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1. Heatsink Installation Before powering up your Signalman board s install the heatsink supplied with each of the boards using the mounting hardware provided The heatsink should be attached to the voltage regulator designated REG2 located in the upper right hand corner of the PC board Heatsink Bolt b Heatsink Mounting Procedure Adjusting Signal Brightness The Signalman provides a tweaking potentiometer designated VR1 and located near the upper right hand corner of the PC board which allows the user to conveniently adjust the brightness of signal lamps The Signalman board is shipped with this adjustment set to approximately midrange If you re uncertain of the current requirements of your signal hardware we recommend turning the adjustment screw fully counter clockwise yielding the minimum output voltage level prior to powering up your Signalman for the first time You can then adjust the output voltage as needed to achieve the desired brightness for your signals Power up Signal State After initial power up or following a reset the Signalman places all signal controllers in the OFF state i e no signal lamps illuminated Your TCL code can then initialize the signals as desired to configure the initial state of your railroad operations 49 Controlling Your Signals Using TCL Now that your signals are wired it s time to start controlling them automatically from your TCL programs To illustrate w
2. This ability to chain together multiple conditions allows complex decisions to be made automatically by the tbrain program Any number of conditions each separated by a comma or by the word AND may be grouped within a WHEN clause In order for the corresponding DO clause to be executed all of the specified conditions in the group must be satisfied 56 Furthermore any number of such condition groups may be combined using the TCL OR operator within a WHEN clause The corresponding DO clause will then be executed whenever any one of the condition groups is TRUE For example let s suppose we wish to have the train stop at the station as described above In addition we would like to be able to force a station stop regardless of the state of the variable should_stop by using a Quick Key called OVERRIDE Finally we would like to be able to stop the train at any time using a command called BRAKE An appropriate WHEN DO statement might be the following WHEN at_station TRUE should_stop TRUE OR at_station TRUE override LEFT OR command BRAKE DO station_stop ON Try running the station stop program above using tbrain It is included on your distribution disk as lesson7 tcl Use the STOP Quick Key which we ve created to enable and disable automatic station stops Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to create variables and use them to remember past events e How to use variables ina WHE
3. indicate the state of the controllers on the Train Brain as they respond to your commands You can determine the name of a controller by clicking on its indicator with the left mouse button 20 Network Status Display Located near the lower left of your screen is the network status display This display keeps you informed of the status of your Train Brain control network The number of Train Brain boards that are successfully communicating with the tbrain program is displayed along with the status of your TCL program s execution When you first enter the Operations screen the network status display should read NORMAL HALTED That means that the tbrain program has established communications with the Train Brain boards but that your TCL program is not currently running Try using the Fl and F2 keys on your keyboard These function keys are used to start and stop execution of your TCL program see Special Function Menu above Notice that the network status display toggles between RUNNING and HALTED as you start and stop the execution of your program Next try using the Reset key F4 This will reset the Train Brain network The status display will momentarily indicate the reset condition then return to normal operation If the tbrain program is unsuccessful in communicating with the CTI hardware the network status display will flash NETWORK FAILURE If this occurs try resetting the network using the F4 key If that doesn t fix the
4. The maximum voltage supplied to V IN should not exceed 24 Volts D C or 18 Volts A C Now all that s left to do is to connect the output of the Smart Cab to your track The output of the Smart Cab is found on the V OUT terminals of connector P1 Simply wire one of the two outputs to each rail of your track That s it Your Smart Cab is ready for action In the next lesson we ll check out the operation of the Smart Cab and see how easy it is to control your trains interactively from the PC Note As with conventional train power supplies if multiple Smart Cabs are used to run more than one train on the same track in a common grounded layout each Smart Cab must be powered by a separate transformer 34 Lesson 5 Interactive Train Control Using Smart Cab In this section you ll put the Smart Cab board to work controlling your trains In order to check out the Smart Cab we ll begin by trying some interactive control from the keyboard This example assumes that we ve set up a rudimentary system consisting of one Train Brain board and one Smart Cab board connected to the PC If your system differs simply make the appropriate changes to the TCL program examples we ll be using In order to communicate with the Smart Cab we ll first need a simple TCL program like the one shown below This example is included on your distribution disk as lesson 5 tcl A Very Simple Smart Cab Program Controls Spare spare spare spare Sensor
5. s memmaker program to free up memory or switch to a simpler text editor for your on the fly editing from within tbrain Other Command Line Parameters Once your CTI system is installed and your TCL code is debugged it quickly becomes a nuisance to have to tell the tbrain program the name of your TCL file and the serial port to which your CTI system is connected every time you run your layout Fortunately tbrain recognizes a set of command line parameters that can let the system automatically come up running COMx tells the tbrain program which COM port to use where x 1 2 3 or 4 RUN tells tbrain to immediately start execution of your TCL code These commands can be combined in a batch file for use in starting the tbrain program For example store the following in a file called tb bat Then just by typing TB at the DOS prompt tbrain will start up load and compile the TCL file named myprog tcl start the TCL program running and begin communicating with the CTI network via COM port 2 tbrain myprog tcl COM2 RUN Windows or Windows 95 users can use this technique to create an icon for use with CTI Then simply by clicking on the icon tbrain will automatically come up running your TCL program Taking a Break Sometimes reality gets in the way and we need to shut down our layouts On such occasions tbrain can save away the current state of your layout and restore it later when you power up again To do
6. Close Input of Switch 3 To Close Input of Switch 2 Train Brain To Close Input of Switch 1 Controller direction To Open Input of Switch 3 To Open Input of Switch 2 To Open Input of Switch 1 Note Diodes are required to eliminate sneak paths through parallel turnouts 75 Automating a Yard with Switch Banking Automating a Yard with Time Sharing Controls direction powerl power2 power3 Controls power direction1 direction2 direction3 Actions Actions WHEN command A DO WHEN command A DO direction OFF power PULSE 0 25 WHEN command B DO direction ON direction2 ON power PULSE 0 25 wait 0 1 direction OFF direction2 OFF WHEN command C DO direction ON direction2 OFF direction3 ON power PULSE 0 25 wait 0 1 direction OFF direction3 OFF WHEN command D DO direction ON direction2 OFF direction3 OFF power PULSE 0 25 wait 0 1 direction OFF 76 direction OFF powerl PULSE 0 25 WHEN command B DO direction ON powerl PULSE 0 25 power2 PULSE 0 25 wait 0 1 direction OFF WHEN command C DO direction ON powerl PULSE 0 25 power3 PULSE 0 25 wait 0 1 direction OFF power2 PULSE 0 25 WHEN command D DO direction ON powerl PULSE 0 25 wait 0 1 direction OFF power2 PULSE 0 25 power3 PULSE
7. Then in tbrain click on the screen selector arrows to move back and forth between displays or use the F3 Key Foreground and Background Color Selection Foreground and background colors of display entities may be selected from the following table Color Name Background Background _ MAGENTA oe BROWN a LIGHTGRAY oe DARKGRAY ia LIGHTBLUE iw LIGHTGREEN Po LIGHTCYAN Po LIGHTRED Po LIGHTMAGENTA o YELLOW SS Wi e 96 You now know everything you need to create professional looking control panel displays customized to your model railroad Admittedly we ve introduced a lot of new information in this lesson Don t be worried if you didn t take it all in at once Creating your own custom control screens may seem a bit tedious at first but the results are well worth it After a bit of practice you ll soon be able to create quite elaborate displays But keep it simple at first Think about the functions you ll be performing and how they would be laid out on a physical control panel Try out a few ideas Go into tbrain and see how they look Then go back and make whatever adjustments are required in the Display section of your TCL program Getting your displays to look good is an iterative process Here are a few suggestions e Use a piece of graph paper to initially sketch out your control panel display Use a grid square on the paper to correspond to each coordinate position in the viewport e Avoid letting your display
8. spare spare Actions WHEN command GO train DO train ON Train Brain Controller J NC command STOP ee train OFF Transformer command PAUSE train OFF wait 5 Wiring Diagram for Lesson 1 train ON A Closer Look at a TCL Program TCL programs consist of one or more sections The program above is made up of two sections man named Controls and Actions In TCL section names always end in a colon We use the Controls section to give each of the Train Brain s controllers a meaningful name In this example we are only using the first of our Train Brain s four controllers Since it s being used to start and stop a train that s what we ve named it The remaining 3 controllers on our Train Brain board are unused as indicated by the corresponding spare entries in the Controls list In TCL a few simple rules govern controller names Names can be up to 16 characters in length and must begin with a letter This first letter may be followed by any combination of letters numbers or the underscore character _ Each controller name must be unique 16 In our TCL program we list the controllers in the order that they occur on our Train Brain boards The first name listed corresponds to controller 1 on Train Brain 1 The second name listed refers to controller 2 on Train Brain 1 etc Since there are four controllers on each Train Brain the fifth name listed corr
9. spare spare spare SmartCabs cabl Qkeys run Actions WHEN run LEFT DO cabl 50 FORWARD MOMENTUM_4 BRAKE_OFF WHEN run RIGHT DO cabl 0 MOMENTUM_4 WHEN at_station TRUE DO cab1 BRAKE_ON wait 10 BRAKE_OFF 39 Maximizing Smart Cab Performance Because it s completely digital the Smart Cab requires absolutely no adjustments However to optimize its performance for use with a variety of model railroad gauges a voltage range selection potentiometer is provided on the PC board This adjustment allows the user to determine the maximum output voltage that the Smart Cab will supply The Smart Cab always provides 100 distinct voltage steps from its minimum to maximum outputs By setting the maximum output voltage to the highest voltage your trains require you ll be guaranteed that all 100 settings are available for use by your locomotives None will be wasted on voltages that run your trains faster than you want them to be run Setting the maximum voltage adjustment is easy Here s all you need to do 1 2 3 4 5 Locate the adjustment potentiometer VR1 located near the center of the PC board Using a small flat bladed screwdriver carefully turn the adjustment screw clockwise as far as it will go This reduces the Smart Cab s maximum output voltage to its lowest possible value Next turn on the transformer feeding the Smart Cab and using a Smart Cab pop up window select the maximum speed se
10. with your mouse Note how the Momentum indicator in the Smart Cab window changes Eight momentum settings are available Each may be accessed by repeatedly pressing the M key or repeatedly clicking the mouse For now select a midrange setting Type in a speed of O again The train now comes to a smooth stop That s the Smart Cab s built in momentum feature simulating the inertia of a real train Bring the train up to speed Now try the Brake feature by pressing B or by clicking on the word Brake using your mouse The Smart Cab window flashes the fact that the Brake has been engaged and the train should glide to a smooth stop Release the brake by again pressing B The train will speed up smoothly and resume its previous cruising speed Braking is a convenient way to stop the train without having to change its throttle setting Experiment with using the Reverse feature to change the direction of the train You can even try reversing the train while it s in motion Safeguard logic built into the Smart Cab will automatically bring the train to a full stop before changing direction Finally bring the train to a stop and press lt ENTER gt The Smart Cab pop up window will disappear and the CTI display will return to its normal configuration That s how easy it is to use the Smart Cab 36 Joystick Train Control You can now use your joystick for more than just flying those simulated F 16 s With CTI you can use it to run your r
11. 0 25 Lesson 14 Cab Control In this lesson we ll look at using CTI to control the operation of multiple trains running on the same track using a technique known as cab control In cab control the trackwork is divided into a number of electrically isolated track blocks A separate dedicated throttle is assigned to each train traveling on the mainline Each throttle is electronically routed to follow its train as it moves from block to block providing seamless independent speed control of each engine Traditionally cab control has been too complicated to implement automatically instead requiring constant operator intervention to manually switch cabs into and out of blocks and to brake trains as they approach traffic ahead Since the CTI system integrates the functions of the Train Brain and Smart Cab computerized cab control is now easy to implement with virtually no additional wiring Throttles can be routed to follow their assigned engines and trains will glide to smooth prototypical stops as they approach other traffic all automatically In this simple example we ll consider two trains sharing a common four block mainline The techniques described here may then be easily extended to accommodate any number of blocks or trains We ll need two Smart Cabs to serve as the throttles for our two engines and one Train Brain to manage power routing to our four blocks The wiring needed to implement our cab control design in shown in the fi
12. CEN CSW Names CSE CWN Ei aut 8 a a Name TES Name TNW RE m EEI Es 9 re 4 ila Name TEN Name TSW E f w E E Name STUBE Name STUBW Name STUBN Name STUBW E E E Name CROSS Name SIGNAL Name TRAINN L D Name TRAINE E E U Name TRAINS mi lt Name TRAINW Track Schematic Template Library 92 Name SOUTH Names CES CNW Names CNE CWS Name TNE Inn m gt iE Name TSE E E Name STUBS Name ARROWN gt Name ARROWE Name ARROWS lt Name ARROWW Updating Track Schematics via TCL Once a track schematic is created we can alter it on the fly to portray changing layout conditions For example we may want to change the color of individual track blocks to portray block occupancy to visually represent the position of turnouts to indicate the state of trackside signals etc Changing the state of the track schematic is accomplished by writing to the track display as part of the action in a DO clause The general form for altering a track section is name Track Description foreground_color background_color BLINK e Track Description is an optional string of characters between a pair of double quotes It works just like our original track descriptor string above A new descriptor is only needed if we want to change the physical makeup of the track section In many instances we ll only want to change the color of the existing track In s
13. In the previous lesson we controlled the Smart Cab interactively But that s only half the story Your Smart Cab can also be controlled automatically by instructions in your TCL program All of the abilities to control speed direction momentum and braking that you ve exercised using the keyboard or mouse are also available in TCL To illustrate we ll go back to our earlier example of an automated station stop This time we ll implement it much more realistically using the Smart Cab In this case we ll define a Quick Key that lets us get things rolling Then we ll use one of our Train Brain s sensors to detect the train s arrival at the station Using TCL we ll instruct the Smart Cab to bring it to a smooth stop automatically Then after a 10 second station stop the Smart Cab will automatically throttle up and the train will pull smoothly away from the station TCL code to do the job is shown at the end of this lesson It s included on your master disk as lesson6 tcl As this example shows it is a simple matter to control Smart Cabs using WHEN DO statements in a TCL program The DO clause to control a Smart Cab takes this general form lt Smart Cab name gt lt speed gt lt control options gt First let s look at selecting speed In TCL speed settings can be absolute or relative The difference between the two can best be illustrated by looking at a few examples For the purposes of this example assume the train s curr
14. PC into your model railroad will provide you with an incredible amount of flexibility With CTI your PC can respond interactively to your commands or can handle the mundane chores associated with running your layout e g signaling and block control for you completely automatically To be able to run your model railroad the PC must first be taught what to do To make programming the operation of your model railroad quick and easy CTI Electronics invented TCL the Train Control Language TCL is not a complicated computer language It uses a simple set of English language commands to describe the operation of your railroad Using this description the CTI system learns to operate your layout You can create TCL programs using your favorite word processor The only requirement is that the files must be saved in ASCII format ASCII is a widely accepted standard that lets programs exchange data with one another Any reasonable word processor will be able to create ASCII compatible files Some word processors use the term DOS text instead of ASCII Check your word processor s documentation if you re not sure how to create ASCII files There s no better way to learn TCL than to jump right in and try out some examples Mastering the following few lessons will make you an expert These examples were purposely designed to be very simple some may even seem nonsensical They are solely intended to help you learn to use CTI with the least amount of
15. WHEN time 23 50 00 DO train ON But clearly there must be a better approach Fortunately TCL allows us to transfer data back and forth between tbrain s clock operators and TCL s variables Thus the wide assortment of arithmetic operators that are available for use with variables may be applied to tbrain s clocks Consider TCL s modulo operator Recall that A modulo B is equal to the remainder when the number B is divided into the number A Thus whenever A is a multiple of B the remainder is zero i e A mod B 0 Now consider the following TCL code ALWAYS DO varl time copy time of day clock into variable varl varl 00 10 00 test if clock is at a 10 minute interval WHEN varl 00 00 00 DO if so varl will be zero start train train ON 65 Variable varl continually monitors the value of clock operator time Using the modulo function the value of time is checked for a ten minute boundary by dividing 10 minutes into the current value of time and testing for a zero remainder The second WHEN DO then turns on the train every 10 minutes as desired This technique can be used to schedule a wide variety of periodic events Fast Clocking Tbrain s clock operators can speed up real time to implement a scale time appropriate to any model railroad scale Fast clocking is accomplished using the Fastclock section of your TCL programs For example to produce a scale time which is 10 times faster th
16. ammu N p a n un m n m m Problem The Smart Cab repeatedly shuts down Solution Smart Cab contains three separate protection circuits each capable of shutting down its output These are short circuit over current and over temperature protection If a derailment or other short occurs the Smart Cab will detect the resulting power surge and protect itself and your trains by temporarily shutting down Once the problem is corrected Smart Cab will automatically come back on line Overloads rarely if ever occur under normal use If shutdowns occur on a regular basis it may be a sign of an intermittent short somewhere on your layout Watch to see if the shutdown always occurs with the train at or near the same location If shutdowns occur consistently for no apparent reason you may be overheating the power module To reduce the risk of overheating perform the steps listed under Maximizing Smart Cab Performance paying particular attention to Step 5 The power unit s job is to regulate the output voltage supplied by your transformer down to a voltage which produces the desired speed of your train As with all electronic regulators any excess voltage is converted to heat By reducing the transformer s output to a point just above the highest voltage your train will need you ll decrease the amount of work the power unit must do keeping it running cool 41 Section 4 Controlling Signals Automated signaling is a natural candi
17. at a maximum load current of up to 0 5 Amps most LEDs draw only a few thousandths of an Amp Power Supply The Signalman s power supply serves two functions First it converts raw input power supplied by the user to the precise 5 Volts required by the Signalman s microprocessor Second it generates an adjustable output voltage available at the Signalman s V V terminals useful for powering signals The Signalman s adjustable power supply can be varied over a range from 1 5V to 12V to control the brightness of signal lights using potentiometer VR1 near the upper right hand corner of the board Raw power enters the Signalman through the black power supply jack located along the top of the board This raw supply must be filtered and should be in the range of 9 to 15 Volts DC The same power supply available from CTI for use with the Train Brain is also compatible with the Signalman Just plug it in and you re ready to go For those who wish to supply their own power source the Signalman is shipped with the appropriate power supply plug to mate with the power jack You ll need to hook your power supply to this plug The outer conductor is GROUND The inner connector is 12 Volts Always double check your wiring before applying power 43 Choosing a Signalman Configuration To ensure compatibility with the virtually endless variety of signaling products on the market four versions of the Signalman are a
18. by listening to the clicking of the Train Brain s relays its obvious the WHEN DO flashes each light only once That s just as expected for a WHEN DO but unfortunately not proper behavior for a grade crossing Now try the same experiment using the right mouse button As long as you hold the button down the warning lights continue to flash alternately That s the level sensitive behavior of the WHILE DO retriggering the list of actions for as long as you hold down the mouse button A WHEN vs WHILE Example Controls flasher1 flasher2 Qkeys crossing Actions WHEN crossing LEFT DO flasherl PULSE 1 flasher2 PULSE 1 WHILE crossing RIGHT DO flasherl PULSE 1 flasher2 PULSE 1 In some circumstances you may wish to have a set of actions that simply repeat forever To help out in these cases a special form of the WHILE DO statement exists the ALWAYS DO As its name implies the DO clause of an ALWAYS DO simply replays forever To illustrate here s an ALWAYS DO statement that will cause a light e g an aircraft warning beacon to blink forever ALWAYS DO beacon pulse 1 wait 2 Summary In this lesson you have learned the following The edge sensitive nature of WHEN DO statements The level sensitive nature of WHILE DO statements A special case of the WHILE DO the ALWAYS DO 63 Lesson 10 Timetables By now you ve probably noticed that the tbrain program has a built in clock display The clock displ
