the dispatcher to select the train to be cleared onto the mainline For example when the dispatcher throws the turnout to route the staging yard onto the mainline TBrain can automatically ask which train is being cleared and set the value of YardBeacon to point to it Recall that a type 5 query presents the operator a listbox containing all the engines in the DCC fleet and returns a pointer to the selected DCC item making it a perfect means to manually initialize a beacon Here s some TCL code to do just that SwitchDirection is assumed to be the name of the controller for the staging yard s turnout onto the mainline It s set to True to switch the yard into block A and False to switch block E into block A When SwitchDirection True Do Query 5SSelect a train to be cleared onto the mainline Wait Until SQueryBusy False Then YardBeacon SQueryRespons Alternately the job can be done right from the DCC Beacons window Simply select YardBeac
221. th those of the Train Brain the CTI system provides a single fully integrated solution to all of your railroad s computer control needs In this section you ll see how easy it is to install and use Smart Cab You will learn how to control locomotives interactively from the CTI control panel and how to let your PC control your locomotives automatically using instructions in your TCL programs When finished you ll be able to dispatch trains from your control console While en route they will change speed stop and start smoothly in prototypical response to trackside signals all automatically under computer control Introducing the Smart Cab As with the Train Brain it is best to begin with a quick look at the Smart Cab board itself A block diagram of the Smart Cab is shown below PC Communications Overload Protection Power Supply Digitally Controlled Direction Conditioning Voltage Adjust Control Smart Cab Block Diagram Microprocessor Smart Cab 39 Smart Cab takes the raw D C output of any toy train transformer and using its onboard microprocessor digitally controls and conditions the power supplied to your locomotive based upon commands received from the PC With digital control precise speed selection prototypical momentum ultra low speed operation direction control and braking can all be managed by your PC Smart Cab will turn any inexpensive toy transformer into a computer controlled throttle that
222. that at that time trains are located completely within track blocks and therefore not triggering any sensors A type 2 operator query provides a simple way to do this The following TCL code shows such an implementation for a representative 8 block section of mainline Here we ve queried the operator using a type 2 query box Our prompt asks the user to tell us which blocks are occupied and we ve provided 8 buttons labeled 0 through 7 which he can click to tell us As before we ll wait for the user to respond to our query by monitoring the value of QueryBusy and then process his response returned to us in the QueryBit array We ll use a loop to examine the values one at a time and set an array of variables named BlockOccupied to values corresponding to the states of each of the buttons as set by the operator 114 When SReset True Do SQuery 2SClick on any blocks containing trains 0 1 2S 3S4S5S6S 7 Wait Until SQueryBusy False Then I 0 Until I 8 Loop Block Occupied I QueryBit I EndLoop A type 3 query box allows the operator to enter a numeric value In this case the control string of the Query command consists simply of the 3 type select field and a query prompt No button fields are required since Tbrain will automatically include the numeric data entry field and an OK button in the query box For example When SReset True Do SQuery 3SHow m
223. the onscreen throttle are also available in TCL To illustrate we ll revisit our earlier example of an automated station stop This time we ll implement it more realistically using the DCC system In this case we ll define a Quick Key that lets us get things rolling Then we ll use one of our Train Brain s sensors to detect the train s arrival at the station Using TCL we ll instruct the DCC system to bring it to a smooth stop Then after a 10 second station stop the DCC system will instruct the engine to throttle up and the train will pull smoothly away from the station TCL code to do the job is shown at the end of this lesson This example assumes we have a DCC equipped engine named enginel As this example shows it s a simple matter to control DCC equipped engines using WHEN DO statements in a TCL program The syntax of the WHEN DO statement used to control DCC equipped trains takes the general form When Do lt engine name gt lt engine property gt lt value gt The available choices for engine properties and their allowed values are Property Allowed Values Speed 0 to 127 0 to 28 0 to 14 depending on decoder s speed steps Direction Forward Reverse Brake On Off Momentum 0 to 127 FL On Off Pulse n F1 F2 F28 On Off Pulse n Userl User2 User3 User defined For example When Do CSX_9250 Speed 100 Set speed of CSX_9250 to 100 When Do PRR_2332 Direction Reverse
