Brill Trolley control

Marty,

If a particular PS2/PS3 Brill trolley has built-in station stops technology, like the PS2/PS3 subways and PCC cars, then the answer is "yes". Examples of such trolleys from MTH may be found here and here. There are others, as well.

If it doesn't have that capability built-in, then you can simulate something like it for any Brill trolley with PS2/PS3 by using the DCS Record/Playback function.

Regardless, a bump-and-go or any other conventional trolley cannot be "programmed" at all.

I dont see how it could be done without some kind of trigger or positioning system sending a signal of exactly where the trolley has to stop.

Dale H

I use a bump and go trolley with an isolated center rail at each end.  I have a pushbutton that connects power to each end when the kids press it.  That sends the trolley to the other end where it stops, waiting for another pushbutton.  Another pushbutton press and the trolley hits the bumper, reverses and goes to the other end and stops.  With about a 14" isolated center rail at each end, it works well with MTH bump-n-go's.

If you replaced the pushbutton with a simple timer that clicks a relay once every 30 seconds, you would have the same effect - hands free. (Dale ?)

OR,

in the middle of the trolley run make an isolated center rail.  Pushbutton press or timer pulse would send the trolley to one end, bump and reverse, come back, and stop on the isolated rail.  Next press would send trolley out to the other end, bump and come back to the center.

Ed

ps. seems to me a ps2/3 programmed trolley would start to "drift" the stops pretty quickly on a 6 foot run, and soon would be bumping into an end. 

Measured Scale speed and processing power to know distance traveled.  G

I believe "exactly" is the operative word.  Wheel slip, dirty track, etc.  I have not been able to get my PS2 Brill trolley to stop reliably in the same spot on a straight track.  On a loop, a little slop is OK - you won't be bumping into and end bumper, the stop just moves a bit over time.

Problem is, if it is off even one percent eventually the trolley will be off center and collide with one of the bumpers eventually. Unless we know the proprietary code,we can not send a signal with a positioning system to signal the trolley to stop,wait and reverse. Sometimes we are disappointed after cracking a code.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdA__2tKoIU

It can be done in conventional assuming the E unit has memory when power is removed. Here is how to reverse a 3 position E unit in conventional.

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=1108

Another way is to bypass the E unit and run the trolley on DC and reverse polarity with a DPDT relay. An added timer gives pause and intermediate stops along the route.

Dale H

 Run with DC ...Convert  motor  to DC with  reversing section at each end.... add Lionel  132 station . sounds easy but........ probably not.

There are ready made circuits for trolley operation.  Dallee Electronics is one of the suppliers of automatic back-n-forth circuits.

Here is another auto reverse unit with background info.

From a practical standpoint, there ere ways to mitigate the "bumper collision" by running there trolley at slew speed (15-20 SMPH is actually rather prototypical) and fiddling with the route to have the initial run stop short of the bumper and determine on which end it will actually touch. It will only touch on one end.

Then, reprogram the route so that the trolley runs until on one end of the route the trolley just touches the bumper. From that point on, it will always run back to thee same point on the other end, and the trolley will self-adjust so that the "collision" doesn't become increasingly more severe.

I believe I described the easiest way above, considering that:

1) MTH Bump and go trolleys don't have an e-unit. They only change motor direction when they bump something.

2) No conversion to DC required.

3) A timer that closes a switch for a few seconds once a minute should be easy to get or set up.

4) The complications of a programmed route, and a $200 trolley are not required.  A $59 bump and go works is a simple solution, especially on a 6' straight line track.

IMHO...

Ed

Is the Brill trolley bump and run?,I thought it had an electronic reverse unit. Not sure the DCS solution would work the way Barry describes without using positioning logic. Speed error may not be consistent as with wheel slippage. Might have a bias towards one bumper,then the other as it runs.

Dale H

Hey Barry.... Didn't you have something  something set up a few years ago. Did you loop it with a  fresh start up included some how... I forget.

No, it is not bump-and-go.  The (smaller, single truck) Birney is the MTH bump-and-go trolley.

Gregg,

You may be thinking of the box I built to allow DCS operation on a timer with a looped Record/Playback session.

When I recorded the session, I inserted a Startup command every 20 seconds or so. This way, no matter where the session was in its script, when someone pushed the "go" button to start the 5 minute timer, the engines would catch a DCS Startup command and begin operation within 20 seconds or so.

However, this had nothing to do with subway/trolley operation.

Dale,

Not sure the DCS solution would work the way Barry describes without using positioning logic. Speed error may not be consistent as with wheel slippage. Might have a bias towards one bumper,then the other as it runs.

I did quite a bit of testing several years ago and found that, in all of my recorded transit stop routes, when the engine ran into a bumper during repetitive playback, it always  ran into one bumper or the other, but not both, consistently, no matter how many times the route playback was looped.