19. equipped with 4 sensor ports located along the upper left side of the board Again notice that each sensor connector is labeled on the surface of the PC board These sensors are most commonly used to detect the location of trains but with a little imagination you ll think up a wide variety of additional applications For example how about a motion detector to turn on your railroad whenever someone approaches the layout or a photo detector to automatically turn on the street and house lights in your layout whenever the room lights dim The Train Brain s sensors are designed to detect the flow of current from pin A to pin B on the sensor connector The Train Brain supplies its own current for this purpose NEVER connect any source of current to the sensor pins The Train Brain s sensor ports are compatible with a wide variety of sensing devices Acceptable sensors include magnetic reed switches IR photo transistors CdS photocells Hall effect switches current detection sensors TTL compatible logic gates and manual switches A variety of inexpensive highly reliable and easy to use sensor kits which plug directly into the Train Brain s sensor ports and which are great for use in detecting trains are available from CTI Electronics We recommend that you try these first However for the ardent do it yourselfers among us Lesson 11 takes a more detailed look at the Train Brain s sensor ports and describes interfacing the Train Brain to an
20. lurking on your layout Don t over tighten the mounting hardware Connect your Train Brain boards to the diplexer jack using standard 4 conductor modular phone cable as shown below Any number of Train Brain boards may be connected in this fashion All connectors are color coded for easy identification Begin with the RED connector on the diplexer jack Connect this to the GREEN connector on the first Train Brain board Next wire the RED connector of the first Train Brain to the GREEN connector of the second Train Brain As you go you may wish to label each Train Brain board in order as 1 2 etc This will come in handy later on when you program your CTI system Continuing in this fashion connect the remainder of your Train Brain boards always remembering to wire from RED to GREEN Finally wire the RED connector of the last Train Brain board to the GREEN connector on the diplexer jack 11 That s all there is to it When you re finished your Train Brain boards should form a closed loop as shown below Note Even if you re only installing a single Train Brain it s essential to complete the loop If you decide to add additional Train Brain boards in the future simply unplug any one of the existing connections and then reconnect with the new board added to the string to form a bigger loop Train Brain 1 Train Brain 2 Train Brain 3 Last Train Brain Modular Phone Cable To Serial Port Connect Train Brains To Form
21. no train is present In that case simply install the resistor supplied with the sensor kit across the A and B inputs of the sensor port connector This will help bias the sensor port toward the detection region making it more sensitive to low light conditions Functionally photocells behave the E Train Brain Board same as infrared sensors They employ Optional Biasing Resistor Pees ao negative logic responding as TRUE when a train is not present and FALSE when it is They are also EF i 2 OA prone to retriggering when the gaps between cars pass over the sensor To prevent these false triggers the same i filter algorithm used with IR sensors O B may be used with photocells see E EEEN Lesson 11 Sensor Port al 1 Typical PhotoSensor Schematic 104 Applications Note 3 Using CTI s Current Detection Sensor Kit Current detection is an excellent means to determine train location in layouts employing block control The current detecting sensor responds to the presence of the finite resistance of the train s motor in an isolated track block One sensor is required for each block Since the current detector is an all electronic device it requires no visible sensors on the layout as in infrared sensing and required no actuators mounted on engines as in magnetic sensing CTI s current detector CTI Part TB002 CD is designed for use with all D C and A C operated trains The cir
22. of all necessary power routing and traffic control for you automatically Whenever traffic is detected ahead a train will come to a smooth stop and will return to its currently selected speed once the track ahead has cleared On startup the algorithm needs to learn the starting location of each train This can be accomplished interactively using keyboard commands or Quick Keys or if current detection sensing is used the code can find the starting location of each train itself automatically For our simple example we ll just assume that operation always begins with the trains in block A and B In that case the following initialization is all that s required Variable cabctl_ready is used to flag the start of operations Like all variables it equals FALSE when tbrain begins running or after a reset WHEN cabctl_ready FALSE DO a_occupied TRUE Initialize block occupancy flags b_occupied TRUE c_occupied FALSE d_occupied FALSE a_cab ON b_cab OFF Assign cabs lead train gets lower numbered cab cabctl_ready TRUE Cab control system is now ready for use 78 Controls Sensors SmartCabs Variables Actions WHEN a_cab b_cab c_cab d_cab a_sensor b_sensor c_sensor d_sensor cabl cab2 a_occupied b_occupied c_occupied d_occupied brakel brake2 temp a_sensor TRUE DO a_occupied TRUE d_occupied FALSE temp amp brakel temp a_cab temp b_occupied a_oc
23. running You ll learn the details of the Train Brain and see how easy it is to install and check out your CTI system Section 2 introduces the CTI software You ll learn how to run your model railroad using CTI s powerful operating system tbrain and how to program the operation of your layout using CTI s innovative Train Control Language TCL In Section 3 you ll discover the capabilities of the Smart Cab You ll learn to dispatch trains from your PC using the CTI control panel and to make your locomotives respond to trackside signals automatically under computer control Section 4 illustrates the use of CTI s Signalman module the fast easy and affordable way to control trackside signals crossing gates traffic lights etc all automatically from your PC Section 5 reveals even more features of the CTI system You ll get numerous tips and suggestions and tackle many of the most common model railroad control problems using CTI Finally you ll learn to create custom control panel displays designed for your model railroad Experience truly is the best teacher That s why we ll frequently use examples throughout this manual to demonstrate important features of CTI We recommend that you work through each example on your own We have kept each one simple generally requiring little more than a simple loop of track and very minimal wiring So try them You may even find them fun Some lessons also suggest one or more follow up exe
24. the operations screen check the network status display It should read NORMAL HALTED Hit the Fl key The display should now read NORMAL RUNNING That means tbrain is now running your TCL program Recall that in the TCL program we created in Lesson 1 we defined the commands GO STOP and PAUSE to control the operation of our train Try typing GO Notice that as you type your command appears in the Command Bar at the bottom of your screen Now press lt ENTER gt The tbrain program accepts your input and in response executes the WHEN DO statement which accompanied the GO command Tbrain sends the appropriate control to the Train Brain board to close the relay and the train should begin on its way Notice that the log window now indicates that tbrain has changed the status of a controller In the controller display an indicator is now flashing red signaling that it has been activated Click on this indicator with the left mouse button The message bar informs you that it is indeed the controller for the train Now try the STOP command The train should come to a halt Another message appears in the log window and the indicator for the train s controller has returned to blue Use GO to restart the train then try PAUSE The train should stop wait 5 seconds and start again just like you told it in TCL Try typing in a command other than the three we defined The message bar should flash Unknown Command Next use the F2 key to halt execution
25. where the LED isn t flashing or is behaving differently than earlier ones check that board and its connections for possible problems If you can t get the Train Brain board to power up check the power supply voltage and polarity It should be around 12 Volts D C Make sure the power supply you are using is clean and always remains between 9 and 15 Volts Never share a Train Brain power supply with any inductive load such as a motor In general train transformers make poor power supplies for computer equipment because they lack sufficient output filtering If your Train Brain behaves intermittently try adding a capacitor across the power supply s output observe polarity or consider using a regulated power supply Once you ve isolated the problem and exhausted all other possibilities if you suspect the Train Brain board is at fault just send it back to us at CTI Electronics We ll fix or replace it free of charge during the warranty period or let you know the repair cost if the warranty has expired Provide any information you can about the problem For fastest service be sure to send us a phone number where we can reach you Remember to keep the protective anti static bag your board was shipped in in case you need to return it Place the board in its anti static bag and pack securely in a rigid container 14 Section 2 Using CTI In this section you ll learn to run your model railroad using the CTI system Incorporating the
26. you create a new directory on your hard drive to hold your CTI software then simply copy the distribution disk s files into that directory Introducing the Train Brain Before starting the installation procedure it will help to become a bit more familiar with the Train Brain board itself You may wish to have a Train Brain handy for reference as we go through this description But first a word of caution Like all electronics containing integrated circuits the Train Brain board can be damaged by exposure to ESD electrostatic discharge Your Train Brain board was delivered in a protective anti static bag We recommend that you store it there until ready for use Handle the board by the edges avoid touching its integrated circuits And avoid handling the board altogether after you ve just walked across the room Finally keep plastic vinyl and styro foam away from your work area With those few words of warning out of the way let s take a brief tour around the Train Brain The block diagram below portrays the Train Brain s five primary functions We ll look at each one individually For reference position the Train Brain board so that its modular telephone style connectors lie near the lower left Power PC Supply Communications Sensors Microprocessor Controllers F_ z Train Brain Block Diagram Microprocessor Model Railroading has entered the space age Each Train Brain board comes equipped with its o
27. A Closed Loop 12 Checking Out Your CTI System Now it s time to check out your CTI network Begin by applying power to each of the Train Brain boards See the description of the Train Brain s power supply requirements in the Installation section above if you have any questions You can tell a lot about the status of the Train Brain by watching the LED located near the center of the board With power applied the LED should be lit That means the Train Brain board has successfully powered up checked itself out and is ready to begin communicating with the PC Verify that all Train Brain boards are behaving this way If not recheck the power supply If a voltmeter is available verify that the voltage is between 9 and 15 volts D C If you are using your own supply verify that it has been wired correctly Once all Train Brain boards are powered up and operational its time to check out their communications with the PC Turn on your PC if you haven t already done so go to the directory where you installed the CTI software and run the program called tbrain that was supplied with your CTI system at the DOS prompt type tbrain then press lt ENTER gt What happens next will depend upon the configuration of your PC The tbrain software automatically scans your system to find out how many serial ports are installed If it finds only one tbrain assumes that s where CTI is connected and proceeds immediately to the Operations screen If
28. E Our station stop s WHEN clause looks like this WHEN at_station TRUE This statement tells tbrain to monitor the state of the Train Brain s first sensor which we ve named at_station As the train reaches the station the sensor is activated i e it becomes TRUE and the WHEN condition is satisfied That causes tbrain to begin executing the list of commands following the DO As a result of the first two commands in the list station_stop ON WAIT 10 the train stops and waits for 10 seconds Notice that turning the station_stop controller on causes the train to stop That s because we ve wired the track power to the normally closed side of the SPDT switch Activating the relay breaks this connection stopping the train The next command whistle PULSE 2 is something new But actually it s nothing more than a shortcut PULSING the whistle controller for 2 seconds is exactly the same as doing the following whistle ON WAIT 2 whistle OFF The PULSE command turns the indicated controller on for the number of seconds specified and then turns it off again 25 A second later another PULSE command activates the whistle again Having blown two whistle blasts to signal its departure the final command allows the train to leave the station As with the WAIT command PULSE times can be controlled to an accuracy of 1 100th of a second For example to produce a quarter second pulse the appropriate command would b
29. For instance consider our control panel s Train Tracker window in which we re displaying the location and speed of each train Assume we have a variable named mile_marker used to keep track of the train s progress along the mainline The value of that variable can be embedded within a message by preceding its name by the sign To display the value of variable mile_marker we might write mileage_message The train is at mile marker mile_marker When this message is displayed on the screen the current value of variable mile_marker will be substituted for the text mile_marker 89 TRACK Most prototypical CTC control panels provide a schematic diagram of the track plan in lieu of a mere collection of lights and switches A schematic aids the user in quickly visualizing the effects of his actions reducing the risk of operator error You can create detailed track diagrams in your custom control screens using the TRACK command Your track schematic can then be updated in real time using TCL statements to indicate block occupancy turnout position signal status etc Along with your mouse the schematic can also be used as an interactive input device The general form of the TRACK command is TRACK name Track Description x y foreground_color background_color BLINK Items listed in italics are optional Here s what each of the parameters means e name is an optional parameter which assigns a name to this track sect
30. Here s what each one means e name assigns a name to this message The message may then be used as a destination in a WHEN DO statement by referring to it by this name Message names must adhere to the general TCL naming rules 16 characters or less beginning with a letter and optionally followed by additional letters numbers or the underscore character _ e x andy define the viewport coordinates where the message text is to begin x coordinates must lie within the range 1 72 and y coordinates must lie within the range 1 20 e size defines the width of the viewport space to be allocated to this message Size must lie within the range 1 72 For example there are six message regions in our Switch Control window created with commands similar to the following MESSAGE switchl_msg 17 3 7 This command creates a message region named switchl_msg at viewport coordinates 17 3 which is 7 characters wide Note that unlike the previous display entity commands the MESSAGE command doesn t include any color selections That s because in the Display section we re only allocating space in the viewport for the message Later in a DO clause you ll be able to select the specific characteristics of the message It may be worth taking a moment to distinguish between the TEXT and MESSAGE commands With the TEXT command the characters to be displayed on the screen are defined as part of the command They are written to the screen onc
31. K OR Activity Log Display Time 12 34 56 00 10 45 Deactivating TRAIN 5 Units Responding 15 Activating SEMAPHORE 2 Status NORMAL HALTED Activating WHISTLE 12 Deactivating WHISTLE 12 Command System Activated Command Bar Message Bar A Sample tbrain Operations Screen Sensor Display Located in the upper left portion of your screen the Sensor Display indicates the status of each of the sensors in your Train Brain network Up to 100 sensors can be displayed Each indicator represents the state of one sensor At this point you haven t connected any sensors so all indicators should be off light blue in color To see what happens to the display when a sensor is activated simply connect together the A and B inputs on one of the Train Brain s sensor ports The corresponding indicator should turn red and begin blinking Remove the connection and the display should return to light blue You can determine the name of a sensor by clicking on its indicator with the left mouse button Controller Display Located in the upper right portion of your screen the Controller Display indicates the status of each of the controllers in your Train Brain network Up to 100 controllers can be displayed Each represents the state of one controller Since we haven t executed any commands all indicators should be off light blue in color Shortly we ll run the TCL program which we wrote in Lesson 1 At that time the display will
32. N DO statement e How to chain together multiple conditions in a WHEN clause Recommended Practice Exercises Add an additional WHEN DO statement to the station stop program that blows one long whistle blast whenever the train arrives at the station but does not stop 57 Lesson 8 More on Variables In the previous lesson we learned how to assign a value to a variable and how to use the variable s value as part of the condition in a WHEN DO statement Before leaving our station stop example let s look at more ways we can use variables to add punch to our TCL programs We ll again address the issue of controlling automatic station stops but take a slightly different approach Instead of requiring the user to decide whether or not the train should stop at the station let s leave the operation fully automated This time we ll say that the train should stop automatically every 10th time it arrives at the station We ll obviously need a way to count the number of times the train has passed the station And therein lies another application of variables Consider the TCL program listing below Yet another automated station stop Controls station_stop whistle spare spare Sensors at_station spare spare spare Variables count Actions WHEN at_station TRUE DO count WHEN count 10 DO _ station_stop ON wait 10 whistle PULSE 2 wait 1 whistle PULSE 2 station_stop OFF count 0 Compare the WHEN DO
33. The CTI Model Railroad Control System User s Guide Version 4 2 CTI Electronics P O Box 1383 Sykesville MD 21784 http www cti electronics com Email info cti electronics com Patent Pending All rights reserved Table of Contents Introduction cerra 8 a ee kw E Re Pa ee ee eR How to Use This Manual 0 00 Section 1 Installing CTI x io x2 scac g a Gee Gi hele waa da BE wees Introducing the Train Brain Hooking Up Your CTI System Checking Out Your CTI System Troubleshooting e023 4 4 ate kw we ee pectiom 2 USME CT yee ee eh A eae Oe Lesson 1 Interactive Control Lesson 2 Running Your TCL Programs Lesson 3 Fully Automatic Operation Lesson 4 Using Quick Keys Variations on a Theme The Dash 8 and Watchman Section 3 Locomotive Speed Control Introducing Smart Cab Hooking Up Your Smart Cab Lesson 5 Interactive Train Control Using Smart Cab Lesson 6 Automatic Train Control Using Smart Cab Maximizing Smart Cab Performance Section 4 Controlling Signals Introducing the Signalman Choosing a Signalman Configuration Hooking Up Your Signalman Controlling Signals from TCL 2 0 0 Section 5 Programming Tips Lesson 7 Introducin
34. To access the Watchman s sensors simply give each one a name and include them in the Sensors section of your TCL program based on their location in the CTI network They may then be used as part of the condition in a WHEN clause or as a data source in a DO As usual be sure to designate any unused Watchman sensors as spare Installation Like the original Train Brain just plug the Dash 8 and Watchman modules anywhere into your CTI network and they re ready for action Any number of modules can be combined in any way to meet your layout s control and sensing needs The Dash 8 and Watchman modules require a filtered DC power supply in the range of 9 to 15 Volts DC just like the Train Brain 30 Section 3 Locomotive Speed Control By now we hope you re convinced that the Train Brain is the ideal solution to many of the control problems found around your model railroad But while the Train Brain is great for discrete control turning things on or off throwing switches etc it is not designed to handle one of the biggest control tasks of all controlling locomotives That s why CTI Electronics invented Smart Cab the fully programmable computer controlled throttle that interfaces to your PC With Smart Cab train speed direction momentum and braking can all be controlled by your computer And best of all Smart Cab uses the same interconnect network as the Train Brain and is fully supported by CTI s control sof
35. Train Brain LN rain Brain Q eys switc ES sm Controller NC Controller NC Y Actions To Train To Open Input Transformer of Switch WHEN switch LEFT DO direction OFF power PULSE 0 25 To omimni WHEN switch RIGHT DO direction ON power PULSE 0 25 wait 0 25 Wiring Diagram for Lesson 12 direction OFF Summary In this lesson you have learned the following How to cascade two relays to control the three states of a switch track How to control switch tracks from a TCL program Recommended Practice Exercises Add a non derailing feature to this TCL program which automatically throws a switch ahead of an oncoming train whenever the switch is in the improper direction 72 Lesson 13 Optimized Switch Control In the previous example we learned to use two Train Brain controllers to operate a turnout That approach could get quite costly if your layout has many switches Fortunately there are a variety of ways to reduce the number of controllers needed To illustrate we ll consider a simple yard with 4 sidings and create keyboard commands to automatically route each siding to the mainline Switch Banking Our first optimization technique is called switch banking wherein a group or bank of switches are controlled together In practice switches often occur in natural groupings as in railroad yards industrial sidings and crossovers Thus it often makes sense that they be co
36. ams Variables are storage locations that reside within your TCL program Unlike controllers and sensors they have no hardware counterparts Nonetheless they are powerful tools indeed Variables can be used to remember past events They can be used to count or perform arithmetic and logical functions They can be set equal to TRUE or FALSE or can hold a numerical value Variables give your TCL programs an entirely new dimension Let s illustrate the use of variables with a simple example We ll return yet again to our automated station stop We already know how to stop the train automatically each time it approaches the station But while this may indeed be a remarkable piece of computer control it could become a bit monotonous particularly on a smaller layout where station stops would be quite frequent Suppose we wish to selectively enable and disable our station stop feature Unfortunately our sensor is designed to detect the train every time it passes the station How can we make our TCL program only respond to selective ones The solution of course is to use variables Let s make a small change to the station stop program we introduced in Lesson 3 No wiring changes are needed For simplicity we ll use a Train Brain controller to stop the train when it arrives at the station Of course the station stop could be implemented more realistically using a Smart Cab The revised TCL program is shown below 55 A Revised Automati
