Project in progress: 3 automated stations, random control

[AlmightyArjen]

I finally got time to produce the video's, enjoy!

Original:

Onboard cam with the whole loop:

And ofcourse the crashes!

Enjoy!

Edited May 29, 2014 by AlmightyArjen

[HenrikLego]

This is very cool! I would love to have a system like this in a layout at home.

[ScotNick]

Is it wrong to say that I enjoyed the crashes the most ?

[Andy Glascott]

Seriously cool. That is all.

[zephyr1934]

Wow (he he heh)

[AlmightyArjen]

Everyone likes the crashes the most ScotNick, that's just nature or something

I had a lot of unused video material so I made an extra video, came out quite nice!

[codefox421]

It's really awesome seeing your work come together! Fantastic show!

I've noticed some trains' lights appear to brighten before the train starts moving. The trains also seem to come to rather graceful stops. Have you done something special to achieve this?

I had a lot of unused video material so I made an extra video, came out quite nice!

Nice! I was looking forward to another video. What music have you used in this? I really like it.

[AlmightyArjen]

It's really awesome seeing your work come together! Fantastic show!

I've noticed some trains' lights appear to brighten before the train starts moving. The trains also seem to come to rather graceful stops. Have you done something special to achieve this?

Nice! I was looking forward to another video. What music have you used in this? I really like it.

When a train starts, it doesn't get the full 9V right away. My experience is that when you have a lot of carriages and the train starts directly with 9V, the locomotive will run off by itself: the magnets won't be strong enough because of the drag of the carriages. So when I start a train a give it a Pulse Width Modulated signal (PWM) which ramps up the power of the signal. The same technique is used with real trains. When a train leaves, you hear a beep that's the coils resonating on the PWM frequency. The Lego motors make noise too, but because of the surrounding sounds you don't hear it. If you take a look at this video at time 0:30, you can hear the sound pretty good:

Anyway, that is why the lights turn on slowly too: they receive the same power as the motor. And as for stopping: the train just hits a piece of track without power and slows down to a halt. And while slowing down, the wheels of the motor rotate, making the motor a generator which powers the lights. Since the train is slowing down, the generator produces less power and thus the lights dimm with it :)