224. the train should glide to a smooth stop Release the brake by clicking the brake button again The train will speed up smoothly and resume its previous cruising speed Braking is a convenient way to stop the train without having to change its throttle setting Experiment with using the Direction buttons to reverse the direction of the train You can even try reversing the train while it s in motion Safeguard logic built into the Smart Cab will automatically bring the train to a full stop before changing direction Finally bring the train to a stop That s how easy it is to use the Smart Cab 44 Lesson 6 Automatic Train Control Using Smart Cab In the previous lesson we controlled the Smart Cab interactively But that s only half the story Your Smart Cab can also be controlled automatically by instructions in your TCL program All of the abilities to control speed direction momentum and braking that you ve exercised using the onscreen throttle are also available in TCL To illustrate we ll revisit our earlier example of an automated station stop This time we ll implement it more realistically using the Smart Cab In this case we ll define a Quick Key that lets us get things rolling Then we ll use one of our Train Brain s sensors to detect the train s arrival at the station Using TCL we ll instruct the Smart Cab to bring it to a smooth stop automatically Then after a 10 second station stop the Smart Cab will automatically thro
225. through each example To do so you ll need a single Train Brain board connected to your PC as described in the Installation section above a simple loop of track and a train So without further ado let s get started learning TCL Note In the TCL program examples below italics are used to represent keywords i e words that have a specific meaning in the TCL language Normal text refers to items that the user is free to choose 19 Lesson 1 Building Railroads In the following lessons you ll learn to build test and run railroads A railroad in this context is the set of information that describes the operation of your layout to TBrain As a first example this lesson illustrates how to make your layout respond to your commands entered at the PC In this simple case we ll use the Train Brain to control the operation of a single device a train Using these same techniques you ll then be able to control any aspect of your railroad using commands that you define So let s begin To create a new railroad select File New Railroad from TBrain s main menu Now we ll write the TCL program that defines the operation of our layout Tbrain includes a built in text editor where you can create modify and view your TCL programs To invoke it select Tools TCL Editor from TBrain s main menu or click on the Write TCL pencil toolbar button A blank TCL Editor screen appears It s here tha
226. tion does not require direction of travel sensing but simply the detection of block occupancy there s no need to consume two sensor ports Simply connect the AE and AW terminals together and wire both to the A terminal of a sensor port That sensor will now respond to any occupancy of that track block L2 To Isolated Rail To Sensor Port B To Sensor Port A To Track Power Current Detector Wiring for Simple Block Occupancy Detection Current detection systems can run into problems when used with dirty track A dirty spot in the track can temporarily interrupt current flow causing a train to vanish for a few milliseconds which the CTI system is fast enough to detect To solve the dirty track problem the TBrain program s sensor detection logic has a built in filter algorithm specifically designed to deal with intermittent track contact To invoke it simply follow the name of any current detection sensors with a in the Sensors section of your TCL code For example Sensors block1_occupied block2_occupied etc The degree of filtering may be controlled using the slider bars in the Settings Hardware Settings menu item 176 Applications Note 4 Using CTI s Insulated 3rd Rail Sensor The use of an insulated section of outside rail has been a traditional method of train detection in 3 rail layouts for many years Normally the insulated outside rail section is electrically neutral However