37. an real time simply add the following section to your TCL program Fastclock 10 Tbrain s clocks will now operate at a rate 10 times faster than real time Any speed up ratio up to 1000x may be produced in this manner Summary In this lesson you have learned the following How to set and read tbrain s clock functions from within a TCL program How to use the time and session operators to trigger time based events How to use the clock operators to schedule periodic events How to perform fast clocking via your TCL programs Recommended Practice Exercises Change the TCL code in the example above to run the interurban service at ten minute intervals during rush hour 6 9 AM 4 7 PM and at 30 minute intervals otherwise Hint use TCL s variable comparison operators 66 Lesson 11 A Closer Look at Sensors Sensors play an important role in automating the action on model railroads They are the eyes and ears of your control system Unfortunately there are nearly as many opinions as to what constitutes the perfect sensor for model railroading as there are model railroaders For that reason the Train Brain s sensor ports have been designed to be general purpose in nature You ll find that they are quite flexible and can interface directly to a wide variety of sensors The purpose of this section is to describe the electrical characteristics of the Train Brain s sensor ports so they ll be easy to interface to your favorite senso
38. approach called time sharing also reduces the number of controllers needed for N switches from 2N to N 1 But unlike switch banking time sharing allows each switch to be thrown individually so there s no limit to the number of switches that can be controlled And if the position of a switch hasn t changed there s no need to throw it The trick is to think backwards from the way we did in switch banking This time we ll use a single direction control relay and separate power supply relays for each switch Instead of throwing the switches all at once we ll now throw them sequentially That way since we only need to control the direction of one switch at a time the switches can all share the common direction control relay 13 A wiring diagram and TCL code to control the same yard ladder using time sharing are shown at the end of this lesson It s worth taking a few minutes to contrast the two pieces of TCL code Note that in the time sharing circuit blocking diodes are required in the return paths for each turnout coil to prevent current flow via the sneak paths that result from multiple turnouts being wired in parallel 1N4002 diodes are adequate and cost just a few pennies per turnout So which approach is better Of course the answer depends on the application but in general it s probably safe to say that the advantages of time sharing win out over those of switch banking The only minor drawback to time sharing is that
39. arify what everything means A sample snapshot of an operations screen is shown below The screen is physically divided into a number of regions Here s a brief description of what each region contains Special Function Menu Located across the top of your screen the Special Function Menu lists a variety of control operations that may be accessed using the function keys F1 F2 etc on your PC s keyboard If your PC has a mouse you can also perform these functions simply by clicking on the appropriate function button with the left mouse button F1 and F2 are used to start and stop the execution of your TCL program more about those in a moment F3 selects tbrain s Quick Keys feature Quick Keys are described in Lesson 4 F4 will reset your CTI system in case something ever hangs up F5 may be used to edit your TCL source code using your favorite editor F6 is used to exit the tbrain program 19 Function Buttons Controllers Sensor Display ko k k k k k k kkk k k k k k k k kkk Controller Display kK kK ke ke Ke R k kK RK OK kK kK k k eK RK KR KK RK OK OO RR TO SK ROR ee OF i ee O i ee a i J kK kK ke Rk kK RK KR kK RK OK Te eS ke E A ee kK ke ke ke kK RK kK kK RK OK TO Be BR EK EB i kK kK ke Rk kK RK Kk kK RK OK CE ROE RO OK TR BE kK ke ke ke kK Ke KR kK RK OK Ce EE ROK RE OR RE BK RM BOM e a kK kK ke ke kK RK Kk kK RK OK kK kK ke Rk kK kK Kk kK RK OK ee Ek BE BR RGR Me La Network Status kok KR kk OR Ok kok OK kk OK kk O
40. as completed While your Train Brain boards will continue to monitor their sensors and thus no detections will ever be missed there may be a delay equal to the time taken to run your DOS program before they are serviced This delay may be important e g when tbrain is being used to control multi train operations In general leaving tbrain for short periods shouldn t cause any problems 101 102 Appendix A Applications Notes Applications Note 1 Using CTI s Infrared Sensor Kit Infrared IR sensors are an inexpensive and reliable means to detect moving trains IR sensors are fully compatible with the Train Brain s sensor ports Lesson 11 details the interfacing of IR sensors to the Train Brain and describes how to program with infrared sensors in TCL CTT s Infrared Sensor Kit CTI Part TB002 IR contains 1 ahigh intensity narrow beamwidth infrared transmitter photodiode 2 ahigh photosensitivity infrared receiver phototransisor 3 acurrent limiting resistor assortment A typical IR sensor circuit is shown below The transmitter in CTI s sensor kit is designed for a photodiode current of 50 mA The appropriate current limiting resistor may be found using Ohms Law R Vin Vphotodiode Iphotodiode R Vin 1 2 Volts 0 05 Amps CTI s IR sensor kit contains resistor values for a variety of common supply voltages For other voltages calculate R using the equation above and choose the next higher standa
41. ay consists of a conventional time of day clock as well as a session clock that indicates the elapsed time of the current operating session These clocks are more than just ornamental You can access them from within your TCL programs to implement prototypical timetable operations In TCL the time operator refers to tbrain s time of_day clock The session operator refers to tbrain s elapsed time clock You can use both time and session as part of a WHEN condition to trigger time based events The time and session operators are accurate to 1 second Both specify time in 24 hour military format Thus using time 15 seconds after half past two in the afternoon would be indicated by 14 30 15 Using session this same time specification would represent 14 hours 30 minutes and 15 seconds into your current operating session If you don t need quite that much precision shorthand time notation is perfectly acceptable For example all of the following are valid representations of 12 noon 12 00 00 or just 12 00 or even just 12 Prior to their use in a WHEN clause both the time and session clocks may be initialized as part of the action in a DO clause allowing simulated time of day operations Here s a simple program that uses timetables A Quick Key named start initializes the time operator to 12 noon At 12 01 the train promptly leaves the station runs for 5 minutes then comes to a stop the next time it arrive
42. ble in TCL above and beyond the traditional that you ve used thus far These additional operators lt gt lt gt are illustrated in the examples below WHEN count lt 10 condition is satisfied whenever count is less than 10 WHEN count gt 7 condition is satisfied whenever count is greater than 7 WHEN count lt gt 5__ condition is satisfied whenever count is not equal to 5 Comparison operators can be combined to test a variable for a range of values For example WHEN count gt 5 count lt 10 condition is satisfied when count 6 7 8 or 9 A set of arithmetic operators is available for manipulating variables as part of the action in a DO clause These operators are illustrated in the following examples For the purpose of illustration assume the variable var1 initially has the value 10 WHEN DO varl 5 varl 10 5 15 varl 3 varl 15 3 45 varl 5 varl 45 5 40 varl 4 varl 40 4 10 varl 6 varl 10 modulo 6 4 A set of logical operators is available for manipulating variables as part of the action in a DO clause These operators are illustrated in the following examples WHEN DO varl 4 amp varl varl AND 4 varl 3 varl varl OR3 varl 8 varl varl XOR 8 59 Variables can interact with one another as well as with Train Brain controllers sensors signals and SmartCabs as part of the condition in a WHEN or the action in a DO For exam
43. button This button can then be used as a condition in a WHEN DO just like any other You ll be able to think up numerous applications for this technique e g to throw switches assign blocks etc simply by clicking on their image in your track schematic For further reading Of course these very simple examples were only meant to introduce the techniques needed to use track schematics But you can now let your imagination run wild With these few simple commands there s virtually no limit to what your schematics can do For some further inspiration the file tracks tcl on your distribution disk illustrates some additional ideas for using track schematics of course they require nothing more than the simple commands described above But don t be limited by what s presented there Experiment with your own ideas Be creative and have fun BEEP Feedback from your TCL programs doesn t need to be solely visual Once things get rolling you ll soon find yourself watching your trains more and more paying less attention to your control display Urgent information can be missed unless there s a way to call your attention to it In such cases you can activate an audible alarm from within your TCL programs This could be used to draw an operator s attention immediately to an Emergency window on the control panel which is dedicated to displaying urgent information e g an overdue train which has possibly derailed a conflicting mainline assignm
44. c Station Stop Controls station_stop whistle spare spare Sensors at_station spare spare spare Qkeys stop Variables should_stop Actions WHEN stop LEFT DO should_stop TRUE WHEN stop RIGHT DO should_stop FALSE WHEN at_station TRUE should_stop TRUE DO station_stop ON wait 10 whistle PULSE 2 wait 1 whistle PULSE 2 The most notable difference between this version of the program and our original station stop is the addition of a new section entitled Variables This section allows us to give each of TCL s built in storage locations a meaningful name The rules for naming variables are the same as those for sensors and controls In this case we need only one variable which we ve called should_stop The first two WHEN DO statements of our revised TCL program let us set should_stop to TRUE or FALSE using a Quick Key In other words we can use the variable to remember whether or not we want the train to stop when it arrives at the station The third WHEN DO looks very much like that of our original station stop with one very important exception the addition of a second condition in the WHEN clause WHEN at_station TRUE should_stop TRUE DO Now the train will only stop if it is detected at the station AND we have requested that it stop by setting the variable should_stop equal to TRUE Otherwise even though the train is detected at the station it will simply continue on its way
45. cting its anode terminal to from a positive voltage To control common cathode signals use the CC version of the Signalman and follow the wiring diagram shown below SignalMan CC Version Controllers Common va Cathode Separate Anodes Common Cathode LED based Signal Wiring 46 Wiring Bipolar BP LED based Signals This is the most common form of LED based searchlight signal It is easily identifiable because it has only two wire leads This family includes products from Tomar and Oregon Rail Supply In the BP configuration signal color red or green is controlled by the polarity of the voltage presented across the signal s two leads A reasonable approximation to a yellow signal aspect may be achieved by rapidly switching between the two voltage polarities To control bipolar LED based signals use the BP version of the Signalman and follow the wiring diagram shown below SignalMan BP Version Controllers Bipolar LED based Signal Wiring Wiring Incandescent IC Lamp based Signals This is also a fairly common form of multi light block signal Since it employs light bulbs rather than LEDs higher current is typically required than in similar LED based implementations To control an incandescent signal use the IC Signalman and follow the wiring diagram shown below SignalMan IC Version Controllers Incandescent Lamp based Signal Wiring 47 Using an External S
46. cuit requires no additional power supply since it derives its own power from the track voltage It requires a minimum track voltage of 1 5 Volts to guarantee detection Note that the Smart Cab maintains an idling voltage of 1 5 Volts for just this purpose so that a stopped train will still be detected as occupying the block The current detector s line terminals designated as L on the PC board are wired in series between the isolated rail of the track block and the power source as shown below The current detector s A and B terminals are then wired to the A and B terminals of a Train Brain sensor port From Track Power Train s Motor Completes Circuit To Isolated Rail To Sensor Port A To Sensor Port B Current Detection Logic To Sensor Port A To Track Power To Sensor Port B To Track Power Current Detection Wiring Diagram Current Detection Sensor With the current detector installed run the tbrain program and check the sensor status indicator corresponding to the current detector With no train present it should read FALSE Drive an engine into the isolated block Once the engine s wheels have entered the block the sensor should respond as TRUE When the engine vacates the block the sensor should return to FALSE Current detection systems can run into problems when used with dirty track A dirty spot in the track can temporarily interrupt current flow causing a train to vanish f
47. cupied TRUE b_occupied FALSE DO b_cab a_cab temp amp brakel temp a_cab temp FALSE b_sensor TRUE DO b_occupied TRUE a_occupied FALSE temp amp brakel temp b_cab temp c_occupied b_occupied TRUE c_occupied FALSE DO c_cab b_cab temp amp brakel temp b_cab temp FALSE c_sensor TRUE DO c_occupied TRUE b_occupied FALSE temp amp brakel temp c_cab temp d_occupied c_occupied TRUE d_occupied FALSE DO d_cab c_cab temp amp brakel temp c_cab temp FALSE d_sensor TRUE DO d_occupied TRUE c_occupied FALSE temp amp brakel temp d_cab temp a_occupied d_occupied TRUE a_occupied FALSE DO a_cab d_cab temp amp brakel temp d_cab temp FALSE WHEN brakel lt gt 0 DO cab1 BRAKE _ON WHEN brakel 0 DO cabl BRAKE_OFF WHEN brake2 lt gt 0 DO cab2 BRAKE _ON WHEN brake2 0 DO cab2 BRAKE_OFF 79 Step 1 for block A Step 2 for block A Step 3a for block A Step 3b for block A Step 1 for block B Step 2 for block B Step 3a for block B Step 3b for block B Step 1 for block C Step 2 for block C Step 3a for block C Step 3b for block C Step 1 for block D Step 2 for block D Step 3a for block D Step 3b for block D Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to implement a fully automated cab control scheme using CTI Recommended Practic
48. date for computer control on model railroads just as on real ones The CTI system s unique combination of sensing and control features makes it easy to implement prototypical fully automated signaling operations on any model railroad But with so many signal lights to control cost has often limited the amount of automated signaling the average model railroader can afford That s why CTI invented the Signalman the fast easy affordable way to implement fully automated computerized signaling operations In contrast to the profusion of hard wired single function signal control products on the market the Signalman has been specifically designed to exploit the flexibility that s available only through computer control The Signalman works equally well with block searchlight and positional signals It s also ideal for controlling grade crossing flashers traffic lights warning beacons airport runways etc Anywhere a signal light is required the Signalman can do the job It works with all signal technologies including common anode LEDs common cathode LEDs bipolar LEDs and incandescent bulbs Introducing the Signalman In this section you ll see how easy it is to implement prototypical signaling operations that are run automatically by your PC As always it s best to begin with a brief look at the Signalman board itself A block diagram of the Signalman is shown below PC Communications Signal Brightness A
49. djust Power v Signalman Block Diagram 42 Microprocessor The Signalman s versatility is achieved through the use of a powerful onboard microprocessor that communicates with the PC via the CTI network to accept and interpret signaling commands sent by your TCL programs This flexibility allows the Signalman to work with any signaling scheme since no specifics of signaling protocol are designed into the Signalman board itself It s also how we ve been able to make signal control so affordable Rather than build complex signaling logic using expensive hard wired electronic circuitry all signaling decisions can now be centralized and performed much more affordably under software control just like on real railroads by the tbrain program Signal Controllers The Signalman provides 16 general purpose transistorized control circuits each independently programmable from the PC The Signalman s control circuits are accessed via the terminal strips located along the left and right sides of the board The numerical designation of each controller is indicated next to its connector on the PC board In contrast to the Train Brain s powerful 10 Amp relays the Signalman s control circuits are optimized for small signal applications e g controlling LEDs and bulbs jobs where the Train Brain s high capacity relays would be wasted Each of the Signalman s controllers is designed to operate a single signal lamp
50. e 83 Using the arrow icons return to our custom display We ll now introduce each of the design entities from which is was constructed WINDOWS Two user defined windows appear in our new display They are entitled Switch Control and Train Tracker Each of these windows was created using the WINDOW command in the Display section of our TCL program The WINDOW command takes the general form WINDOW Title x y width height background_color NOBORDER NOSHADOW Items shown in italics are optional Here s what each of the parameters means e Title is an optional string of characters contained within a pair of double quotes This text will appear centered across the top of the window Title text may contain any printable ASCII characters If no text is specified the window will be drawn without a title e x and y are mandatory parameters defining the position of the upper left hand corner of the window x coordinates must lie within the range 1 72 and y coordinates must lie within the range 1 20 e width and height are mandatory parameters defining the size of the window in the x and y dimensions respectively Width must lie within the range 1 72 and height must lie within the range 1 20 e background_color is an optional parameter defining the color of the window Background color should be selected from the list of valid colors given in the color table below If no color is specified a light gray backgr
51. e PULSE 0 25 Let s try this program Run tbrain again by typing tbrain lesson3 tcl lt ENTER gt Proceed to the operations screen as before Start your train equipped with the actuator The train should proceed normally around the track Now using the F1 key start your TCL program From now on every time that the train reaches the station it will stop wait for 10 seconds the whistle will blow and the train will depart And it will all happen automatically Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to install sensors on your layout and connect them to the Train Brain e How to check the state of a sensor in a TCL program e How to make your PC monitor and run your model railroad automatically Recommended Practice Exercises e Try connecting a manual SPST switch to another of the Train Brain s sensor ports and write TCL code to blow three whistle blasts whenever the switch is pressed 26 Lesson 4 Using Quick Keys In Lesson 1 you learned to define keyboard commands that allow interactive control of your layout Once you ve created a significant number of commands you ll soon discover two drawbacks to that technique First of all you must remember each of the commands Second you must type them out every time you want to use them That can certainly get tiresome during a long operating session Fortunately there s an easier way Quick Keys Quick Keys are soft keys that appear on your CTI control
52. e ll consider a simple example using a Signalman to control a collection of signals a 3 color block signal portraying track status a 2 color signal indicating the direction of a turnout a grade crossing flasher and a blinking warning beacon The wiring for our simple example is illustrated below This example assumes the use of Common Anode signal hardware Your wiring may differ slightly refer to the wiring instructions in the previous section S Ss las S oQ e N Typical Signalman Wiring Example As usual we ll begin by giving each of our signals a meaningful name This is accomplished using anew Signals section of our TCL program In addition to naming our signals we ll also need to let tbrain know how many controllers each signal uses To do so simply list the number of controllers between braces following the signal s name For our example above the Signals section of our TCL program might be Signals block1 3 sidingA 2 crossing 2 beacon 1 spare 8 Note that we ve only used 8 of our Signalman s 16 controllers As with the Train Brain s controllers and sensors we must designate any unused signal controllers as spare This lets tbrain keep precise track of which signals are wired to which of the Signalman s controllers 50 Programming Signals Using Color Identifiers With each of our signals named we can now control them just as we would any other TCL entity b
53. e when the screen is invoked and can t be changed Messages on the other hand can be updated on the fly to inform you of changes in the status of your railroad s operation e g block occupancy signal status turnout position etc Which brings us to the second stage of our message command getting the desired information on the screen Until we start our TCL program running the six messages regions within the Switch Control window will remain blank since as yet they haven t been written to via TCL code Start the program by clicking the left mouse button on the RUN function bar or by using the F1 key As soon as the program begins running the message regions are immediately updated to show the status of each of our turnouts Now try clicking the left and right mouse buttons over each of the pushbuttons 1 through 6 in the Switch Control window Notice that as you click the mouse the message corresponding to each turnout is updated to reflect its current state These updates are accomplished by writing to the appropriate message regions as part of the DO clause associated with servicing our pushbuttons Lets revisit the TCL program segment we wrote a moment ago to respond to our pushbuttons 88 WHEN switchl_button LEFT DO use left click to throw turnout switchl_dir ON switchl_power PULSE 0 25 switch _msg THROWN RED BLINK WHEN switch1l_button RIGHT DO use right click to bypass turnout switch _d
54. e Exercises e Create a TCL program which operates the cab control system for trains running in the other direction e Add the necessary TCL code to the above program segment to initialize the cab control system interactively handling trains starting in any blocks e Change the above program for use with current detection sensors and add code to find the locations of train automatically on start up Note The Application Notes page of our Website has several examples illustrating TCL code for cab control systems using current detection sensors and for systems with more than two trains 80 Lesson 15 Creating Random Events One of the great advantages of computer control is its repeatability Ask a computer to do something a million times and it will do it exactly the same way every time In model railroading for instance we definitely want to stop a train every time there s traffic ahead or lower a crossing gate every time a train approaches By letting a computer take care of these mundane chores we don t have to worry They ll always get done and they ll always be done right But at a higher level such repeatability can quite frankly get a bit boring Real life has a way of factoring in the unexpected To make our layouts truly lifelike we can if we choose factor some uncertainty into our TCL programs The first thing we ll need is a random number generator Fortunately the tbrain program has one b
