I have been working on designing a circuit board that people can splice into their conventional trains and get Command-Control type behavior operated from a smartphone. The project is going very well, and I've gotten terrific advice from this forum. Here are 2 issues I am currently trying to address that I'd love to get some input on:
I'm finding it is a balancing act between what would be ideal and what can fit in the available space, so I'm trying to make compromises.
Q1) - ACCESSORIES – I'd like to provide terminals so people can power and control accessories (like headlight, bell/whistle, anything else???) and I'm trying to decide how many voltages to support. (The more I support, the more complicated the circuitry needs to be – so its a balancing act)
Whistles and bells usually involve a 2.5 DC volt (+/-) to trigger, but I don't know if this is just to trigger the whistle, or if 2.5 v DC actually runs the whistle motor. Does anyone know this?
Headlights – My standard Pennsylvania Flyer 8602 has a headlight with a 14 v 240 ma lightbulb, but the same circuit also seems to heat the smokestack. I also have a Hogwarts Express which has an LED / 'golden glow' w/ resistor (which I believe requires a very low voltage) and a separately powered smokestack.
There is 17 v coming from the track.
Is it sufficient for me to offer a 2.5 volt Accessory terminal and a 17 volt Accessory terminal for most trains? Or is there going to be a greater variety of voltages that should be supported? (keep in mind, the board gets more complex the more I support).
Can anyone recommend the variety of voltages I should support for accessories?
Railsounds – I don't know much about Railsounds and need to learn more. Are they available in conventional trains? If so, could someone please educate me on the voltages that power them and how they are activated?
Q2) - LOCOMOTIVE STARTUP & STALL SURGE CURRENT - the startup and stall surge current that comes from the locomotive is a concern for me. The basic locos I'm working with have a stall current of 1.5 amps. I am guessing larger motors will be bigger than this. Pullmors might even pull more .
Can anyone tell me what's a decent maximum stall current for me to support that will be sufficient for most locomotives? (I realize there are going to be really powerful motors that might not make sense for me to support – at least initially).
Q3 ) - TRANSFORMER POWER EXPECTATIONS - I am powering my track with a Lionel CW-80 which provides 80 watts 5 amps 17 volts.
Is this a fair maximum amount of power I can expect as power to tracks, or should I be concerned with there being more power to the tracks than this transformer provides?
TMCC TRACK POWER LEVELS – do TMCC tracks put out the same power levels as the CW-80 transformer (assuming you took the CW-80 and turned it all the way up?
I know I had a lot of questions there. I've found this forum to be the biggest collection of experience and train knowledge that I'm aware of – so thank you in advance for any answers or advice you may have.