227. tional Representation of a YardMaster Control Output Circuit Protection Each YardMaster output provides thermal protection to guard against overheating and clamp diodes to protect against the voltage transients that occur when driving inductive loads such as the solenoids and motors found in switch machines Power Supply The Yardmaster requires two power supplies The first provides the power needed to drive the module s digital logic circuits As with all CTI boards this power enters the YardMaster through the black power supply jack located near the upper right hand corner of the board This power supply must be filtered and should be in the range of 9 to 12 Volts DC The same power supply available from CTI for use with all of our other modules is also compatible with the YardMaster Just plug it in and yov re ready to go For those who wish to supply their own power source the YardMaster is shipped with the appropriate power supply plug to mate with the power jack You ll need to hook your power supply to this plug The outer conductor is GROUND The inner connector is 12 Volts Always double check your wiring before applying power 71 The YardMaster s second power supply is used to drive the switch machines themselves The proper choice of voltage will vary depending upon your brand of switch machines and how you connect them to the YardMaster but in general around 12 to 15 Volts D C is appropriate Don t go
228. to include the tcl extension when you specify your railroad s name Tbrain will take care of that automatically Once it s saved you ll be able to load this railroad again at any time in the future by selecting Open Railroad or by choosing it from the Recent File list in TBrain s File menu A Closer Look at a TCL Program Now that you ve typed it in let s take a closer look at our TCL program TCL programs consist of one or more sections The program above is made up of two sections named Controls and Actions In TCL section names always end in a colon We use the Controls section to give each of the Train Brain s controllers a meaningful name In this example we re only using the first of our Train Brain s four controllers Since it s being used to start and stop a train that s what we ve named it The remaining 3 controllers on our Train Brain board are unused as indicated by the corresponding spare entries in the Controls list In TCL a few simple rules govern controller names Names can be up to 16 characters in length and must begin with a letter This first letter may be followed by any combination of letters numbers or the underscore character _ Each controller name must be unique In our TCL program we list the controllers in the order that they occur on our Train Brain boards The first name listed corresponds to controller 1 on Train Brain 1 The second name listed refers to
229. to make matters worse the number of counts at each detection would have been dependent on the speed of the train Clearly things would have been a mess But because of the edge triggered logic built into the WHEN DO we don t need to worry about such things We can take it for granted that the counter will trigger once and only once each time the sensor is activated But are there times when we d like to have our WHEN DO statement retrigger if its conditions remain met Certainly Consider for example an automated grade crossing Obviously we d like the gate to remain lowered and the crossbucks to remain flashing all the while the train is positioned in the crossing That s exactly the purpose for the WHILE DO statement In contrast to the WHEN DO s edge sensitive nature WHILE DO s are level sensitive As long as it s conditions remain true a WHILE DO will repeatedly continue to execute The syntax of a WHILE DO looks just like that of a WHEN DO To illustrate using the WHILE DO and to contrast its behavior with the WHEN DO we ll look at the problem of alternately flashing the two signal lights on the crossbuck at our grade crossing To avoid the need to do any wiring here we ll just use a Quick Key to simulate our grade crossing But feel free to go ahead and implement the real thing if you like Try running the TCL example below It s included on your distribution disk as lesson12 tcl In this example we ve defined a Quick Key
230. to simulate our grade crossing and we ve created two statements to control our flashers The WHEN DO version will respond to the LEFT mouse button and the WHILE DO will respond to the RIGHT 83 Click on the CROSSING Quick Key with the left mouse button and hold the button down to simulate the train remaining in the crossing for a few seconds By watching the View Controls window or by listening to the clicking of the Train Brain s relays its obvious the WHEN DO flashes each light only once As we ve learned that s just as expected for a WHEN DO but unfortunately not proper behavior for a grade crossing Now try the same experiment using the right mouse button As long as you hold the button down the warning lights continue to flash alternately That s the level sensitive behavior of the WHILE DO retriggering its list of actions for as long as you hold down the mouse button A WHEN vs WHILE Example Controls flasher1 flasher2 QOkeys crossing Actions WHEN crossing LEFT DO flasher PULSE 1 flasher2 PULSE 1 WHILE crossing RIGHT DO flasher PULSE 1 flasher2 PULSE 1 In some circumstances you may wish to have a set of actions that simply repeat forever To help out in these cases a special form of the WHILE DO statement exists the ALWAYS DO As its name implies the DO clause of an ALWAYS DO simply replays forever To illustrate here s an ALWAYS DO statement that will cause a light e g an aircraft wa