55. e position of the first character of the text string x coordinates must lie within the range 1 72 and y coordinates must lie within the range 1 20 foreground_color is an optional parameter defining the color in which the text will be drawn A foreground color should be selected from the list of valid colors given in the color table below If no color is specified black text will be used background_color is an optional parameter defining the color of the background region in which the text will be drawn A background color should be selected from the list of valid colors given in the color table below If no color is specified the default background color at the text coordinates x y will be used BLINK is an optional field which will cause the text to blink For example in our custom control panel display the characters Switch 1 are a text string They were created using the command TEXT Switch 1 6 3 DARKGRAY This will place the character string Switch 1 on the screen starting at coordinate 6 3 using dark gray text displayed on the default background color 85 BUTTONS Pushbuttons allow the user to initiate control operations of any complexity with a simple click of the mouse They function much like the Quick Keys that are built into tbrain s Operations screen but they are much more flexible They can be placed anywhere on the custom control screen can be displayed in any size or color and can be imprin
56. eal trains If your PC is equipped with a game port a 15 pin female connector on the back of your PC you can use a joystick to control your Smart Cabs Just plug in any PC compatible joystick and you re ready to go To let tbrain know you ll be using a joystick you ll have it invoke it with the joy command line option For example tbrain myprog tcl com1 joy Be sure that the joystick is installed before starting tbrain and don t push or pull on the stick while tbrain is initializing This lets tbrain calibrate to your joystick s potentiometer readings as it starts up Joysticks come in two varieties 2 button and 4 button indicating the number of push buttons they possess Either type will work with CTI however with only 2 buttons you won t have access to all control features The table below shows the Smart Cab control operations available through the joystick As a convenient summary we ve also included the other possible ways of performing each operation Smart Cab Interactive Train Control Operations Throttle Up UP Arrow Left click on Speed Stick Forward or enter numerically Throttle Back DOWN Arrow Right click on Speed Stick Back or enter numerically Apply Release Brake Click on Brake Button 2 Change Momentum Click on Momentum Button 3 Select Cab LEFT RIGHT Arrow Click on cab name Button 4 Change Direction Click on Direction 37 Lesson 6 Automatic Train Control Using Smart Cab
57. eate the yellow signal aspect by toggling rapidly between the red and green states to synthesize the yellow color For example Signals sig1 2 a single searchlight signal using a bipolar LED WHEN DO sig RED set voltage polarity to light red LED WHEN DO sig GREEN set voltage polarity to light green LED WHEN DO sigl YELLOW alternate voltage polarities to create synthetic yellow By default when synthesizing yellow the Signalman uses a color mix in which the green LED is lit 66 of the time and the red LED is lit 33 of the time This creates a very effective approximation to pure yellow for most bipolar LEDs However actual results will vary depending on the relative red and green luminous intensities and wavelengths of the LEDs used in your brand of signals You may wish to experiment with different color mixes to achieve the best results You can tailor the signal s yellow tint from within your TCL code by using the YELLOW_TINT specifier Yellow tint can be specified in the Signals section of your TCL program or can be changed at any time as part of the action in a WHEN DO The YELLOW_TINT parameter can be set to any value between 0 all red no green and 100 all green no red Thus for example the following TCL code would yield a yellow tint consisting of a 50 50 mix of red and green Signals target 2 YELLOW_TINT 50 Set yellow tint to 50 red 50 green 53 Check
58. effort You will then be able to apply these concepts to real world situations on your model railroad We highly recommend that you take the time to work through each example To do so you will need a single Train Brain board connected to your PC as described in the Installation section above a simple loop of track and a train So without further ado let s get started learning TCL Note In the TCL program examples below italics are used to represent keywords i e words which have a specific meaning in the TCL language Normal text refers to items that the user is free to choose 15 Lesson 1 Interactive Control This lesson illustrates how to make your layout respond to your commands entered at the PC In this simple example we ll use the Train Brain to control the operation of a single device a train Using these same techniques you ll then be able to control any aspect of your railroad using commands which you define Let s assume that we want the train to run whenever we type GO at the keyboard When we type STOP we want it to stop When we type PAUSE we want the train to stop wait 5 seconds then continue on its way again Shown below is a simple TCL program that teaches the CTI system to respond to these commands This TCL file is included on your master disk as lesson1 tcl but we suggest you create it yourself to become familiar with using TCL A Simple TCL Program Controls train spare
59. ent etc The audible alarm can be activated as part of the action of a DO clause The alarm command takes the general form WHEN DO BEEP duration tone The duration and tone parameters are optional Duration may be used to program the length of the alarm up to 10 seconds with an accuracy of 1 100 th of a second If no duration is specified a half second alarm will be produced Tone may be used to select the sound frequency in Hertz ranging from 20 lowest frequency to 20 000 highest frequency If no tone value is listed a default midrange frequency will be used For example the command to generate a 1 kHz tone that lasts for a quarter second would be BEEP 0 25 1000 95 Network Status amp Controller Log Displays in Custom Screens Tbrain will display the network status and activity log in your custom screens provided none of the display entities that you create infringe upon the areas allocated to these features If your custom display grows into the space occupied by these features they will no longer be displayed Of course you can still view them at any time by switching to either of tbrain s default screens Creating Multiple Custom Control Screens As your use of custom screens grows you may find that the information you wish to display will no longer fit on a single screen That s no problem since TCL allows you to create up to 32 custom screens Simply begin a new Display section for each new screen
60. ent speed setting is 50 Here s an example of absolute speed selection Absolute speeds should be specified in the range from 0 to 100 cabl 75 New speed 75 absolutely In relative mode a new speed is selected in relation to the train s current speed Here are some examples cabl 25 New speed current speed 25 50 25 75 cabl 15 New speed current speed 15 50 15 35 cabl 50 New speed 50 of current speed 0 5 50 25 cabl 150 New speed 150 of current speed 1 5 50 75 In addition to selecting speed the state of each of the Smart Cab s controls can be specified in TCL Available choices for each Smart Cab control option are given in the following list Direction FORWARD REVERSE Momentum MOMENTUM_0 MOMENTUM_1I MOMENTUM_2 MOMENTUM 3 MOMENTUM_4 MOMENTUM_5 MOMENTUM_6 MOMENTUM_7 Brake BRAKE ON BRAKE OFF 38 Any control options must be listed after the speed selection if there is one and must be enclosed in parentheses A speed value need not be specified nor is a value required for every control option Only those items which you want to change need be specified Fields which are not specified will maintain their current values Here are some examples cabl 50 FORWARD select speed direction cabl 20 MOMENTUM_ 2 decrease to 20 of current speed low momentum cabl BRAKE_ON activate brake no change to thro
61. er which causes the track displayed on the layout to blink Note Track schematics will work with any color monitor however they ll look best on an EGA or VGA display Tbrain will automatically detect the video hardware in use on your PC and adjust it s schematics for the highest possible resolution 90 The best way to introduce the TRACK command is by considering an example We ll examine the simple layout shown below It s included on your distribution disk as the second custom control screen in lesson16 tcl It s schematic was created with the following three TRACK commands TRACK East 30 CES South 4 CSW West 30 CWN North 4 CNE 5 2 Mainline loop TRACK siding1 TWS South CSW West 15 STUBW 12 5 Inner siding TRACK siding 2 TES South CSE East 15 STUBE 8 10 Outer siding The Track Description string in the TRACK command uses a set of modular track sections to describe the layout directly akin to the familiar sectional track available for model railroads Using this modular track toolkit tbrain will build its own version of your layout The library of track sections available to tbrain is shown on the following page It contains a variety of templates for straight and curve track turnouts sidings crossovers and signals Any S number of these templates may be combined in a Track Description string by listing their names in order as you want them connected This approac
62. es temperature sensors TTL logic gates motion detectors pressure sensors etc etc etc To illustrate the point let s interface the Train Brain s sensor port to an infrared photodetector This is a popular choice for detecting trains on model railroads An infrared transmitter photodiode is positioned on one side of the track An infrared receiver phototransistor is positioned on the opposite side As long as light from the photodiode reaches the phototransistor the transistor conducts providing a low impedance between its collector and emitter As the train passes it breaks the light beam With no infrared light hitting the phototransistor it stops conducting and presents a high impedance between its collector and emitter From this description it s clear that the phototransistor meets the definition of a Train Brain sensor Photodetectors are inexpensive and very reliable While CTI sells an infrared detector for the do it yourselfers among us we ll use parts readily available at Radio Shack to illustrate the design and construction of a Train Brain infrared photosensor The Radio Shack part numbers are 276 143C photodiode and 276 145 phototransistor The circuit below is all that s required Sensor Port R 3 Ohms Connector O A O Train Brain ts Board Vin BY Y LS K B 276 143C re O Train Brain Photodetector Interface In this case the 1 5 Volt power supply was chosen for convenie
63. es all layout control based on requests sent by a number of operator stations the clients The widespread availability and low cost of second hand PCs you can find one for less than the cost of a decent HO engine make multi computer networking the way to go for larger layouts 98 Lesson 19 Odds and Ends Using Tbrain s Simulator Feature The tbrain program provides a simulator feature which allows checking out your TCL code before using it on your layout In fact you don t even need a CTI network installed so you can run it on any PC Simulator mode is activated by invoking the tbrain program with the demo mode command line option e g tbrain lt your TCL filename gt demo In demo mode tbrain will use the information supplied in your TCL code to create simulated CTI hardware Train Brains Smart Cabs and Signalmen that function just like the real thing You can simulate the activation and deactivation of sensors by right clicking on their indicator in the tbrain monitor screen Your TCL code s WHEN DO statements will respond just as though an actual sensor triggering had occurred on your layout All controllers Smart Cabs signals and user display functions will operate normally As before left clicking on the indicator of a controller or sensor will display its name and current state Using Quick Edit Tbrain incorporates a Quick Edit feature that allows rapid entry into a text editor of your choice
64. esponds to controller 1 on Train Brain 2 and so forth The order in which controllers are listed is important because that s how CTI forms an association between your meaningful name and a physical controller in your Train Brain network That s also why any unused controllers must be designated as spare This allows CTI to keep track of precisely which controller corresponds to which name With the controllers aptly named we re ready to move on to the Actions section of the TCL program It s here that you ll tell CTI how to run your layout As you can see the Actions section of a TCL program consists of a series of statements of the form WHEN lt these conditions exist gt DO lt these actions gt Each WHEN DO statement describes one aspect of the operation of your railroad It s the one and only statement you ll ever need to know to be able to program your model railroad with TCL Lets look at our program s first WHEN DO statement a bit more closely WHEN command GO DO train ON In TCL the command keyword refers to your commands entered at the keyboard Thus our first WHEN DO statement says When I type GO turn on the train Recall that in the Controls section we defined train to mean controller 1 on our Train Brain As a result typing GO causes controller 1 s relay to close providing power to the train Conversely our program s second WHEN DO statement WHEN command STOP DO train OFF opens contro
65. ess scenes the animated quality they need to seem real Sound can truly bring a model railroad to life If only you could have a vast library of hi fidelity sounds diesel horns steam whistles air brakes crossing bells track clatter station announcements whatever that could be accessed instantly and played in full synchronization to the action taking place on our model railroad You can Challenge Products creators of the world s most popular railroad oriented computer games have just developed the Railroad Sound System for CTI a great new software utility that lets CTI users control a SoundBlaster compatible sound card from within their TCL programs Any sound you can imagine can now be played automatically in synchronization to the action taking place on your layout Railroad Sounds makes it so easy it just takes a single line of TCL code You can access your Soundblaster from within your TCL programs by using the SOUND action statement For example WHEN at_crossing TRUE DO SOUND 1 2 4 Ring bell on approach to crossing SOUND takes three parameters the last two are optional The first is the sound clip number 1 32 or 0 to stop playing the current clip The second parameter specified the play mode and can take the value 0 1 or 2 0 means play the sound clip immediately 1 means cue up the clip to play after the current clip finishes 2 means play the clip repeatedly until told to stop I
66. esson3 tcl An Automated Station Stop Controls station_stop whistle spare spare Train Brain station_stop Sensors Sensor Port i at_station spare spare spare at_station A Train Brain Controller NC A To Train Actions Transformer ACME WHEN at_station TRUE whistle NO Sound Unit DO station_stop ON Ne Hearn Nike wait 10 whistle PULSE 2 wait 1 whistle PULSE 2 Wiring Diagram for Lesson 3 station_stop OFF 24 There are a few features in this TCL program that you haven t seen before The first is a new section called Sensors This serves the same purpose as the Controls section It lets us give each of the Train Brain s sensors a meaningful name The same rules governing controller names also apply here And just like for controllers sensor names must be listed in the order in which they occur on your Train Brain boards Here we just need one sensor to detect when the train has arrived at the station Much of the remainder of the program should look familiar You ve seen the format of the WHEN DO statement before when you used it to accept your commands from the keyboard Now you ll use it again to check for the arrival of the train at the station Sensors can trigger events automatically by including them as a condition in a WHEN DO statement In TCL activated sensors are defined as TRUE Inactive sensors are defined as FALS
67. f no mode is specified mode 0 is assumed The third parameter controls volume and may take the values 0 low volume through 4 full volume If no volume is specified full volume is assumed Thus the above WHEN DO would play sound clip 1 presumably a crossing gate bell repeatedly in mode 2 at full volume 4 whenever a train approaches the crossing Of course since we ve asked for the sound to be played repeatedly i e mode 2 we ll need to turn the bell off after the train passes the crossing That just takes another TCL one liner WHEN at_crossing FALSE DO SOUND O Turn off bell after train clears crossing Challenge Products has been kind enough to put together a LITE version of their Railroad Sound System that s available absolutely free you can download it from our WebSite The LITE version comes with a generous library of train related sounds and all the software needed to access them via TCL The full version of Railroad Sounds available directly from Challenge Products 19 95 plus 2 50 S amp H provides additional utilities that let you create your own custom railroad sound library So put some new life into your old model railroad With Railroad Sounds it s fast easy and fun 82 Lesson 17 Designing Your Own Control Panels Once you gain experience using CTI and develop your own applications for computer control you ll certainly want a control panel that s tailored to your model railr
68. g Variables Lesson 8 More On Variables Lesson 9 WHILE DOs Lesson 10 Timetables 63 Gegea be Medd Ss Lesson 11 A Closer Look at Sensors Lesson 12 Switches 40 woe ew ee Lesson 13 Optimized Switch Control Lesson 14 Cab Control oaoa aaa Lesson 15 Creating Random Events Lesson 16 Sound gdh so we ee Lesson 17 Designing Your Own Control Panels Lesson 18 Digital Command Control DCC Lesson 19 Odds and Ends Appendix A Applications Notes oaoa aaa NI A The CTI User s Manual Introduction Welcome to the world of computer controlled model railroading and CTI By combining the power of the PC with the monitoring and control capability of the Train Brain the CTI system delivers a level of performance and prototypical realism never before imaginable Your CTI system will add exciting new dimensions to your model railroad This manual contains all the information you ll need to get the most out of CTI computer control So please take the time to read through it carefully What Is CTI The CTI system is a new approach to model railroading that makes controlling your layout fast easy and fun With CTI you can interface your entire model railroad to any IBM PC or compatible computer Tangled wires and overcrowded control panels are a thing of the past You can now control every aspect of your layo
69. g goes wrong with the Train Brain network your first objective is to isolate the problem Here are some suggestions based on past experience Remove each Train Brain board from the network by disconnecting its modular phone cords Now try powering up the board again If the LED lights the power supply and the Train Brain board are probably okay and the problem is most likely in the wiring In that case go back over your wiring to make sure you ve always wired from RED to GREEN Make sure your wiring forms a closed loop as shown in the Installation section If you have multiple Train Brains in your system try building up the network incrementally Start with one Train Brain wired to the PC If that works try two then three and so on until the PC can no longer communicate with the Train Brain boards At that point you ve isolated the problem to the last board or wire you added Try swapping one of them If the problem goes away you now know exactly where the problem lies If you supplied your own phone cords look closely at their connectors Some inexpensive phone cords come with only two out of the standard 4 wires installed The Train Brain boards need all 4 wires to work properly Use the Train Brain s LED as a troubleshooting guide As the PC communicates with the Train Brain boards their LEDs will begin flashing Follow along beginning at the first Train Brain board and examine the behavior of each board s LED If you come to a point
70. gure below a cab To Block A Insulated Rail a_sensor b_sensor N s Block A To Block B Insulated Rail Direction cab1 of Travel cab2 Smart Cab To Block C Insulated Rail Block C To Block D Fa KS Insulated Rail d_sensor c_sensor Train Brain Controller To Common Rail 77 The cab control algorithm we ll be implementing may be stated as follows When a train enters a new block 1 Flag the new block as occupied and flag the block just cleared as vacant 2 If the block ahead is occupied Apply the brake on the cab assigned to this block 3 If the block ahead is vacant or as soon as it becomes vacant a Release the brake on the cab assigned to this block b Change the cab assignment of the block ahead Working through a few test cases should convince you that this sequence of operations maintains a buffer zone between trains and routes each throttle ahead of its assigned train as it moves from block to block TCL code that performs this algorithm is shown at the end of this lesson This code assumes the use of IR or photocell sensors at the transition between each pair of blocks Of course the speed and momentum of either train can still be controlled manually at any time via the pop up throttle display corresponding to that train s assigned cab on the tbrain control screen Using this TCL program tbrain will take care
71. h may seem a bit awkward at first but it will soon become second nature once you realize that the name of each track template is a mnemonic abbreviation of its function Verbally describing your track plan will instantly yield the list of library modules needed to construct it on your control panel To illustrate lets describe the process we would follow to physically construct our mainline loop From this description we ll be able to immediately write down the Track command needed to build it in TCL Lay 30 pieces of straight track headed East East 30 Add curve track to change direction from east to south CES Next lay 4 sections of straight track going south South 4 With curve track change direction from south to west CSW Then lay 30 sections of straight track headed west West 30 Use curve track to change direction from west to north CWN Lay 4 sections of straight headed north North 4 Finally complete the loop with curve track changing direction from north to east CNE As you can see the TCL commands to build the control panel track schematic follow directly from the process you would follow to build the same track plan on your layout East 30 CES South 4 CSW West 30 CWN North 4 CNE In this way a layout schematic of any complexity can be constructed simply by combining a number of such Track statements 91 Name EAST Name WEST Name NORTH mi E lu E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E a8 Names
72. he PC Since you ll be installing your CTI system momentarily we won t dwell on the subject any more here Controllers Each Train Brain board is equipped with 4 control relays located from top to bottom along the right hand side of the board You can think of these as single pole double throw SPDT switches which you can control remotely from the PC The SPDT switch configuration is a simple yet highly versatile one that s applicable to a wide range of control operations Here are just a few NO NO NO NO COM COM COM COM NC NC NC NC Normally Off Switch Normally On Switch Output Selector Input Selector SPDT Switch Configurations You can access the 3 connection points of each SPDT switch using the terminals located along the right hand edge of the Train Brain board Note that the designation of each connector is written next to it on the surface of the PC board NC normally closed indicates the terminal which is connected to the switch s COMMON input when no power is applied to the relay coil NO normally open designates the terminal which is connected to the switch s COMMON input when the relay coil is energized To connect a device to the controller simply insert the wires into the openings on the side of the connector strip Then screw down the retaining screws on the top of the connector until the wires are secured DON T OVERTIGHTEN A little pressure goes a long way Sensors Each Train Brain board is
