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Header: Hal-Zuzzu Model Railway Build Blog |
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| Published: Tuesday, October 19, 2021 | ||||||
| Post: #100/174 - Views: 45006 |
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I have a current sensing problem in my helix blocks. I keep getting false readings that a train is there when in fact it is not. I decided to do something about it because I cannot do any automation with the false readings, so I went for infra-red sensors. Problem with infra-red sensors is that they don't detect occupancy, but they report that something passed within distance of the LEDs and lasted a few seconds. This gives the wrong readings to the software (iTrain in my case) and reports that the train came in the block and left after a few seconds, when in reality the train is still making its way to the end of the block. So I came up with this idea. I am now using two infra-red sensors, one in the beginning of the block and one at the end. The trick is to keep reporting that the block is active even after the train passed the first sensor. To start with, these depend on a bright colored or shining surface to bounce off their bean of light, which is invisible to the naked eye. So I painted everything around them black to not have false reporting, in this case you can see an infra-red sensor for both east bound and west bound trains. Since I run a double track, there's two sensors, like in this image, marking the start of one block and the end of the block on the other track. 
Also painted the track bed. 
View through the "tunnel" 
Not much to look at but nothing a mountain cannot cover 
and here is what makes it all work. I bought a few of these for a project I did not end up doing and found use for them now. These two modules and a 3rd one cost €11 including postage. I got 24 in all and finding them real useful to have
Here is the circuit I used for the relays:
Hope this is useful for someone out there!! Stay tuned and don't forget to register for post updates...Check out the live CCTV camera HERE |
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