231. to single engine operation Again all engines in the consist must be on the track at a speed setting of 0 with the DCC system operational for this de programming to occur To add or drop individual members to from an existing consist select the consist from the Consists window s list box then click the Edit button Make any desired changes using the consist editor then click Activate to program the decoders for the new configuration 158 Controlling DCC based Accessory Decoders Tbrain can also control DCC accessory decoders As with DCC based engines the DCC based accessories must first be added to the DCC database using Tbrain s DCC Accessories menu item It works much like the database editors used for engines and consists For each accessory you ll need to specify a name a DCC address and select one of the eight outputs defined for each accessory decoder address Once defined DCC based accessory decoders can be controlled using any of the techniques used to program conventional CTI controllers for example When Do My DCC_Accesory On When Do My DCC Accesory Off When Do My DCC Accesory Pulse 1 The only confusing part of defining DCC accessories is figuring out which DCC address and control output to enter for a given decoder output This confusion stems from the fact that while the NMRA DCC spec strictly defines the naming convention for accessory decoder outputs virtually all DCC manufact
232. tool 1 If tool 1 is busy then the sound will be played in tool 2 Alternatively the user can target a specific multimedia tool using the SOUND1 and SOUND2 commands For example 146 WHEN at_crossing TRUE DO As train approaches crossing Sound1 bell wav Repeat Play crossing bell on tool 1 Sound2 CDTrack 4 Play whistle blast on tool 2 When mixing sounds it may be desired to turn off one sound without affecting the playing of the other The following methods are available for turning off sounds Sound OFF Turns off all sounds Sound1 OFF Turns off only the sound playing on tool 1 Sound2 OFF Turns off only the sound playing on tool 2 Sound CDOFF Turns off only sounds coming from an audio CD track Sound WAVOFF Turns off only sounds coming from sound files Determining Multimedia Tool Status At times it may be helpful to know if either of TBrain s multimedia tools is busy We can do that using the two built in TCL entities Sound Busy and Sound2Busy As their names imply each equals True if the corresponding multimedia tool is currently busy playing a sound and False if it is not As an example suppose we d like to continually play some background music randomly selected from a set of ten mp3 files stored on disk named Sound1 mp3 through Sound10 mp3 Here s a TCL action statement that will do just that WHEN Sound1Busy False Do Varl
233. traffic all automatically In this simple example we ll consider two trains sharing a common four block mainline The techniques described here may then be easily extended to accommodate any number of blocks or trains We ll need two SmartCabs to serve as the throttles for our two engines and one Train Brain to manage power routing to our four blocks The wiring needed to implement our cab control design in shown in the figure below a cab NO i k Train Brain To Block A Controller Insulated Rail a_sensor b_sensor eee N Block A x Train Brain 4 To Block B Controller Insulated Rail Direction cab1 of Travel Smart Cab c_cab Block D Block B Train Brain 4 To Block C cabo Controller Insulated Rail Block C Smart Cab d_cab Train Brain To Block D Z N Controller Insulated Rail d sensor c_sensor To Common Rail 138 The cab control algorithm we ll be implementing may be stated as follows When a train enters a new block 1 Flag the new block as occupied and flag the block just cleared as vacant 2 If the block ahead is occupied Apply the brake on the cab assigned to this block 3 If the block ahead is vacant or as soon as it becomes vacant a Release the brake on the cab assigned to this block b Change the cab assignment of the block ahead Working through a few test cases should convince you that this sequence of operatio
234. tructure Using the RFID reader in TCL Next we ll add the TCL code necessary to use our RFID reader As usual we ll begin by giving each of our RFID reader modules a meaningful name This is accomplished using a new RFID section of our TCL program For example 166 RFID Readerl Reader2 Reader3 Then once we start our TCL program running each of our readers shows up automatically by name in the DCC Beacons menu item just like DCC transponder beacons Functionally each RFID reader is a TCL beacon pointing to the engine it has detected As was the case with DCC transponder beacons when a train carrying an RFID tag passes the reader TBrain points the RFID reader s beacon to that train The train can then be controlled using the RFID beacon and TCL s pointer to operator As such RFID beacons behave just like DCC transponder beacons For example the following When Do statement implements our station stop using an RFID reader As you can see it is identical to the station stop example using a DCC transponder When At Station True Do Readerl Brake On Wait 10 Readerl Brake Off Solving Performance Problems In most cases the reader will perform well with no extra effort required In rare cases the performance of the RFID reader can be adversely affected by external RF interference The primary source of such interference on a train layout is the DCC signal itself If you ex