73. icated yet easy to use operating system designed to run your model railroad using instructions supplied by your TCL programs To invoke tbrain simply type tbrain lt your TCL program name gt lt ENTER gt at the DOS prompt For example to run the train control program we ve just examined type tbrain lesson1 tcl lt ENTER gt When tbrain is invoked it loads the TCL program that you listed on the command line in this case lessonl tcl If tbrain encounters anything in your TCL program which it doesn t understand it will point out the location of your errors and request that you fix them and try again The error message which tbrain displays indicates the reason for the error and the line number in your TCL program where it occurred For your convenience error messages are also put into a file called errors tcl stored in the current directory on your disk You can send this file to the printer or import it into your word processor so that it s readily available as you work on fixing your mistakes Once satisfied there are no errors in your TCL code tbrain is ready to proceed to the Operations screen where it will run your model railroad Reminder If tbrain finds more than one serial port it will first ask you which one is connected to CTI before moving to the Operations screen In the Operations screen you will be presented with a wide variety of information about your layout and about the CTI network Let s take a moment to cl
74. ics to monitor the status of our layout Now we ll see how schematics can be used as an intuitive means to accept input from an operator For example consider a yard ladder We now know how to create pushbuttons to route any leg of the ladder onto the mainline and how to create and modify a track schematic to show which siding is connected to the mainline But it would certainly be more intuitive if we could combine both functions into one eliminating the need for the buttons Preferably simply clicking on the schematic image of a siding would cause that siding to be highlighted and routed onto the mainline It can To do so we ll resort to a bit of trickery known as a hidden pushbutton Recall that when creating a pushbutton with TCL s Button command we specify its appearance its screen position and its size The tbrain program s mouse server uses the position and size to determine when a mouse click falls on a pushbutton The button s appearance is totally irrelevant to tbrain Consider the following command Button button1 5 5 10 HIDDEN It creates a pushbutton at screen coordinate 5 5 which is 10 spaces wide However using the Hidden keyword makes its completely invisible Yet if we click on it the button still responds 94 We can use this technique to place hidden pushbuttons at strategic locations behind our track schematics Then by clicking on that area of our schematic we are also clicking on an invisible push
75. ifiers it s also possible to activate more than one signal light simultaneously Just list all desired colors in any order separated by a dollar sign For example to light all 3 signal lights we might write WHEN DO blockl REDS GREEN YELLOW turn on all signal lamps To turn off all lights of a multi colored signal use the keyword OFF For example WHEN DO blockl OFF turn off all signal lamps 51 Programming Signals Using Signal Indicator Strings Color names are great for use with multi colored signals but they don t make much sense when used with positional signals crossing flashers etc where all signal lamps are the same color Another easy method for assigning a value to a signal in TCL is called a signal indicator string A signal indicator string tells tbrain which signal lamps should be activated and which should be turned off by graphically illustrating the desired signal aspect For example to control our crossing gate flasher we might write WHILE at_crossing TRUE DO flasher wait 1 flasher wait 1 Here we ve used a signal indicator string to alternately flash each light of the crossing flasher once per second An asterisk in the string indicates that a light should be lit while a dash indicates it should be turned off The number of characters between the quotes of the signal indicator string should always equal
76. in boards hooking up Smart Cab should be a breeze The Smart Cab uses the same PC interface wiring as the Train Brain Any combination of Train Brains and Smart Cabs may be connected to the PC The boards can be wired in any order Since we ve already discussed the details of hooking up the CTI system to your PC we ll merely provide a bit of review here See Hooking up your CTI System in Section 1 for the full story The example below shows a simple CTI system consisting of two Smart Cabs and two Train Brains The order in which things get connected doesn t matter Just remember to connect whatever boards you use to form a closed loop always being sure to wire from RED to GREEN 33 Train Brain 1 Smart Cab 1 Train Brain 2 Smart Cab 2 Diplexer Jack A CTI System Using Train Brains and Smart Cabs That s all it takes to interface your Smart Cab to the PC Next it s time for the power supply wiring to the transformer and track All train related power enters and leaves the Smart Cab through the blue connector strip P1 located near the upper left hand side of the board First wire the output of any toy train transformer to the V IN terminals of P1 Either an A C or D C power source may be used If an A C source is used Smart Cab will perform the necessary A C to D C conversion for you The polarity of the input voltage doesn t matter The Smart Cab will automatically sense the input polarity and adjust it as necessary
77. ines is also shown Note however that the exact wiring will vary according to your particular brand of switch track Consult your switch manufacturer s specific wiring instructions Here s how the program works To move the switch the code first sets the Train Brain relay controlling switch direction to the desired position It then pulses the power supply relay Now note the wiring diagram The output of the power relay is routed through the direction control relay to energize the desired input of the switch The appropriate duration for the pulse command that supplies the power will depend upon the type of switches you use For simple solenoid driven switches a short pulse is needed long pulses may damage solenoid driven switches For motorized slow motion switch machines a longer power pulse is required Experiment with your switches to find the appropriate duration One final note concerns the last two commands of the second WHEN DO statement which turn the direction control off after the switch has been moved to the desired position This is simply good TCL programming practice Whenever a controller is no longer being used it s best to return it to the OFF condition This de energizes the relay reducing power consumption and prolonging the life of the relay coil 71 A Simple Switch Control Program switch_direction To Close Input TN of Switch Controls power direction spare spare switch_power a oes
78. infrared photo detecting sensor built using parts available from Radio Shack If you re in doubt whether your sensors are compatible with the Train Brain or if you need more information on connecting alternative sensors contact us at CTI Electronics We d be more than happy to help Power Supply The Train Brain requires a power supply in the range of 9 to 15 Volts D C Around 12 volts is ideal Worst case power supply current occurs when all relays are on and is about 150 milli amps Power enters the Train Brain board through the power supply jack located almost dead center along the bottom of the PC board CTI Electronics sells an inexpensive U L approved power supply that mates directly with this connector For those who wish to provide their own power source the Train Brain board is shipped with the appropriate power plug to mate with the Train Brain s power supply jack You will need to connect your power supply to this plug The outer conductor is GROUND The inner connector is 12Volts Don t get it backwards Your warranty does not cover damage caused by hooking up your power supply incorrectly The Train Brain has an onboard voltage regulator to convert your raw power supply to the precise 5 0 Volts that its integrated circuits require Nevertheless the power you supply must be clean i e it must always remain within the 9 to 15 Volt window without any voltage dropouts Don t even think about using the nearest con
79. ing Out Your Signals Here s a simple TCL program to check out your signal wiring We ve assumed you ve wired a 3 color signal of any type as indicated in the wiring instructions above QKeys Red Green Yellow Signals sig1 3 spare 13 Actions WHEN Red LEFT DO sigl RED WHEN Green LEFT DO sigl GREEN WHEN Yellow LEFT DO sigl YELLOW Just click on the appropriate Quick Key to produce the desired signal aspect The code should work with any signal variety If the signal doesn t follow the correct color sequence or if more than one light is illuminated at the same time check the wiring of the signal s control leads to the Signalman s controllers Many signal manufacturers don t color code their wires so it s often hard to tell which is which If the signal is too bright or too dim adjust the brightness control potentiometer on the Signalman board If the signals don t seem to work at all make sure they are the correct type for use with the Signalman board you are using Other Signaling Applications In the above discussion we ve concentrated on railroad related signaling But to the Signalman a signal is just a collection of lights Use your imagination and you ll come up with lots of other applications for the Signalman The real world is full of illuminated visual indicators and reproducing these in miniature can really bring a model railroad to life TCL makes controlling signals so ea
80. ion If a track section is named it may later be used as a destination in a WHEN DO statement Track names must adhere to the general TCL naming rules 16 characters or less beginning with a letter optionally followed by additional letters numbers or the underscore character _ If you don t intend to change the appearance of a track section it need not be named e Track Description is a mandatory string of characters contained within a pair of double quotes This text describes the physical construction of the track section Using this description tbrain will build a visual image of your layout in the control screen e x andy are mandatory parameters defining the screen position of the first piece of track described in the accompanying Track Description text x coordinates must lie within the range 1 72 and y coordinates must lie within the range 1 20 e foreground_color is an optional parameter defining the color in which the track will be drawn Foreground color should be selected from the list of valid colors given in the color table below If no color is listed white track will be displayed e background_color is an optional parameter defining the color in which the region surrounding the track will be drawn Background color should be selected from the list of valid colors given in the color table below If no color is specified the default background color at coordinates x y will be used e BLINK is an optional paramet
81. ir OFF switchl_power PULSE 0 25 switch _msg BYPASS GREEN Now we ve added a third action to each DO clause which writes to switch 1 s message keeping the operator informed of the status of the turnout The general form for writing to a message is message_name Text String foreground_color background_color BLINK Text String is a mandatory string of characters contained within a pair of double quotes This text will be displayed in the region defined for the message If the text string exceeds the size of the region allocated to the message only as many characters as will fit in the defined region will be displayed Text strings may contain any printable ASCII characters foreground_color is an optional field defining the color in which the text will be displayed Foreground color should be selected from the list of valid colors given in the color table below If no color is specified black text will be used background_color is an optional field defining the color of the region in which the text will be drawn Background color should be selected from the list of valid colors given in the color table below If no color is specified the default background color at the coordinates of the message will be used BLINK is an optional field which will cause the message text to blink Displaying Variables via Messages The value of a variable controller sensor or Smart Cab speed may be displayed as part of a message
82. isk notifies tbrain that the sensor named light_detected is an infrared device and that it should apply its filtering algorithm to the raw data received from that sensor You may wish to try both versions of the program to see how each responds to the gaps between cars Adjusting Sensor Port Sensitivity The value of the pull up resistor on the Train Brain s sensor port determines its sensitivity The higher the resistance the more sensitive the sensor port becomes The Train Brain is shipped with 3 3 K Ohm resistors installed but in some applications increased sensitivity may be desired For such cases additional 5 6 KOhm and 10 KOhm resistor packs are supplied with each Train Brain The resistor pack is the 6 pin single inline package SIP device located near the Train Brain s sensor connector To switch to a new resistor value use a pair of pliers to carefully remove the original resistor pack from its socket Don t squeeze too tightly as the device is easily crushed Locate the Pin 1 designator dot on the new resistor pack Install the new pack into the socket with pin adjacent to the Y1 reference designator printed on the surface of the PC board As a rule its best to use the lowest resistor value that will cause a given sensor to trigger reliably We recommend the following values as a starting point Sensor Type Recommended Pull up Resistor Magnetic Reed Switch 3 3 KOhm Infrared PhotoTransistor 3 3 KOhm to 5 6 KOhm CdS PhotoCe
83. l it takes Now when each pushbutton is clicked with the mouse tbrain will automatically repaint the selected siding in the appropriate color to represent its new state 93 Next let s take things one step farther In addition to changing the color of the siding we ll physically change each turnout to indicate whether it is opened or closed To do so we ll add a new Track Description string to each of our WHEN DO s The new string will replace each turnout with a straight track when the turnout is opened or a curve track when it s closed That way the current position of each turnout will be visually displayed in the track schematic For reference here are our original siding definitions TRACK siding1 TWS South CSW West 4 STUBW 12 5 TRACK siding 2 TES South CSE East 8 STUBE 8 10 Appropriate TCL code to visually change the turnout positions might be WHEN button LEFT DO siding CWS South CSW West 4 STUBW WHITE WHEN button RIGHT DO siding West South CSW West 4 STUBW LIGHTGRAY WHEN button2 LEFT DO siding2 CES South CSE East 8 STUBE WHITE WHEN button2 RIGHT DO siding2 East South CSE East 8 STUBE LIGHTGRAY Now when a pushbutton is clicked the siding will be redrawn in the appropriate color to represent its new state and its turnout will be thrown before our very eyes Using Track Schematics as Input Devices In the example above we saw how to use track schemat
84. lace comments anywhere in your TCL program A comment is anything between two curly brackets This sentence for example is a comment The layout of your TCL program is unimportant You can place multiple commands on a single line or spread them out Whatever looks best to you is fine Adopt a style you like and stick with it For example the following are all perfectly acceptable forms of the same thing 1 WHEN command STOP DO train OFF 2 WHEN command STOP DO train OFF 3 WHEN command STOP DO train OFF Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to assign each of the Train Brain s controllers a meaningful name e How to program the operation of CTI using a series of WHEN DO statements e How to control your layout from keyboard commands entered at the PC Recommended Practice Exercises e Try adding a new command called STEP to the TCL program we just created which causes a stopped train to start run for 4 seconds then stop e Use the Train Brain s remaining 3 controllers to operate additional devices sound units signals lights etc and write TCL code to control them via commands entered at the PC In the next lesson you ll learn to run your model railroad using your TCL program 18 Lesson 2 Running Your TCL Programs Now that we ve created a TCL program it s time to put it to work on your model railroad That s the purpose of the tbrain program Tbrain is a sophist
85. les Most often you ll use the and operators Assume we ve set varl to point to controllerl using the amp operator as illustrated above Then the statement WHEN DO varl would cause varl to point to controller2 Assuming of course that controller2 is the name of the next sequential controller following controllerl In general adding N to a pointer variable causes it to point to the entity N away from the one to which it currently points This practice known as indexing is one we ll use often when working with pointers 60 Where are Pointer Variables Allowed In general anywhere that an entity name is required it s perfectly acceptable to substitute a pointer to instead That includes the actions in a DO clause and the conditions in a WHEN clause Thus the statement WHEN varl var2 DO var3 var4 is perfectly legal But why bother accessing an entity indirectly via a pointer when we can simply refer to it directly by name To illustrate suppose our layout has 50 turnouts In that case we would need to write TCL code to control a switch machine 50 times once for each turnout Since all of these 50 copies of code do exactly the same thing it seems such a waste to rewrite it so many times Things would be much more efficient if we could create a single general purpose switch control subroutine which we can borrow at any time simply by telling it which turnout we want it to contr
86. ll 10 KOhm Current Detection 5 6 KOhm to 10 KOhm 70 Lesson 12 Switches Switches are an important part of every model railroad and a natural candidate for computer control Using TCL your trains can be routed through complex switching operations automatically In this lesson we will illustrate the control of a single solenoid driven switch via TCL This technique can then be extended to allow control of any number of switches For other types of switch machines refer to the Application Note entitled Switch Control available free from CTI Thus far all of our examples have dealt in one way or another with turning things ON or OFF Trains either move or sit still whistles either blow or are silent Switches however are different They need to exist in three different states 1 Transitioning from open to closed 2 Transitioning from closed to open 3 Idle remaining in their current state So how do we control switches using the Train Brain s relays which can only be turned on or off One solution is to use two relays the first to select the direction of the switch and the second to apply the power Then we ll have the three states we need With that in mind let s write a simple TCL program to control a single switch using a Quick Key at the PC Such a program is shown below and is included on your distribution disk as lesson12 tcl A generic wiring diagram suitable for use with most twin coil solenoid driven switch mach
87. ll Sensor Kit Photocells are constructed of a photoconductive material usually Cadmium Sulfide CdS whose electrical resistance changes with exposure to visible light The photocell supplied with the CTI kit exhibits a 10 to 1 resistance change varying from less than 2 KQ in moderate room lighting to greater than 20 KQ in complete darkness CTT s Photocell Sensor Kit CTI Part TBO02 PC contains 1 a wide dynamic range Cadmium Sulfide photocell 2 a sensor port biasing resistor To install the photocell drill two small holes 1 8 inch apart and insert the photocell s leads down through the benchwork Wire one lead to the A input of a Train Brain sensor port and the other to the B input It doesn t matter which lead gets connected to which input Avoid letting ballast cover the window of the photocell as this will reduce the amount of light striking the cell Under typical indoor lighting conditions the Train Brain s sensors ports will respond best with 10 KQ pullup resistors installed See Adjusting Sensor Port Sensitivity in Lesson 11 Run the tbrain program and check the sensor status indicator corresponding to the photocell With light striking the cell the sensor port should read as TRUE Pass a piece of rolling stock over the photocell andverify that the sensor port switches to FALSE Under low light conditions the photocell resistance may not drop sufficiently to transition the sensor port into the TRUE state when
88. ller 1 removing power from the train when STOP is entered at the keyboard It s important to note that the conditions following a WHEN and the actions following a DO need not be limited to single items In TCL any combination of conditions or actions are equally valid For example our program s third WHEN DO includes a list of three actions WHEN command PAUSE DO train OFF WAIT 5 train ON As we ve already learned train OFF causes the train to come to a stop The second action WAIT 5 is something new As its name implies the WAIT command causes execution of the remaining items in the DO list to be delayed by the number of seconds specified in this case 5 WAIT times may be specified to an accuracy of 1 100th of a second For example to cause a delay of five and one quarter seconds the corresponding WAIT command would be WAIT 5 25 17 Once 5 seconds have elapsed the third action restores power to the train and this WHEN DO statement is complete This capability to chain together a list of operations allows complex actions to be carried out in response to a single command from the keyboard Well that s our first TCL program That s all it takes to program the operation of your model railroad You re simply describing in structured English how you want your layout to work A few more points are worth mentioning TCL is not case sensitive Upper and lower case letters are treated exactly alike You can and should p
89. nals make station stops or run according to timetables all under computer control And using Smart Cab requires no changes to your locomotives And with CTI s new Signalman module implementing prototypical signaling operations has never been easier or more affordable Your conventional signaling hardware can now respond to the flow of rail traffic automatically under full computer control just like the real thing The CTI system has been engineered to be remarkably easy to use All hardware and software is included With no electronics to build and no software to write you can have your CTI system up and running in minutes All electrical connections simply plug right in And CTI interfaces directly to your PC s external serial port so no changes to your computer are necessary The CTI system is completely modular You ll buy only as much control capability as you need And the system is easy to expand as your model railroad grows Any number of CTP s control modules can be combined in any way to suit the needs of your model railroad The CTI system is a single fully integrated and cost effective solution to model railroad computer control We believe that the CTI system represents the most flexible the most affordable and the most user friendly model railroad control system ever produced And our users agree How to Use this Manual This User s Manual is divided into five sections Section 1 will get you quickly up and
