I have been using an ESU CabControl with Mobile Control II (aka tablet) for a few years to control 2-rail locomotives. As I move closer to layout construction, I wanted to become more familiar with controlling switches and accessories with the CabControl, so I picked up a few items (SwitchPilot, SwitchPilot Extension, SwitchPilot Servo) and began experimenting.
The SwitchPilot has a mode switch which can be set to “K83”, “user”, or “K84”. I originally thought it should be on “K83”, and that ended up being the source of much frustration. Once I set it to “user” things started going smoothly.
So I have power coming from the CabControl to the track and also to the SwitchPilot. The SwitchPilot has terminals for connecting to track power (for the purposes of picking up the DCC signal) and for connecting to a separate power supply to power the accessories. Since this is a small test application, I’m taking power from the CabControl and using this to supply both the power input terminals and the track input terminals of the SwitchPilot (using jumper wires to connect TkA to PWA and TkB to PwB).
1) I connected an Atlas 2-rail wye switch (actually its switch machine) to output 1 of the SwitchPilot using the familiar ribbon cable. I created a new panel on the tablet, edited the panel, created a new accessory, named it, used the default switch icon (didn’t see a “wye” icon), set its address to 1, left the default “toggle” and the default “250ms”. Then I put the SwitchPilot into learning mode by pressing the programming button until the SwitchPilot’s LED began flashing. I pressed the newly created switch icon on the table, and the switch immediately responded. Pushing this switch icon changes the direction the switch is thrown. Success.
2) Next I connected a grade crossing signal (can’t remember which manufacturer) to output 2 using only “common” and “out B”. I created a new accessory, changed to the bulb icon, set its address to 2, and everything else default. Put the SwitchPilot in learning mode again, pressed my bulb icon, and crossing lights turned on for a fraction of a second (actually exactly ¼ of a second because the default setting is 250ms). I used the tablet to set CV4 to 64 – CV4 controls output 2 and setting the value to 64 makes it “bi-stable”. Now when bulb icon is pressed the crossing stays lit until I press it again. Success.
3) Next I connected a building to output 3 in the same way I connected the crossing signal and created a new accessory and added it to my panel, exactly as described above in (2). Pressing this new bulb icon (set up as address 3) turns the building lights on and off. Success.
4) Next I connected two servos to the servo sockets. Then I created two new accessories, used all the default settings (including the switch icon), setting one to address 5 and the other to address 6. Put the SwitchPilot in learning mode for servos – there are two learning modes, one for transistor outputs and one for servo outputs. Pressed my icon for servo 1, and the servo responded. Used my table to set the CVs 37, 38 and 39 so that the first servo (address 5) moves quickly through its full range of motion - looks like going from position A = 0 to position B = 63 only gets me about 225 degrees, but that’s a battle for a different day (not sure I understand what “pulse duration” has to do with how for the servo rotates). Put the SwitchPilot back into servo learning mode and pressed the icon for servo 2, and it responds. The I used the table to set the CVs 40, 41 and 42 so that the second servo moves slowly through about 45 degrees. Looking forward to using small servos to animate doors, throw switches, etc. Pretty much a success.
5) I wanted to connect an Atlas dwarf signal to display the status of my wye switch. In 3-rail you simply connect the dwarf signal’s board to power and also connect to detection to the two sides of the switch machine and you are done. But I discovered that the dwarf signal doesn’t work with the Atlas 2-rail switch machine (not sure how the 2-rail and 3-rail switch machines are different). So I connected a SwitchPilot Extension. This basically gives you two sets of relays for each of the outputs on the SwitchPilot, and it also gives you a couple terminals to connect power to your accessories. So I connected the power for the dwarf signal’s board to the power terminals of the Extension, and also connected the common terminal to common of relay 1A. Then the detection wires from the dwarf signal’s board were connected to the I side and II side of relay 1A. Now the dwarf signal changes color when the switch is thrown. Success.
6) The only failure was attempting to control the Broadway Limited animated water tower. The water tower worked fine out of the box. Then I disconnected the black button and connected its wires to output 4 of the SwitchPilot, but couldn’t get it to work. After trying several different wiring positions, I disconnected the water tower completely from the SwitchPilot and tried to get it to work as it did out of the box, but it is dead. Broadway is kindly sending me a new board. I think this should have been connected to one of the outputs on the Extension rather than the SwitchPilot.
I was able to accomplish pretty much everything I wanted for now.
Here’s an 8 minute video of my messy test track set up. Please let me know what I’ve messed up before I add more to the experiment.