235. ts Fortunately even if you re prone to the effects of Murphy s Law this risk is easy to overcome The circuit we ll use is shown below Here a capacitor discharge circuit serves as the input to our timesharing network The capacitor charges gradually through the resistor and then dumps its stored charge quickly through the selected switch machine whenever that machine s power controller is closed Once that charge is depleted virtually all current stops flowing As a result we re guaranteed to limit current flow through the switch machine to a safe momentary pulse regardless of what we do in TCL The only limitation of this approach is that the capacitor must be allowed to recharge between switch throws With the circuit values shown the capacitor will be back to within 99 of its full charge within just 2 seconds For the peace of mind this circuit offers that s a small price to pay In the an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure department this circuit is a real winner The TCL code for our failsafe implementation will be virtually identical to the original automated yard ladder program above We ll simply need to add a 2 second wait command wait 2 between successive switch throws to allow the capacitor time to recharge 100 Ohm 5 Watt Resistor direction Train Brain Controller 12V DC Power 4700 uF 25V Dual Coil Supply Capacitor power1 Switch Machines Open
236. ts D C If you are using your own supply verify that it has been wired correctly Once all Train Brain boards are powered up and operational its time to check out their communications with the PC To do so simply click on the TBrain icon on your desktop if you created one or select Start Programs Tbrain The first time you run the TBrain program you ll need to tell it where your CTI network is installed To do so click on Settings Network Settings on the main menu gig Network Settings Serial Port Start Up COM Port 1 0 Stop Bits C COM1 COME O COM2 COM C COM3 COMS8 C COM4 COM9 Laptop Performance Optimizer Cancel C COM5 COM10 Higher Longer Start Up Offline Use Interrupts C StartUp Online C Software Polled Battery Life CTI USB Bridge Felden The Network Settings Pop Up Window In response a Network Settings pop up screen appears Point and click to select the COM port where you ve connected CTI or choose CTI USB Bridge if you re connected that way You may also choose to have TBrain begin communications with the network automatically whenever the program is started by selecting the appropriate Startup option button The remaining options are in general best left at their default settings Click OK to activate your selections and return to TBrain s main screen Tbrain lets you know what it s doing using the Status Bar located along the bottom of the screen The Net
237. tter the Interface we periodically publish applications notes highlighting new and interesting techniques answer questions introduce new products etc Your purchase of a CTI system automatically qualifies you for a free subscription Our Web site at www cti electronics com features up to the minute news on future product releases software updates application notes and a helpful tip of the week feature We highly recommend that you join the CTI User s Group an online forum for the exchange of ideas and information related to the CTI system You ll be able to meet and correspond with other CTI users exchange applications ideas ask questions chat online and a whole lot more It s hosted by Yahoo and it s absolutely free Just go to www yahoo com click on Groups and then follow the simple instructions to join Our group s name is cti_users Be sure to let us know how you use CTI you can E Mail us at info cti electronics com Your feedback is important to us If you have a suggestion on ways to improve our products or a capability you d like to see incorporated by all means pass your ideas along Many of the features of the CTI system were suggested by our users And if there s ever something you re confused about or if there s a question you need answered just let us know We re always happy to help Online technical support is available at support cti electronics com We ve yet to find a problem that