90. nce a D Size battery Any D C supply voltage may be used simply change the value of the current limiting resistor according to the input voltage Be sure to observe resistor wattage ratings when using higher supply voltages Radio Shack specifies an operating current of 100 milli amps for their photodiode In that case the current limiting resistor s value can be calculated using Ohm s Law as follows R Vin Vphotodiode Iphotodiode Vin 1 2 Volts 0 1 Amps In our case Vin equals 1 5 Volts so R turns out to be 3 Ohms 68 Next we need to be sure that the impedance change of the phototransistor as it switches from light to dark is adequate to trigger the Train Brain s sensor port To reliably detect the state of the sensor the Train Brain requires valid logic levels at the input of the sensor port These are Logic 0 lt 1 0 Volts Logic 1 gt 2 0 Volts The graph below shows the voltage measured across the phototransistor as the distance between the transmitter and receiver is increased These results show the phototransistor voltage to remain in the valid logic 0 region up to a distance of about 9 5 inches gt 4 L gt oO S 3 i 2 S D Bing _ _ Detection Threshold 1 0V OY 222222 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Separation inches Measured Phototransistor Voltage vs Transmitter Receiver Separation TCL Programming with PhotoSensors Now that we ve interfaced our phot
91. ng or name given to the pushbutton see Text String above foreground_color is an optional parameter defining the color in which the text on the pushbutton will be drawn Foreground color should be selected from the list of valid colors given in the color table below If no color is listed black text will be displayed background_color is an optional parameter defining the color in which the pushbutton itself will be drawn Background color should be selected from the list of valid colors given in the color table below If no color is listed a light gray pushbutton will be displayed NOSHADOW disables drawing of a shadow when a button is created Shadowing improves the appearance of the button but uses space which could otherwise be put to better use BLINK is an optional parameter which causes the text displayed on the pushbutton to blink 86 For example in our custom control panel display six pushbuttons have been placed within the Switch Control window They were created using commands similar to the following BUTTON switch1_button 1 26 3 3 WHITE CYAN This command creates a pushbutton with the name switchl_button The number 1 will be printed on the button when it is displayed The button will be located at viewport coordinates 26 3 will be 3 positions wide and will have WHITE text displayed on a CYAN background Using Pushbuttons Pushbuttons may be used to trigger events in a manner completely analogou
92. ntrolled together Switch banking reduces the number of controllers needed to manage N switches from 2N to N 1 By banking our yard s 3 switches they can be controlled by just N 1 4 controllers The TCL code and wiring diagram for controlling our yard using switch banking are shown at the end of this lesson The code is included as lesson13 tcl on your distribution disk Note that each of the three switches has its own direction control relay However all share a common power supply relay As a result all 3 switches will be thrown simultaneously Configuring the switch bank consists of setting each switch s direction control relay to the desired direction and then pulsing the common supply relay Note that since all switches are thrown the direction relay for each turnout must be set even if the switch is already in the desired position The more switches that are banked the bigger the savings becomes But be careful not to go too far A drawback to this approach is that power is applied to all switches in the bank simultaneously As the number of switches grows this may place an undue burden on the power supply that generates the switch pulse A good rule of thumb is to use a Train Brain s 4 relays to control 3 switches That simplifies wiring and keeps the power supply requirements modest Time Sharing Switch banking works fine in yards and sidings where turnouts occur in groups but it s not a general purpose solution Our second
93. o let us know how you use CTI you can E Mail us at info cti electronics com Your feedback is important to us If you have a suggestion on ways to improve our products or a capability you d like to see incorporated by all means pass your ideas along Many of the features of the CTI system were suggested by our users And if there s ever something you re confused about or if there s a question you need answered just let us know We re always happy to help With our technical support line help is just a phone call away Online technical support is available at support cti electronics com We ve yet to find a problem that couldn t be solved So good luck Enjoy the world of computer control And most of all Happy Railroading CTI Electronics 106
94. oad s operation In our final lesson we ll learn to use CTI s Control Panel Designer tools to build custom monitoring and control displays specifically designed for your layout In creating your own control panels the inner viewport of tbrain s Operations Screen will serve as your blank canvas Each location within the viewport is identified by a coordinate pair x y as shown below The viewport is 72 positions wide x by 20 positions tall y 1 1 72 1 lt X y 1 20 Command 72 20 Within this viewport we ll build our customized displays To do so we first need to introduce one final section of the TCL language called Display At our disposal in the Display section are a collection of graphics building blocks called display entities These are named WINDOW TEXT BUTTON MESSAGE TRACK BEEP It will be easier to describe each of these display entities by considering a simple example The code we ll be using is included on your distribution disk as lesson16 tcl The source code listing is included at the end of this lesson Run the tbrain program using lesson16 tcl The first thing you ll notice is that the familiar control and sensor display didn t appear Instead a new custom control panel created using the Display section has taken its place The old displays are still available To access them click on the arrow icons located at the upper right viewport border or use the F3 key if you don t have a mous
95. of your TCL program Try one of the three commands again Note that nothing happens The message bar informs you that your command was ignored because your TCL program wasn t running Restart your TCL program using F1 and tbrain will again respond to your commands So that s your first TCL program You re now well on your way to mastering the art of computer controlled model railroading Summary In this lesson you have learned e How to invoke the tbrain program e What the displays in the operations screen are all about e How to run your TCL programs using tbrain Recommended Practice Exercises e Try running any supplemental practice exercises you created in Lesson 1 22 Lesson 3 Fully Automatic Operation Thus far you ve learned how to control the operation of your model railroad interactively from your PC using keyboard commands which you create In this lesson you ll learn to take the next big step having the PC control your layout automatically To illustrate the point we ll create an automated station stop Each time the train arrives at the station it will stop After 10 seconds two whistle blasts will blow to signal its departure and the train will leave the station To automate the operation we ll use the second half of our Train Brain board its sensor ports The Train Brain s sensor ports are ideal for detecting trains A variety of sensor kits including magnetic infrared light sensitive and current detecting sensor
96. ol By using the technique of indirect addressing we can We tell our general purpose routine which turnout to control by first setting a pointer equal to the address of the selected controller using the address of operator amp Then we activate our switch control WHEN DO The switch control code accesses the controller indirectly using our pointer variable and the pointer to operator This way the subroutine does its job without even knowing which turnout it is controlling Since no controller names are hard coded into the routine it can be used to control any turnout we desire Enough Already Wow We ve hastily introduced many applications of variables in this lesson It s not important that you master the more esoteric uses of variables at this point In fact you may never need them For now simply keep in mind that they exist and that they can help rescue you from some of the more tricky control problems that you may encounter in the future Summary In this lesson you have learned the following How to use TCL s arithmetic and logical operators to change the value of a variable How to use TCL s comparison operators to test the value of a variable How to perform indirect addressing using variables as pointers 61 Lesson 9 WHILE DO s By now you re probably quite familiar with the use of the WHEN DO statement to control the operation of your layout using TCL In this section we ll look a bit more closel
97. ons naturally require more control than sensing while others need more sensing than control Fortunately there s a whole family of Train Brain modules that let you tailor the CTI network to your application The Train Brain 8 or Dash amp for short CTI Part TB008 is an all control version of the Train Brain It features 8 SPDT controllers The Dash 8 s control relays are identical to those on the original Train Brain To control the Dash 8 s relays simply give each one a name and include them in the Controls section of your TCL program based on their location in the CTI network They may then be used as part of the condition in a WHEN clause or as a data source ina DO As always be sure to designate any unused Dash 8 controllers as spare Conversely the Watchman CTI Part TB010 is an all sensing version of the Train Brain It features 8 sensors The Watchman s sensor ports are electrically equivalent to those of the original Train Brain however they re much more versatile The sensitivity of each of the Watchman s sensor ports sensor port may be individually adjusted using the potentiometer located just behind the terminals of each port as shown in the figure below Precise sensitivity adjustment is seldom critical For most applications a mid range setting should work just fine Less K O More Sensitive Sensitive a Sensitivity Sensor Port A B Adjusting Sensor Port Sensitivity
98. or a few milliseconds which the CTI system is fast enough to detect To solve the dirty track problem the tbrain program s sensor detection logic has a built in filter algorithm specifically designed to deal with intermittent track contact To invoke it simply follow the name of any current detection sensors with a in the Sensors section of your TCL code For example Sensors block 1 block etc 105 On Your Own In the few examples we ve covered in this User s Guide you ve been introduced to all the techniques you ll need to know to get the most out of your CTI system These examples were purposely kept rather simple to make it easy to learn to use CTI with the least amount of effort But you should now be able to build upon these simple techniques to create a sophisticated computer controlled model railroad As with all new things practice and patience truly do make perfect So we encourage you to experiment with CTI on your layout Start out simple and then just keep going Through our newsletter the Interface we periodically publish applications notes highlighting new and interesting techniques answer questions introduce new products etc Your purchase of a CTI system automatically qualifies you for a free subscription Our Web site at www cti electronics com features up to the minute news on future product releases software updates application notes and a helpful tip of the week feature Be sure t
99. osensor to the Train Brain programming it in TCL warrants some discussion since the characteristics of photodetectors necessitate some special handling The most noticeable difference with photodetectors is that they work backwards They detect light and so respond as TRUE whenever the train isn t present A passing train breaks the light beam switching the sensor to FALSE All that s required is that this negative logic be taken into account when writing TCL code For example here s a simple program that can be used to test our photodetector circuit 69 Sensors light_detected Actions WHEN light_detected FALSE DO BEEP 0 25 1000 A second nuisance with photodetectors can occur when the gaps between train cars pass the sensor The gaps re establish the light beam causing the sensor to re trigger If a WHEN DO statement associated with the sensor has already completed the gap will cause it to execute again Fortunately tbrain s sensor detection algorithm has built in filter logic which can recognize and reject unwanted triggerings caused by car to car gaps To activate this filter you ll simply need to tell tbrain which of your sensors are infrared To do so simply follow the names of any infrared sensors by an asterisk in the Sensors section of your TCL program The above TCL program would be rewritten as Controls relay 1 Sensors light_detected Actions WHEN light_detected FALSE DO BEEP 0 25 1000 The aster
100. ound will be used e NOBORDER and NOSHADOW may be used to optionally disable drawing of the border and shadows when the window is created While borders and shadowing improve the appearance of the window they do use up space which could otherwise be used to hold information Let s look at the first of our control screen s two windows It was created using the command WINDOW Switch Control 4 2 32 7 LIGHTGRAY This command creates a light gray window 32 positions wide by 7 positions high whose upper left hand corner is located at viewport coordinate 4 2 and which is entitled Switch Control It should be noted that the use of windows is completely optional Any of the remaining display entities may be located within a window or may be placed directly in the viewport Windows simply serve as a visual aid to help the eye in quickly grouping related items on the screen 84 TEXT Textual information may be placed anywhere in the viewport using the TEXT command which takes the general form TEXT Text String x y foreground_color background_color BLINK Items listed in italics are optional Here s what each of the parameters means Text String is a mandatory string of characters contained within a pair of double quotes This text will be displayed on the screen exactly as it appears between the pair of quotes Text strings may contain any printable ASCII characters x and y are mandatory parameters defining th
101. ple WHEN varl lt var2 DO var3 var4 copy the value stored in var4 into var3 var5 var6 multiply var5 by the value stored in var6 var7 smartcabl copy the speed setting of smartcab1 into var7 smartcabl var7 copy var7 into the speed setting of smartcab1 Indirect Addressing Using Variables The tbrain program assigns every entity in the CTI system controllers sensors signals SmartCabs and variables a memory location or address in PC memory where that entity s value is stored When we access the entity as part of the action in a DO or the condition in a WHEN we are in reality accessing this memory location We can set a variable equal to the address of an entity by using the address of operator amp For example the statement WHEN DO varl amp controller1 sets the value stored in varl equal to the address of controllerl In that case we say varl points to controllerl Once such an assignment is made controller may be accessed indirectly via the pointer To do so we ll use the pointer to operator For example WHEN DO varl ON activates controllerl The expression var may be read as the entity pointed to by varl The above WHEN DO has the same effect as if we had written WHEN DO controller ON This technique of accessing an entity through a pointer is known as indirect addressing Operating on Pointer Variables Address arithmetic is allowed on pointer variab
102. problem consult the Troubleshooting guide in Section 1 If you wish you can simulate a network failure by momentarily disconnecting one of the phone cords Activity Log Window The Activity Log is located in the lower right portion of your display The tbrain program uses this region to notify you anytime it makes a change to a controller somewhere in the network The log window will list the name of the controller the action that was taken and as a debugging tool the number of the WHEN DO statement that brought about the action Since no controller changes have yet been made the log window should currently be blank Command Bar The command bar is located at the bottom left of your display This is where you can enter commands from the keyboard to control your layout Soon we ll try using keyboard commands in conjunction with the TCL program we created in Lesson 1 Message Bar The message bar is located along the bottom right of your display This is where the tbrain program communicates with you as you enter commands use special function keys etc You ve probably already seen messages displayed here as you investigated the use of the special function keys That s a quick look at the Operations screen Use the F6 key to exit the tbrain program 21 Now we re finally ready to try out that first TCL program Invoke the tbrain program again by typing the following at the DOS prompt tbrain lesson1 tcl lt ENTER gt Once in
103. r As an example we ll then describe hooking up the Train Brain to an infrared emitter detector A simplified schematic diagram of a Train Brain sensor port is shown below Here for the purpose of illustration a generic sensor is modeled as a simple SPST switch When the switch is open it presents a high impedance so no current can flow from pin A to pin B on the sensor connector As a result the input to the TTL inverter is pulled to a logic 1 by the resistor tied to 5 Volts In that case the output of the inverter is logic 0 and the sensor is read as FALSE If the switch is closed a low impedance path is created between pins A and B of the sensor connector This connects the input of the TTL inverter to GROUND logic 0 Now the output of the inverter switches to a logic 1 and the sensor is read as TRUE 5 Volts Train Brain Board Sensor Port Connector Sensor To ees A Microprocessor i C I i B I O 1 Sensor TRUE noe oe oe 0 Sensor FALSE Train Brain Sensor Port Schematic 67 As such a Train Brain sensor is defined as any device which alternately presents either a high or low electrical impedance across the inputs of the Train Brain sensor port in response to some external stimulus Many devices exhibit this characteristic and may be used as sensors Examples include manual switches magnetic reed switches photo transistors CdS photocells Hall Effect switch
104. r into a computer controlled throttle that outperforms many of the highest priced train power packs available today We ll begin by taking a brief walking tour around the Smart Cab You may wish to have a Smart Cab board handy as we go through this description As with the Train Brain observe ESD precautions when handling the Smart Cab board For reference position the board so that its modular telephone style connectors are located to the upper right Many of the components on the Smart Cab should be familiar to Train Brain users since both boards share a number of common features Since these functions were already discussed when we introduced the Train Brain here we ll concentrate on those items unique to the Smart Cab Microprocessor The Smart Cab s microprocessor plays the biggest role in controlling locomotive operation The microprocessor handles communications with the PC automatically manages speed changes to simulate the prototypical effects of momentum oversees the function of the digitally controlled voltage selector controls pulsed operation for optimum ultra low speed performance and selects output voltage polarity for direction control Digitally Controlled Voltage Adjust The Digital Voltage Adjustment unit DVA occupies much of the area around the top center of the board Under the control of Smart Cab s microprocessor the DVA performs locomotive speed control The DVA unit provides precise output voltage selec
105. r module s heatsink may feel warm during operation This is perfectly normal Natural convection cooling is used to dissipate heat so locate the Smart Cab board so as to ensure adequate ventilation If the power module gets too warm it will automatically shut down If the heatsink feels unusually hot you are overloading the unit If so see Maximizing Smart Cab Performance later in this section Digital Power Supply In addition to the power supplied for use by the locomotive the Smart Cab board requires a separate power supply dedicated to its onboard digital computer This digital supply enters the Smart Cab through the black power supply jack located near dead center along the top of the PC board As with the Train Brain this power supply should be in the range of 9 to 15 Volts D C Around 12 Volts is ideal The same low cost U L approved power supply available from CTI for use with the Train Brain is also compatible with the Smart Cab For those who wish to supply their own power source the Smart Cab board is shipped with the appropriate power supply plug to mate with Smart Cab s power jack You ll need to hook up your power supply to this plug The outer conductor is GROUND The inner connector is 12 Volts Always double check your wiring Hooking Up Your Smart Cab Now that you re a bit more familiar with the Smart Cab board it s time to install it in your CTI system If you ve already installed one or more Train Bra
106. rcises for you to try on your own These supplemental examples will give you a chance to practice what you ve just learned In all cases the follow up exercises use the same wiring as the main lesson so they require very little effort So let s get started Section 1 Installing CTI In this section you ll learn to set up and perform the initial checkout of the hardware components of your CTI system When completed your CTI system should be fully operational System Requirements We have endeavored to keep the CTI software as simple as possible for those who may have an older computer that they wish to dedicate to controlling their model railroad The CTI system is designed to work with all IBM PC or compatible computers with the following configuration Memory 640K conventional memory Operating System MS DOS Version 3 0 or later Monitor CGA EGA or VGA color monitor T O One serial COM port is required Mouse Optional but recommended CTI will run under both DOS and Windows However since Windows configurations vary widely from machine to machine we recommend that you try leaving Windows and running directly from DOS if you experience any problems Your CTI system was supplied with all necessary interface hardware and an installation disk This disk contains CTI software as well as some example files that will be covered in later sections There are no complicated software installation procedures required We suggest that
107. rd resistor Be careful to observe resistor wattage ratings when using higher input voltages For Vin 5 Volts Use R 75 Ohms Violet Green Black For Vin 9 Volts Use R 160 Ohms Brown Blue Brown For Vin 12 Volts Use R 240 Ohms Red Yellow Brown Be sure not to mix up the transmitter and the receiver the receiver is the blue device And be careful to observe correct polarity when wiring the circuit see schematic The sensor kit should work well for transmitter receiver separations up to 6 inches At longer distances care must be taken to aim the transmitter directly at the receiver Be wary when using IR sensors in areas which receive direct sunlight or which have strong incandescent lighting both of which emit significant infrared radiation In such cases it may help to use electrical tape or heatshrink tubing to form an opaque tube around the receiver to shield it from incidental radiation Train Brain Board r Clear Lens Blue Lens l Sensor Port l Connector Longer Lead Longer Lead Vin PLE E Transmitter Receiver Typical Infrared Sensor Schematic Infrared Components 103 Applications Note 2 Using CTI s PhotoCell Sensor Kit Photocells are a simple and reliable means to detect moving trains Since they respond to visible light they can use normal room lighting as their signal source A train passing overhead shadows the photocell triggering the sensor This note describes the use of CTI s Photoce
