Here is a link to the LTAC description. As I said, they tell me they stopped development.

https://studiozphoto.com/LTAC.htm

Andrew,

I'm sure that you'll get many good responses soon involving electronics, and probably computing power as well, but I'm going to start old school, very old school (c. 1920's).

Follow this link to see an OGR post about a device called "Midget Dispatcher", an early programmable controller, now more commonly known as a sequencer:

     Midget Dispatcher (10/19/2018) | Jim O'C

Although it's a little hard to see this in the picture it appears to feature an array of about 30 switch contacts that are opened and closed by holes or slots punched or cut around the circumference of a spinning cardboard or paper tube.  The speed of the spin can be adjusted to make "time" go faster or slower as desired.  The tube resembles an old-fashioned phonograph cylinder, and it spins in the same way as such a cylinder, but nowhere near as fast.

As the tube spins the holes or slots open and close the switches in a synchronized way.  Individual circuits can be activated or turned off by the presence and length of the slots.

It's clear from the text that it can control anything electrical associated with electric trains, like applying and removing power to the track for a train, switching electrically-powered turnouts -- or turning lighting on and off, as you seek.  This thing is strictly digital though, circuits are either on or off; no variable dimming.  To raise illumination you simply turn on more lamps in succession, and them turn them off in the reverse order to lower it.

The fact that someone created this device as such an early stage in toy train development amazes me.

Unfortunately, it might be hard to find one of these beauties nowadays, so I suspect we'll have to make do with electronics instead ...

Mike

@Mellow Hudson Mike very cool item. Definitely shows we're not the first ones considering this sort of thing!

Andrew B.,

Didn't see where you detailed the size of the area to light, the number of accessories to control, etc.  But I'm wondering, to Mellow Hudson Mike's point, if something involving DMX512 technology might not be the modern-day equivalent of the midget dispatcher.  Looks like it's geared toward DJ's or Christmas Light Shows, but thought you may at least want to research it.  From the briefest of searches (You-Tube, Google) there seems to be a broad range of hardware at various price points.  I have no personal experience with that particular technology, but it does seem to be at least a possibility.

Good luck with whatever direction you take going forward.

bd

@barnun posted:

Andrew B.,

Didn't see where you detailed the size of the area to light, the number of accessories to control, etc.  But I'm wondering, to Mellow Hudson Mike's point, if something involving DMX512 technology might not be the modern-day equivalent of the midget dispatcher.  Looks like it's geared toward DJ's or Christmas Light Shows, but thought you may at least want to research it.  From the briefest of searches (You-Tube, Google) there seems to be a broad range of hardware at various price points.  I have no personal experience with that particular technology, but it does seem to be at least a possibility.

Good luck with whatever direction you take going forward.

bd

Sorry, yeah, total layout area is 640 square feet in the center of the room, another 450 square or so around the sides of the room. Total accessories is in range of 35 or thereabouts, varies by year.

An “arduino” will do what you are looking to do and more. Problem is you need someone that knows how to program it. It is amazing what they are capable of doing with them.

Outdoor Dimmer, 600W Dimmer for Outdoor String Lights, 100FT Remote Control Dimmer Switch Lights Timer for LED String Lights and Incandescent Bulbs, Sunset & Sunrise Auto On/Off, Memory Function

google it

@NelsonW posted:

An “arduino” will do what you are looking to do and more. Problem is you need someone that knows how to program it. It is amazing what they are capable of doing with them.

This is all too true.  And, you will need (for best results) a software package that handles timed events as interrupts.  There are such packages (I'm using one) to activate relays.  It is not a simple solution, nor is it for faint of heart.

If memory serves, I think the OGR folks looked into making such a product in the late 1990's, early 2000's.

George

Over 50 years ago Disneyland invented audio animatronics to animate Mickey, Donald, Goofy, etc.  Given the technology of the day, multi-track tape recorders stored the commands to turn a relay (or whatever) on or off using audio tones on magnetic tape. Obviously one of more tracks on the tape could have audio itself so you have synchronized sound and motion.  Not sure you need audio though it would be cool to have a rooster crowing at sunrise.

Pricom makes a modern equivalent where the audio is stored as MP3 files on an SD memory card (vs. magnetic tape!) and the animation commands (e.g., turn a relay on/off) are stored in a user-alterable script also on the SD card.  You don't need to learn "programming" per se but rather learn an English-like script language - sort of like your Millhouse example where you use a text editor to write your script= "Turn on B1" "Wait 5 sec" "Turn off D2" "Wait 20 sec" and so on.  I believe there are a few other companies with similar products.

Obviously if you go the Arduino path the sky's the limit.  Around Christmas time youtube videos of DIY lighting projects pop up with absolutely incredible sequencing of thousands of LEDs...many/most based on an Arduino. 

As I see it, the most interesting "accessory" you are controlling is the variable lighting that ramps up and down over, say, 15 minutes to fast-clock a sunrise or sunset.  I'd be curious if such a widget exists.  I can imagine a DIY component-level design for maybe $10 in parts and soldering that would ramp up/down a 12V LED strip but understood this is not in most guys' comfort zone.  It's just that I think developing/designing a user-friendly sequencer from scratch is quite daunting.  But if you had a ramping up/down lighting module then you could probably set up your layout using generic $2-3 off-the-shelf cycle timer modules to turn accessories on/off. And you wouldn't have to mess with programming or script writing.

Andrew B.   I have a timer that will do your on/off events up to 50 a week or 350 if they can be block events - same time on/off 2 or more days per week or 2 or more per day.  It has a form C relay rated at 10 amps that is used for the output of an event. You can make an event on, off or pulse.  The pulse can be set from 1 to 15 seconds. Can use up to 10 Holidays so you are not running when no one is there. I have a plug in XF I can add to it for the power input.

If you can use it, it is yours for the freight.   JP