238. ttle up and the train will pull smoothly away from the station TCL code to do the job is shown at the end of this lesson It s also available at C Program Files Tbrain Lesson6 It s a simple matter to control Smart Cabs using WHEN DO statements in a TCL program The When DO statement to control Smart Cabs takes this general form When Do lt Smart Cab name gt lt Smart Cab property gt lt value gt Smart Cab properties and their allowed values are Speed 0 to 100 Direction FORWARD REVERSE Brake ON OFF Momentum Oto7 For example cabl speed 100 cab1 direction FORWARD cab1l brake ON cabl momentum 4 When multiple Smart Cab properties are to be changed simultaneously a shorthand notation is also available It takes the form lt Smart Cab name gt lt speed gt lt control options gt As before speed may be any value between 0 and 100 Available choices for each Smart Cab control option are given in the following list Direction FORWARD REVERSE Momentum MOMENTUM_0 MOMENTUM_1l MOMENTUM_2 MOMENTUM 3 MOMENTUM_4 MOMENTUM_5 MOMENTUM_6 MOMENTUM_7 Brake BRAKE _ ON BRAKE OFF 45 Any control options must be listed after the speed selection if there is one and must be enclosed in parentheses A speed value need not be specified nor is a value required for every control option Fields that are not specified will maintain their current values Here are some examples cabl 50 FO
239. uide As the PC pings the modules their LEDs will begin flashing once per second Follow along the network wiring beginning at the TX transmit port on the network diplexer and examine the behavior of each board s LED If you come to a point where an LED isn t flashing or is behaving differently than earlier ones check that board and its connections for possible problems The problem could be with the board its power supply or the network cable entering that module Here are some other thoughts based on past experience Go back over your wiring to make sure you ve always wired from RED to GREEN Make sure your wiring forms a closed loop as shown in the Installation section If you supplied your own phone cords look closely at their connectors Some inexpensive phone cords come with only 2 out of the standard 4 wires installed The Train Brain needs all 4 wires to work properly And make sure the cables are constructed as modular telephone cables rather than data cables See the App Note on the CTI website for instructions on making your own network cables Remove each suspect board from the network by disconnecting its modular phone cords Now try powering up the board again If the LED lights the power supply and the Train Brain board are probably okay and the problem is most likely in the wiring If the LED doesn t light at all check the power supply voltage and polarity It should be around 12 Volts D C If the
240. ur Train Brain board it doesn t matter which of the two leads gets connected to A and which to B Now note the state of the sensor display as you bring the actuator towards the detector When the two are in close proximity the sensor display should indicate that the Train Brain s sensor has been activated Next position the detector along a section of track and install the actuator magnet beneath a piece of rolling stock For this simple test a piece of tape should suffice to hold it in place Pass the car back and forth over the detector and note whether the PC s sensor display activates Experiment with the detector and actuator positioning until the detector trips reliably Once you re satisfied with the detector positioning its time to write the TCL program to perform our automatic station stop Shown below is an example of TCL code that will do the job It is included as C Program Files Tbrain Lesson3 An Automated Station Stop Controls station_stop whistle spare spare Sensors at_station spare spare spare Train Brain Contoller Actions eae WHEN _at_station TRUE DO station_stop ON or wait 10 Controller whistle PULSE 2 wait 1 whistle PULSE 2 station_stop OFF Wiring Diagram for Lesson 3 27 There are a few features in this TCL program that you haven t seen before The first is a new section called Sensors It serves the same purpose as the Controls section It lets
241. urers ignored it By spec a DCC decoder provides up to 8 distinct control outputs all residing at the same DCC address Each output is controlled by one of the eight bits in the control byte sent to that address In general since accessory decoders are often used for controlling switch machines most DCC systems treat decoder outputs in pairs What is called Accessory 1 on most DCC handhelds corresponds to DCC Address 0 Decoder Outputs 1 and 2 Accessory 2 corresponds to DCC Address 0 Decoder Outputs 3 4 Accessory 3 DCC Address 0 Decoder Outputs 5 6 Accessory 4 DCC Address 0 Decoder Outputs 7 8 When we get to Accessory 5 we ve used up all 8 outputs at DCC address 0 so we just move to the next address Accessory 5 DCC Address 1 Decoder Outputs 1 2 Accessory 6 DCC Address 1 Decoder Outputs 3 4 etc etc It s a bit confusing at first but fortunately once you get it set up from then on you ll refer to things by their more meaningful TBrain names so the confusion factor goes away For example to control a switch machine we might define two TBrain entities the first called Switch1_Diverging at DCC Address 0 Control Output 1 and Switch _Through at DCC address 0 Control Output 2 Then in our TCL code we ll write things like When Do Switchl Diverging On open switch 1 When Do Switchl Through On close switch 1 159 Train Identification Transponding and RFID Despite