108. rst 8 characters will be displayed Once named Quick Keys can be used as a condition in a WHEN DO statement The possible values of a Quick Key are LEFT RIGHT and CENTER These values correspond to the buttons on your PC s mouse For example clicking the left mouse button when the mouse cursor is positioned over a Quick Key causes that Quick Key to take on the value LEFT The value CENTER is only defined for systems with a 3 button mouse If you have a mouse with 2 buttons use only the values LEFT and RIGHT With those definitions in mind the function of the TCL program listed above should become clear Clicking the left mouse button while positioned over the Quick Key named throttle will cause the train to run Clicking the right mouse button while positioned over throttle will cause the train to stop Clicking the left button on the pause key will cause a running train to stop for 5 seconds then resume running Try out this program in tbrain Once in the Operations screen start the program running using F1 and then use the F3 key to enable Quick Keys or click on the Quick Keys function button with the left mouse button The sensor and controller displays will be replaced by the Quick Keys keyboard display Notice that the first two keys are labeled with the names that we assigned to them in the Quick Keys section of our TCL program Position the mouse cursor over the Quick Key labeled throttle Click the left mouse b
109. s are available from CTI Here we ll consider a magnetic sensor part number TB002 M1 The detector s two leads connect directly to one of the Train Brain s sensor ports The detector is then positioned at an appropriate point along the track The actuator is placed on the train beneath an engine or piece of rolling stock When the actuator passes over the detector the Train Brain s sensor is activated Actuator Magnet 1 cm 0 4 Max P F gt F a api A M Wire To Wire To Sensor Port Sensor Port A B Correct positioning of the actuator and detector are the keys to reliable operation The actuator should pass directly over the detector within a distance of 1 cm 0 4 inches When installing the detector on a new layout it may be completely hidden in the ballast beneath the track When retrofitting into existing trackwork the detector may be installed from above It s tiny size makes it nearly invisible On N gauge layouts it may be necessary to remove the center of a few ties to provide adequate coupler clearance For larger scale layouts S O and G the undercarriage of the rolling stock may lie too far above the track to meet the 1 cm maximum spacing requirement For these cases a slightly larger magnetic sensor kit is available part TB002 M2 The Train Brain s sensor ports are also compatible with a wide variety of other sensor types If you re interested in trying alternative sensors with the Train Brain now ma
110. s spare spare spare spare SmartCabs cabl As you already know the Controls and Sensors sections refer to the Train Brain board in our rudimentary CTI system For now they re not being used at all and are listed as spare We ll be using them in the next lesson when we demonstrate automatic Smart Cab control In your TCL programs the SmartCabs section tells the CTI system how many Smart Cab boards are installed and gives each one a meaningful name As we ve already mentioned Train Brains and Smart Cabs can be intermixed in any way in your CTI network In the SmartCabs section you list the Smart Cabs in the order that they appear in your CTI network It doesn t matter if there are Train Brains located between them Like everything else in the TCL language Smart Cab names must be 16 characters or less and must begin with a letter which may be followed by any combination of letters numbers or the underscore character _ Here we ve given our only Smart Cab the name cab1 Now it s time to try out that Smart Cab Run this TCL program by typing tbrain lesson5 tcl lt ENTER gt atthe DOS prompt Once in the Operations screen the display should indicate that two units are responding If so both the Smart Cab and Train Brain are up and running and successfully communicating with the PC If that s not the case refer to Troubleshooting in Section 1 of this guide 35 Turn on the train transformer that s connec
111. s activated But are there times when we d like to have our WHEN DO statement retrigger if its conditions remain met Certainly Consider for example an automated grade crossing Obviously we d like the gate to remain lowered and the crossbucks to remain flashing all the while the train is positioned in the crossing That s exactly the purpose for the WHILE DO statement In contrast to the WHEN DO s edge sensitive nature WHILE DO s are level sensitive As long as it s conditions remain true a WHILE DO will repeatedly continue to execute The syntax of a WHILE DO looks just like that of a WHEN DO To illustrate using the WHILE DO and to contrast its behavior with the WHEN DO we ll look at the problem of alternately flashing the two signal lights at our grade crossing To avoid the need to do any wiring we ll just use a Quick Key to simulate our grade crossing But feel free to go ahead and implement the real thing if you like Try running the TCL example below It s included on your distribution disk as lesson9 tcl In this example we ve defined a Quick Key to simulate our grade crossing and we ve created two statements to control our flashers The WHEN DO version will respond to the LEFT mouse button and the WHILE DO will respond to the RIGHT 62 Click on the CROSSING Quick Key with the left mouse button and hold the button down to simulate the train remaining in the crossing for a few seconds By watching the log window or
112. s at the station You can try out this program using nearly the same set up used in Lesson 3 Simply switch the connection supplying power to the track to the normally open side of controller 1 The code is available as lesson10 tcl on your distribution disk You ll think up lots of imaginative uses for TCL s timekeeping features For example how about using timetables to run a regularly scheduled interurban service Or use it to automatically control your layout lighting to provide natural day night transitions Timetables can add an interesting challenge to operating sessions Try managing your freight switching operations interactively while tbrain runs interference by injecting regularly scheduled mainline passenger traffic automatically 64 A Simple Timetable Program Controls train spare spare spare Sensors at_station spare spare spare QKeys start Actions WHEN start LEFT DO time 12 00 00 WHEN time 12 01 DO train ON WHEN time gt 12 06 at_station TRUE DO train OFF Scheduling Periodic Events Using Timers Tbrain s time and session clocks provide a convenient means to implement automatic timetable operations For example let s consider an interurban service that runs continuously with departures every 10 minutes Using the time operator alone we could write WHEN time 00 00 00 DO train ON WHEN time 00 10 00 DO train ON WHEN time 00 20 00 DO train ON WHEN
113. s get too cluttered The eye has trouble focusing on too many things at once Use multiple display pages when necessary to avoid overcrowding e Keep things neat and orderly Arrange text and pushbuttons so that they are aligned in straight rows and columns Employ layouts that are familiar to the user e g arrange a collection of numeric pushbuttons to resemble the appearance of a touch tone phone e Color is a powerful tool for organizing information in a visual way But avoid using too many colors Limiting your use of color maximizes its effectiveness Use specific colors to convey information not merely as decoration e Take advantage of generally accepted notions of color e g Red to denote Stop or Danger Yellow to denote Caution or Warning Green to denote Go or Clear e Use blinking text to draw the operators attention quickly to important information 97 Lesson 18 Digital Command Control DCC The TCL language provides a powerful set of programming features designed to allow Digital Command Control DCC users to integrate their DCC systems with CTI Trains running under command control can now respond automatically to CTI sensors obey trackside signals make station stops run according to regularly scheduled timetables and much more all automatically under computer control Using CTI s software the operation of the CTI network and DCC system can be fully integrated DCC owners can use their command control sys
114. s to using QuickKeys Positioning the mouse over a pushbutton and clicking will cause that pushbutton to take on one of the values LEFT RIGHT or CENTER These values refer to the buttons on your mouse As with QuickKeys if your mouse has just two buttons use only the values LEFT and RIGHT Pushbuttons may be used as a condition in a WHEN clause by referencing their name and one of the three possible pushbutton values For example to throw a turnout by clicking on the pushbutton switchl_button which we created above appropriate TCL code might look something like the following WHEN switch1_button LEFT DO use left click to throw turnout switchl_dir ON switchl_power PULSE 0 25 WHEN switch1l_button RIGHT DO use right click to bypass turnout switch1_dir OFF switchl_power PULSE 0 25 MESSAGES Messages provide a means for your TCL programs to communicate back to you in a much more user friendly way than the simple blinking asterisks of tbrain s built in monitoring display Messages let tbrain communicate using English language text to describe exactly what s going on in your layout Using messages is a two step process First in the Display section of your TCL program you ll allocate space in your custom control panel to be used for message communications That s the purpose of the MESSAGE command which takes the form MESSAGE name x y size 87 In the MESSAGE command all parameters are mandatory
115. screen Quick Keys are designed to respond to your PC s mouse Anything that you can do by typing in a command at the keyboard you can also do with a click of the mouse on a Quick Key Quick Keys eliminate typing and their function can be displayed right on the key so there s nothing to remember To illustrate using Quick Keys we ll return to the example of Lesson 1 where we defined keyboard commands GO STOP and PAUSE to control the operation of a train We ll tackle the same problem again this time using Quick Keys The same wiring used in Lesson 1 can be used here The TCL program listing below illustrates how to create Quick Keys and use them in WHEN DO statements It s included on your distribution disk as lesson4 tcl A Simple Example of Quick Keys Controls train spare spare spare Qkeys throttle pause Actions WHEN throttle LEFT DO train ON WHEN throttle RIGHT DO train OFF pause LEFT train OFF wait 5 train ON 27 The first step in using Quick Keys is to name each of the keys as you want them to appear on your CTI control panel That s the purpose of the QKeys section of the TCL program Quick Key names must begin with a letter which can be followed by any combination of letters numbers or the underscore character _ Quick Key names should be limited to 8 characters or less so their name will fit entirely on the key If you give them a longer name only the fi
116. so you ll simply need to use the TCL action statements SAVE and RESTORE The SAVE function stores the current state of all Train Brain controllers Smart Cab settings and tbrain variables to a file called tbsave dat The RESTORE function does just the opposite It sets all Train Brain controllers Smart Cabs and tbrain variables based upon the contents of the file tbsave dat For example the following TCL code uses a pair of Quick Keys to save and restore the state of the layout QKeys Power_Up Power_Dn Actions WHEN Power_Dn LEFT DO SAVE Save away the state of the layout WHEN Power_Up LEFT DO RESTORE _ Restore the layout to its previous state 100 Shelling Out to DOS From within your TCL programs you can temporarily exit to DOS automatically run a DOS program and then return to tbrain picking up right where execution of your TCL program had previously left off You can do so as part of the action ina WHEN DO statement by using TCL s DOS command which takes the general form DOS DOS command line text The quoted text accompanying the DOS command represents exactly what you would have typed to run the program had you done so manually from the DOS prompt One note of caution is in order when using DOS shells While another DOS program is executing the tbrain program is suspended and thus cannot take any further actions to control your layout until the execution of the other DOS program h
117. statements of this version of the program with those of Lesson 3 Notice that the WHEN at_station TRUE condition no longer results in a station stop Instead its DO clause looks like this DO count The plus sign is a predefined TCL operator which means add one to what s on the other side of the sign in this case the variable count There s a complementary minus sign operator too Thus count gets incremented every time the at_station sensor is triggered In other words the variable count is keeping track of how many times the train has passed the station 58 The second WHEN DO statement looks very much like the WHEN DO of our original station stop program Only this time the WHEN condition requires that the variable count be equal to 10 Therefore the tenth time the train passes the station the train will stop as desired One more important point Note that at the end of the second WHEN DO the program sets count back to zero so it can again begin counting to 10 Otherwise it would just keep incrementing upwards to 11 12 etc and the train would never stop at the station again Run tbrain and try out this version of the station stop It s available on your distribution disk as lesson8 tcl Still More on Variables Before leaving the subject we ll mention a few more features of variables that may come in handy When using variables as WHEN conditions an additional set of comparison operators is availa
118. sy there s virtually no limit to the effects you can achieve Here are just a few e Airport guidance lights that flash in sequence to guide planes toward the runway e Blinking warning beacons atop communications towers water towers etc e Marquis signs with chaser lights at circuses carnivals movie theaters etc e Traffic lights that sequence regularly on a timed basis e Flashers on police fire equipment tow trucks school busses etc e Blinkers at construction sights e Campfires that flicker randomly using a random number generator to control the LED 54 Section 5 Programming Tips In this section we ll introduce some additional features of the TCL language Then we ll look at several examples illustrating how to attack some of the most common model railroad control problems using the CTI system Finally we ll show how to design sophisticated control panel displays specifically tailored to your railroad s operations Lesson 7 Introducing Variables In earlier lessons you learned to control the operation of your layout interactively from the keyboard and to run your layout automatically using sensors These two techniques provide an almost endless variety of control possibilities However you ll soon find applications that demand more sophisticated control That control is available in TCL through the use of variables In this lesson we ll show you how to use variables to greatly expand the capability of your TCL progr
119. ted to the Smart Cab and turn its speed control up to full power The train shouldn t move Next press the LEFT or RIGHT arrow key In place of the Log Window a Smart Cab pop up throttle display appears The name of our Smart Cab appears across the top of the window The display indicates the speed of the train currently 0 as well as the current settings of its control attributes direction momentum and brake Note Once you ve installed more than one Smart Cab repeatedly pressing the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys will cycle you forward and backward through each Smart Cab s display There are a variety of ways to change the train s speed interactively First you can enter a numerical speed setting at the keyboard from 0 to 100 Second you can use the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys Or third you can click on the word Speed with the left and right buttons of your mouse First try using the UP ARROW key to bring the train to a gradual start At low speeds the Smart Cab uses a pulsed output to ensure smooth even starts As speed increases the Smart Cab s microprocessor switches automatically to a continuous voltage output Bring the train to a comfortable cruising speed then enter a speed of 0 this time using the keyboard simply type 0 then lt ENTER gt The train comes to an abrupt halt Bring the train up to a cruising speed again then enable the momentum feature by pressing the M key or by clicking on the word Momentum
120. ted with any string of text Pushbuttons are created using the BUTTON command which takes the general form BUTTON name Text String x y size foreground_color background_color BLINK Items listed in italics are optional Here s what each of the parameters means name is a mandatory parameter which assigns a name to this pushbutton The button may then be used as a condition in a WHEN DO by referring to it by this name Button names must adhere to the general TCL naming rules 16 characters or less beginning with a letter and optionally followed by additional letters numbers or the underscore character _ Text String is an optional string of characters contained within a pair of double quotes This text will be displayed centered within the button and may be used to label its function If no text is listed the name of the button see name above will be displayed instead This text string may contain any printable ASCII characters If the text is too long to fit on the button see size below only those characters which fit will be displayed x and y are mandatory parameters defining the position of the left hand side of the pushbutton x coordinates must lie in the range of 1 72 and y coordinates must lie in the range of 1 20 size is an optional parameter defining the width of the pushbutton Size must lie within the range 1 72 If no size is specified the pushbutton will be sized so as to accommodate the text stri
121. tem to do what is does best run trains while using CTI s control and sensing modules to more cost effectively manage turnouts signals accessories etc CTT s innovative control approach allows any external device that can be connected to a PC s parallel or serial port such as a DCC system printer modem custom designed user hardware or even another PC to be treated just like any other source or destination in a WHEN DO statement in your TCL programs The tbrain program takes care of all the details servicing hardware interrupts checking port status I O port handshaking data buffering etc for you all automatically With this powerful set of software tools integrating DCC systems with CTI is fast and easy The CTI system is currently in use with virtually all major DCC systems currently n the market The use of DCC systems with CTI is fully described in the Applications Note entitled Interfacing Command Control Systems with CTI It s available for download from out Website Or if you d like a hardcopy we d be glad to send you one Just let us know Note This same set of TCL language features can also be used to allow multiple operators each at his or her own PC to cooperate in the operation of larger model railroads PCs can be connected in master master configuration each with its own CTI network responsible for controlling part of the layout or in client server configuration in which a single PC the server handl
122. the number of Signalman controllers used by the signal being controlled The string reads left to right with the leftmost character representing the lowest numbered Signalman controller With that in mind it should be fairly easy to see that the following sets of TCL code will have identical results WHEN DO block RED is the same as WHEN DO block1 WHEN DO blockl GREEN is the sameas WHEN DO block WHEN DO block YELLOW is the same as WHEN DO block Controlling Discrete Signal Lights When a signal uses only a single Signalman controller any of the same methods used to activate Train Brain controllers may be used to control the signal For example WHEN DO beacon ON Turn the light on WHEN DO beacon OFF Turn the light off WHEN DO beacon PULSE 0 25 Flash the light These simple techniques are all it takes to control signals from within TCL 52 Controlling Bipolar and Bicolor LED based Signals The previous discussion tells you everything you ll need to know to control any style of signal from a TCL program but a few additional points are worth mentioning when working with bipolar 2 lead and bicolor 3 lead LED based signals Although the signal contains only red and green LEDs and uses only two Signalman controllers you can still set it equal to YELLOW For bipolar or bicolor LED based signals the Signalman will automatically cr
123. tion in 100 distinct steps To optimize performance with a wide variety of model railroad gauges the maximum output voltage supplied by the Smart Cab is adjustable using the tweaking potentiometer VR1 located near the center of the PC board To change this setting see Maximizing Smart Cab Performance later in this section Of course the voltage output of the Smart Cab will always be limited by the voltage supplied by your transformer even if the maximum voltage adjustment is set to a higher value Direction Control Under command from the Smart Cab s microprocessor the Direction Control Unit automatically regulates output voltage polarity to control the direction of the locomotive On board safeguard logic will automatically bring a moving train to a full stop before carrying out a direction change request from the PC The direction control unit is located near the top left hand side of the Smart Cab board 32 Voltage Regulation Power Conditioning The Smart Cab s power module generates the actual voltage supplied to your locomotive It s key component is a single integrated circuit mounted atop the heatsink which occupies the lower half of the board The power module continually monitors Smart Cab s output voltage and responds instantly to maintain voltage regulation accurate to within 0 1 independent of changes in load Automatic overload protection and thermal shutdown circuitry are included in its design The powe
124. tle BLUE brake RED BLINK whistle GREEN hide hide Colors appear differently on different monitors Try each of the above colors and pick two or three that look best on your monitor Avoid using too many colors on your control panel it will look too disorganized Use specific colors to convey information Summary In this lesson you have learned the following e How to create Quick Keys and use them as a condition in WHEN DO statements e How to access and use Quick Keys from within tbrain e How to tailor the appearance of the Quick Keys control panel Recommended Practice Exercises e Add an additional Quick Key called Step which performs the same function as the Step command you defined in Lesson 1 Experiment with the Quick Keys customizing options to find a control panel that best suits your application of Quick Keys Note Using Quick Keys requires a DOS or WINDOWS compatible mouse driver to be running on your system This is typically installed at power up using a command in your autoexec bat file If your mouse fails to work with the CTI software your mouse driver is probably not running Consult your mouse manufacturer s instructions for loading the appropriate driver software 29 Variations On a Theme The Dash 8 and Watchman The Train Brain s unique combination of control and sensing capabilities make it a great choice for automating almost any aspect of your model railroad But some applicati
125. to make changes to your TCL code without having to leave the tbrain program The Quick Edit feature may be invoked from the TCL compiler screen by hitting the lt SPACE BAR gt whenever errors are detected in your TCL code or from the Operations screen by clicking on the Edit command bar or by using the F5 key By default invoking the Quick Edit feature from within tbrain is equivalent to typing EDIT lt your TCL filename gt at the DOS prompt From within tbrain you will enter directly into the editor with your current TCL file open for editing When you exit the editor you will return directly to the tbrain program On most MS DOS based systems the EDIT command invokes the Microsoft editor If you wish to use another editor you have two options First you can simply make a second copy of your editor on disk in a file named EDIT EXE Alternatively when you run the tbrain program you can tell it the name of your favorite editor by using the edit command line option For example to use an editor called myeditor tbrain may be invoked by typing TBRAIN edit myeditor at the DOS prompt 99 To run successfully enough memory must exist to hold both the tbrain program and your editor simultaneously Tbrain de allocates all nonessential memory prior to invoking the editor but some full featured word processors may require more memory than tbrain is able to make available If you get an Out of Memory error try using Microsoft