242. w SignalMan IC Version Controllers Incandescent Lamp based Signal Wiring 54 Using an External Supply to Power Incandescent Lamps The Signalman s built in supply is rated for a maximum output current of 1 Amp more than adequate for powering most LED and grain of wheat lamp based signaling hardware However for signals using larger more power hungry incandescent bulbs higher current may be required to drive signals under worst case conditions During operation note the temperature of the Signalman s heatsink If it seems unreasonably hot you re probably placing too high a current demand on the Signalman s voltage regulator The Signalman s power supply has built in current limiting and thermal shutdown protection Using a lower voltage supply to the Signalman will reduce the amount of heat that must be dissipated by its regulator If the regulator still seems overloaded a separate external power supply may be used to power the signal lamps To use an external supply simply wire the common lead of the signal s to the terminal of the external supply and wire the terminal of the external supply to the V terminal of the Signalman as shown below The remaining leads of the signals connect as usual to the Signalman s controllers SignalMan External Power Supply External Power Supply Wiring with Incandescent Bulbs Note When an external supply is used to power signals power must still be
243. ween the Loop and EndLoop keywords will repeat as long as the conditions in the Until clause remain met Note The loop conditions are evaluated at the top of the loop Thus if the conditions are not met the first time the Until Loop statement is encountered the actions within the loop will not execute at all and execution will continue at the first action following the EndLoop keyword While executing a loop TBrain suspends execution of the loop once per loop iteration to communicate with the CTI network modules update sensor and control states and service any other executing When Do statements This can cause a loop with many iterations to take considerable time to complete In some circumstances it may be desired to have a loop execute atomically i e without being interrupted after each loop iteration TBrain provides this capability through the Until QuickLoop statement In this case the entire loop is executed to completion before TBrain takes any other actions It s up to the programmer to employ this QuickLoop feature with caution For example if a user coding error results in an infinite loop that s precisely what will occur There are also some seemingly innocuous TCL constructs that will hang a quick loop For example the TCL code Until Sensorl True QuickLoop lt actions gt EndLoop will never terminate since once in the loop TBrain is never given the opportunity to interrupt the loop to communicate with the
244. when a train is present in the insulated track section its metal wheels electrically short the insulated rail section to the opposite outside rail thereby providing power to the insulted rail CTI s 3 rail current detector CTI Part TBO02 3R makes it easy to interface 3 rail layouts to the sensors ports of a Train Brain Watchman or Sentry It is specifically designed for use with all D C and A C operated layouts using the insulated rail method of train detection The circuit requires no additional power supply since it derives its own power from the track voltage Each of CTI s 3 rail sensor circuit boards features two such sensors We ll examine the function of a single sensor here One of the detector s line terminals designated L1 and L2 on the PC board is wired to the track s center rail The other is wired to the insulated outer rail section The detector s A and B terminals are then wired to the A and B terminals of a Train Brain Watchman or Sentry sensor port Train s Metal Wheel Completes Circuit Insulated Outside Rail To Insulated Rail To Sensor Port A To Sensor Port B To Center Rail Current Detection Logic To Sensor Port A To Sensor Port B 3 Rail Current Detection Sensor 3 Rail Current Detection Wiring Diagram With the detector installed run the TBrain program and check the sensor status indicator corresponding to the detector With no train present it should read F
245. witch s grid square in TCL to let TBrain know which switch image to throw But how do we figure out its grid location That s pretty simple for grid squares near the upper lefthand corner of the CTC panel we can just visually count them But the problem admittedly gets a bit harder as we move further and further into the grid Fortunately we won t have to count While in edit mode i e when your TCL program is not running the lt x y z gt grid coordinate of the mouse s position on a CTC panel is shown on TBrain s status bar at the bottom of the screen We can simply position the mouse over the desired grid square and then type these values into our TCL code Alternatively we can let TBrain s TCL editor do the job for us Note that in TBrain s Edit menu there s an item called Insert Grid Position We can use this feature to automatically insert the required coordinates directly into our TCL code For example lets say we re writing our switch control WHEN DO We now know how to respond to mouse clicks in TCL so we write WHEN LeftMouse 90 But now we need to fill in the grid coordinates of our turnout image Rather than count by hand we can simply select Insert Grid Position from the Edit menu and then click on the desired grid square on the CTC panel In response the TCL editor automatically calculates the required grid coordinates and fills them in for us in our TCL code For example it might change the
246. witches however are different They need to exist in one of three different states 1 Moving from open to closed 2 Moving from closed to open 3 Idle remaining in their current state So how can we produce three states using controllers that can only be turned on or off The solution is simple use two controllers With that in mind let s write a TCL program to control a single switch using a Quick Key Such a program is shown below A wiring diagram for use with dual coil solenoid switch machines is also shown This example uses the solid state controllers found on the Switchman but the relays on the Train Brain or Dash 8 work just as well c Here s how things work One controller is wired to the open control lead of the switch machine The other controller is wired to the close control lead of the switch machine The common lead of the switch machine is wired to the output of the DC power supply Finally the lead of the DC supply is wired to the common GND input of the Switchman 63 To move the switch the TCL code simply pulses one of the two controllers This completes the circuit through the corresponding switch machine coil and the turnout moves into the desired position The appropriate duration for the pulse command that supplies the power will depend upon the type of switches you use A value between 0 1 and 0 25 seconds works well for most switch machines Experiment with your switches to find t
247. work Status pane should now read Offline Halted Go online be selecting 16 Network Online from TBrain s main menu or by clicking on the Online lightbulb button on the toolbar Hopefully the Network Status pane now reads Online Halted If so your PC is already successfully communicating with your Train Brain network Select Network Show Modules from TBrain s main menu The display should reflect the number and type of CTI modules you have installed If so congratulations are in order You re now ready to move on to Section 2 where you ll learn to put your CTI system to work At this point it might be worth noticing the LEDs on your Train Brain boards They should now be flashing rapidly Each time they do the Train Brains and your PC have successfully communicated If on the other hand things haven t gone quite so smoothly the next section will hopefully shed some light on the problem and get you back on track 17 Troubleshooting When something goes wrong with the Train Brain network your first objective is to isolate the problem A set of diagnostic tests is available under the Network Troubleshoot menu item to assist you in locating and identifying connectivity problems First click the Run Troubleshooter button then follow the onscreen instructions This test continually pings the network While the test is running use the Train Brain s LED as a troubleshooting g
248. ys it s best to begin with a brief look at the Signalman board itself A block diagram of the Signalman is shown below PC SignalMan Communications Microprocessor Signal Yellow Hue Controls Adjust Power Supply Brightness Adjust Signalman Block Diagram 49 Microprocessor The Signalman s versatility is achieved through the use of a powerful onboard microprocessor that communicates with the PC via the CTI network to accept and interpret signaling commands sent by your TCL programs This flexibility allows the Signalman to work with any signaling scheme since no specifics of signaling protocol are designed into the Signalman board itself It s also how we ve been able to make signal control so affordable Rather than build complex signaling logic using expensive hard wired electronic circuitry all signaling decisions can now be centralized and performed much more affordably under software control just like on real railroads by the TBrain program Signal Controllers The Signalman provides 16 general purpose control circuits each independently programmable from the PC The Signalman s controls are accessed via the terminal strip located along the bottom of the board The numerical designation of each controller is indicated next to its connector terminal on the PC board In contrast to the Train Brain s powerful 10 Amp relays the Signalman s control circuits are optimized f

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