126. trations Once wired the control of signals from within your TCL program will be completely independent of the type of signaling hardware used As a first experiment we recommend you hook up just a single signal Once you have things wired jump ahead to the section entitled Controlling Your Signals from TCL 45 Wiring Common Anode CA LED based Signals This is the most common form of LED based multi light block signal Members of this family include products from Tomar Oregon Rail Supply Scale Electronics Systems and NJ International In the CA configuration the anode terminal of all of the signal s LEDs are wired together usually within the signal unit itself and connected to a positive voltage Each signal light is controlled by connecting disconnecting its cathode terminal to from Ground To control common anode signals use the CA version of the Signalman and follow the wiring diagram shown below SignalMan CA Version Controllers Common ye Anode Separate Cathodes Common Anode LED based Signal Wiring Wiring Common Cathode CC LED based Signals This is a much less common form of LED based multi light block signal manufactured by Integrated Signal Systems ISS In the CC configuration the cathode terminal of all of the signal s LEDs are wired together usually within the signal unit itself and connected to Ground Each signal light is controlled by connecting disconne
127. tting of 100 Slowly begin turning the adjustment screw counter clockwise The output voltage of the Smart Cab should begin to rise Stop when the train reaches the highest speed you ll ever want to run Finally with the train running at full speed speed setting 100 gradually decrease the output voltage of your transformer Stop just before you notice the train begin to slow This will reduce the amount of power dissipated by the power unit and keep it running cool Your Smart Cab is now optimized to your railroad s operation All 100 command steps are now available for use with your locomotive 40 Diagnosing Performance Problems Under normal use Smart Cab should work fine with all D C operated gauges from Z through G In rare circumstances a few minor adjustments may be required These are summarized below Problem Some of my Z or N gauge engines creep slowly at a speed setting of 0 Solution To ensure smooth even starts and for compatibility with layouts using current detecting sensors Smart Cab maintains an idling voltage of 1 5 Volts at a speed setting of 0 This may be sufficient to barely start some Z and N Gauge engines when pulling no load This problem may be eliminated by installing a pair of diodes between the Smart Cab and your track as shown below 1N5400 or equivalent Y E mn n p A n lt 4 Q To Train Transformer Smart Cab lt EE
128. ttle setting cabl 40 set speed no change to controls With these few examples as a starting point the function of this lesson s TCL program should be clear First the Quick Key labeled RUN lets us get the train throttled up to cruising speed by clicking the LEFT mouse button and lets us bring the train to a halt by clicking the RIGHT mouse button when we re through Of course we could already do all that using the Smart Cab pop up window Defining a Quick Key just serves to make things a bit more convenient The third WHEN DO is our automated station stop It uses the Train Brain s at_station sensor to detect the arrival of the train In response to its arrival the DO clause applies the brake on the Smart Cab bringing the train to a smooth stop After pausing at the station for 10 seconds the brake is released and the train throttles back up to cruising speed That s all it takes to control your locomotives in TCL The functions of the Train Brain and Smart Cab are fully integrated the Train Brain s sensors can be used to automatically control the function of the Smart Cab Many once tricky train control operations are now easy Your trains can now respond prototypically to trackside signals without miles of complicated wiring The whole job can now be done automatically by your computer and Smart Cab of course An Example of Automated Smart Cab Control Controls Spare spare spare spare Sensors at_station
129. turnouts are thrown sequentially so it takes a bit longer to configure a yard But at just a quarter second per turnout it s unlikely that you ll ever notice the difference And since time sharing eliminates the need for a power supply that s rated to deliver a current burst strong enough to throw multiple turnouts simultaneously this combination of features make it the clear winner Summary In this lesson you have learned the following How to optimize the control of N turnouts using just N 1 controllers How to facilitate yard operations by configuring multiple turnouts automatically Siding D Switch 3 Siding C Switch 2 Siding B To Mainline Switch 1 Siding A lt ____ Track Layout For Lesson 13 74 direction3 Train Brain Input of Switch 3 Controller Input of Switch 3 Switch Banking Wiring Diagram direction2 Train Brain Close Input of Switch 2 Controller Open Input of Switch 2 direction1 Train Brain Input of Switch 1 Controller Input of Switch 1 Train Brain Controller To Train Transformer To Common Input of all Switches Train Brain To Common of Switch 3 Controller Time Sharing S power2 Wiring Diagram Train Brain To Common of Switch 2 Controller power1 412V DC Train Brain To Common of Switch 1 Controller To
130. tware By combining the capabilities of the Smart Cab with those of the Train Brain the CTI system provides a single fully integrated solution to all of your railroad s computer control needs In this section you ll see how easy it is to install and use Smart Cab You will learn how to control locomotives interactively from the CTI control panel and how to let your PC control your locomotives automatically using instructions in your TCL programs When finished you will be able to dispatch trains from your control console While en route they will change speed stop and start smoothly in prototypical response to trackside signals all automatically under computer control Introducing the Smart Cab As with the Train Brain it is best to begin with a quick look at the Smart Cab board itself A block diagram of the Smart Cab is shown below PC Communications Overload Protection Microprocessor Power Supply Digitally Controlled Direction Conditioning Voltage Adjust Control Smart Cab Block Diagram 31 Smart Cab takes the raw output of any low cost toy transformer and using its onboard microprocessor digitally controls and conditions the power supplied to your locomotive based upon commands received from the PC With digital control precise speed selection prototypical momentum ultra low speed pulsed operation direction control and braking can all be managed by your PC Smart Cab will turn any inexpensive toy transforme
131. uch cases a new descriptor isn t required e foreground_color is an optional parameter defining the new color in which the track will be drawn Foreground color should be selected from the list of valid colors given in the color table below If no color is listed white track will be displayed e background_color is an optional parameter defining the color in which the region surrounding the track will be drawn If no color is specified the background color currently in effect at the track section s coordinates x y will be used e BLINK is an optional parameter which causes the track displayed on the layout to blink As a first example lets revisit our simple layout above We ll implement two Pushbuttons to throw the turnouts controlling access to each of the sidings and update our track schematic to portray the state of each siding When a siding is connected to the mainline we ll highlight it by displaying it in white When it s isolated from the mainline we ll de emphasize it by changing its color to gray Look back at the three Track statements which defined our simple layout Note that each of the sidings were given names siding and siding2 By naming them we are now allowed to change them via WHEN DO s Typical TCL code to do so might be WHEN button LEFT DO siding WHITE WHEN button RIGHT DO siding LIGHTGRAY WHEN button2 LEFT DO siding2 WHITE WHEN button2 RIGHT DO siding2 LIGHTGRAY That s al
132. uilt in which we can access from TCL using the RANDOM keyword Random numbers can be used as a condition in a WHEN clause or as a data source in a DO RANDOM returns a random value between 0 and 32767 In many cases you ll probably want to limit the random number to a particular range of values To produce a random number between 0 and n simply use the random number generator in conjunction with the modulo operator To illustrate suppose we d like the PC randomly throw a turnout each time a train approaches based on the flip of a coin Appropriate TCL code might be WHEN at_turnout TRUE DO When the train approaches the turnout coin_toss RANDOM Pick a random number coin_toss 2 Convert it to a heads 0 or tails 1 value switch_direction coin_toss Throw the turnout based on the coin flip swith_power PULSE 0 25 This simple technique can be used to generate a wide variety of random events on your model railroad Use it to randomly configure routes dispatch trains sequence house lights or whatever So try giving your layout a mind of its own It s fast easy and fun 81 Lesson 16 Sound We all invest countless hours to make our model railroads look like the real thing But for all our efforts our trains still glide silently down the track past cities and towns that while meticulously detailed never raise as much as a whisper It takes sound to give these motionl
133. upply to Power Incandescent Lamps The Signalman s built in supply is rated for a maximum output current of 1 Amp more than adequate for powering most LED and miniature lamp based signaling hardware However for signals using larger more power hungry incandescent bulbs e g Lionel higher current may be required to drive signals under worst case conditions During operation note the temperature of the Signalman s heatsink If it seems unreasonably hot you re probably placing too high a current demand on the Signalman s voltage regulator The Signalman s power supply has built in current limiting and thermal shutdown protection Using a lower voltage supply to the Signalman will reduce the amount of power which must be dissipated by its regulator If the regulator still seems overloaded a separate external power supply may be used to power the signal lamps To use an external supply simply wire the common lead of the signal s to the terminal of the external supply and wire the terminal of the external supply to the V terminal of the Signalman as shown below The remaining leads of the signals connect as usual to the Signalman s controllers SignalMan External Power Supply External Power Supply Wiring with Incandescent Bulbs Note When an external supply is used to power signals power must still be supplied to the Signalman via its black power supply jack to provide power to its microprocessor 48
134. ut automatically from a single state of the art control console displayed in full color on your PC screen The CTI system transforms your personal computer into a sophisticated monitoring and control center linked electronically to remote sites called Train Brains located throughout your layout CTI s software running on the PC communicates with these sites many times each second to monitor and control the operation of your model railroad The Train Brain is a simple yet highly versatile remote control and sensing device that works with all gauges AC or DC Its built in sensors can be used to detect the location of trains anywhere on your pike while its remote controlled relays can manage the operation of trains switches signals sound units lights accessories and much much more The Train Brain s versatility lies in its onboard microprocessor which allows the Train Brain to communicate with CTI s software running on the PC Together the pair form a powerful computer control system able to tackle your railroad s most demanding remote control needs But discrete control and sensing is just the beginning With CTI s Smart Cab module you can now have precise control over your locomotives speed direction momentum and braking all from your PC Control your trains interactively from the CTI control panel or let the PC control them automatically Your engines can change speed stop and start smoothly in response to sig
135. utton The train should start running Click throttle again this time using the right mouse button The train should stop Start the train again and try pause Stop the train and use F3 to return to the sensor and controller monitoring display This simple example illustrates how easy Quick Keys are to define and use Employ Quick Keys for all your most commonly used commands Try to develop a consistent style for example LEFT button to turn things on RIGHT button to turn things off Using TCL code you can tailor the look of the Quick Keys control panel to best suit your railroad s needs For example you may prefer to organize Quick Keys into logical groups on the control screen In that case you can use the spare keyword to purposely skip over any unused keys so that related keys will line up as desired on the Quick Keys keyboard Alternatively using the hide keyword will prevent an unused key from being displayed at all 28 In addition you may individually select the color of the text to be displayed on each Quick Key button Available colors are RED GREEN BLUE GRAY BLACK YELLOW CYAN MAGENTA and WHITE The text on each button may also be individually commanded to blink By default Quick Key buttons are displayed using dark gray text on a light gray background To change the color selection simply add color modifiers to the button names in the QKeys section of your TCL program For example QKeys throt
136. vailable identifiable by their part suffix Each is optimized for use with one of four general families of signaling hardware Refer to the chart below to select the appropriate Signalman model for use with your signals Signal Hardware Compatibility Chart Signal Family Required Signalman Version Common anode LED based signals CA suffix Common cathode LED based signals CC suffix Bipolar 2 lead LED based signals BP suffix Incandescent lamp based signals IC suffix Your signal manufacturer s documentation should tell you all you need to know to select the correct Signalman for use with your signaling hardware However one common source of confusion surrounds the use of the terms bipolar and bicolor LED These devices each contain a red and a green LED housed inside the same package The difference lies in the way these two LEDs are connected In a true bipolar device the red and green LEDs are connected in opposite directions see the figure below The polarity of the voltage applied to the device determines which LED is illuminated A bipolar LED is easily identified by its two leads It should be controlled using the BP version of the Signalman In a bicolor device the two LEDs are connected in the same direction either in common anode or common cathode configuration see the figure below A bicolor LED is easily identified by its three leads Bicolor LEDs are electrically equi
137. valent to any other common anode or common cathode device and should be controlled using the CA or CC Signalman Green Green Bipolar LED Bicolor LED Bicolor LED Common Cathode Common Anode 2 leads Use BP Signalman 3 leads 3 leads Use CC Signalman Use CA Signalman 44 Hooking Up Your Signalman Now it s time to install your Signalman into your CTI system The Signalman uses the same PC interface as all of our other modules so hooking it up should be a breeze Since we ve already described the details of interfacing the CTI system to your PC we won t dwell on the subject in much detail here see Hooking Up Your CTI System in Section 1 if you d like more details As with all CTI modules simply install your Signalman board s anywhere into your CTI network using the modular phone jacks located near the upper left corner of the circuit board Remember to connect your CTI boards to form a closed loop always wiring from RED to GREEN That s all there is to it An example of a simple CTI network consisting of Train Brain and Signalman modules is shown below Train Brain 1 SignalMan 1 Train Brain 2 SignalMan 2 Diplexer Jack A CTI System Using Train Brains and SignalMen Next you ll wire your signals to the Signalman To hook up your signals simply consult the wiring instructions for the appropriate version of the Signalman given in the following illus
138. venient railroad track as a power supply for the Train Brain The intermittent inductive loading of the train s motor makes this power supply too noisy for use in powering a computer Figure on dedicating a power supply solely to the Train Brain network 10 Hooking Up Your CTI System Now that you re a little more familiar with the Train Brain board it s time to begin installing your CTI system The entire process involves just a few simple steps 1 2 3 4 5 CTI connects to your computer using its external serial port often referred to as the COM port First locate the serial port connector on the back of your computer This will be either a 9 or 25 pin male connector resembling the one shown below Some computers may be equipped with multiple serial ports You may choose any one Connect the serial port adapter supplied with your CTI system to the PC s serial port Connect the yellow port of the CTI diplexer jack to the serial port adapter using one of the modular phone cords provided TUTTO od o IIT e Serial Port Serial Port Adapter Diplexer Jack Decide where you wish to locate your Train Brain boards They can be conveniently placed throughout your layout wherever you desire computer control Mounting holes are provided at each corner of the board Use the spacers provided to prevent damage to the underside of the board and to prevent accidental shorting against nails screws staples etc which may be
139. wn onboard microprocessor to handle communications with the PC manage the four control relays monitor the four sensor ports and let you know how things are going You can tell a lot about the function of your Train Brain board simply by watching its onboard LED It s your microprocessor s way of letting you know what its doing We ll decipher what the LED signal means when we install and check out the CTI system The microprocessor is located near the upper middle of the Train Brain board It is a complete stand alone computer that contains a CPU ROM RAM and I O all in a single integrated circuit PC Interface The greatest innovation of the CTI system is its interface between your model railroad and the PC The flexibility that s available through your personal computer gives CTI a huge advantage over conventional hard wired control schemes Interfacing any number of Train Brains to your personal computer is easy you ll be doing it in just a few minutes because the Train Brain is compatible with your PC s external serial port The Train Brain uses inexpensive easy to install plug in telephone cords to connect to the PC rather than bulky and expensive serial port cables Using these connections the Train Brain exchanges control and status information with the PC many times every second The connections to the computer are in the lower left hand corner of the board These two connectors allow any number of Train Brains to connect to t
140. y at the behavior of the WHEN DO and introduce its twin the WHILE DO statement Although we ve used WHEN DO statements repeatedly there s one aspect of their use that we ve taken for granted until now exactly how they re triggered We know that the actions in the WHEN DO begin executing as soon as all of the conditions in its WHEN clause are satisfied But what happens once the list of actions is complete If all the conditions listed in the WHEN clause are still satisfied will the WHEN DO statement execute again The answer is NO That s because WHEN DO statements are edge triggered They detect the transition from their conditions being not satisfied to being satisfied and won t trigger again until another such transition occurs That s a fortunate thing Consider for example the previous lesson where we used a sensor to count the number of times a train passed the station The small fraction of a second that the train was positioned over the sensor is a virtual eternity for your PC It could have executed the WHEN DO statement that counted sensor triggerings many many times And to make matters worse the number of counts at each detection would have been dependent on the speed of the train Clearly things would have been a mess But because of the edge triggered logic built into the WHEN DO we don t need to worry about such things We can take it for granted that the counter will trigger once and only once each time the sensor i
141. y be a good time to refer ahead to Lesson 11 This example will work equally well with other sensor types 23 Before we begin programming our station stop take a few minutes to experiment with the sensor and actuator Run the tbrain program no TCL program is required at this point by typing tbrain lt ENTER gt at the DOS prompt Proceed to the Operations screen and note the state of the sensor displays which at this point should all be off light blue Connect the two leads of the detector to the A and B inputs of one of the sensor ports on your Train Brain board it doesn t matter which of the two leads gets connected to A and which to B Now note the state of the sensor display as you bring the actuator towards the detector When the two are in close proximity the sensor display should indicate that the Train Brain s sensor has been activated Now position the detector along a section of track and install the actuator beneath a piece of rolling stock For this simple test a piece of tape should suffice to hold it in place Pass the car back and forth over the detector and note whether the PC s sensor display activates Experiment with the detector and actuator positioning until the detector trips reliably Once you re satisfied with the detector positioning its time to write the TCL program to perform our automatic station stop Shown below is an example of TCL code that will do the job It is included on your source disk as l
142. y making them a destination in the action clause of a WHEN DO TCL provides several mechanisms that facilitate working with signals The simplest and most often used are the color identifiers RED GREEN and YELLOW A signal can be controlled simply by setting it equal to the desired color in a WHEN DO statement For example WHEN block3_occupied TRUE DO block3 RED block2 YELLOW block1 GREEN The Signalman responds to color identifier commands as follows e Setting a signal equal to RED activates the first controller to which that signal is wired For instance in our example setting signal block1 wired to Signalman controllers 1 2 3 equal to RED activates controller 1 e Setting a signal equal to GREEN activates the second controller to which that signal is wired controller 2 in the case of signal block1 above e Setting a signal equal to YELLOW activates the third controller to which that signal is wired controller 3 in the case of signal block1 above This makes the wiring rules quite simple e For 2 color signals 1 Wire the RED signal light to any Signalman controller 2 Wire the GREEN light to the next higher numbered controller e For 3 color signals 1 Wire the RED signal light to any Signalman controller 2 Wire the GREEN light to the next higher numbered controller 3 Wire the YELLOW light to the next higher numbered controller Using the color ident
143. your system has more than one serial port tbrain will first ask you which one is connected to CTI Simply answer the question and you too will soon find yourself in the Operations screen Lots of information about your layout is displayed on this screen For now we don t care about much of it since we are only concerned with our initial checkout We ll learn what everything means when we get to Section 2 of the User s Guide For now just find the network Status indicator near the bottom left of the display Hopefully it reads NORMAL HALTED If so your computer is already successfully communicating with your Train Brain network The Units Responding message on your screen should reflect the number of Train Brain boards you have installed If so congratulations are in order You re now ready to move on to Section 2 where you ll learn to put your CTI system to work At this point it might be worth noticing the LEDs on your Train Brain boards They should be flashing rapidly Each time they flash the Train Brains and your PC have successfully communicated If you re using a more powerful PC and or a small number of Train Brains the flashing may be so fast that it is invisible to the naked eye and will simply appear as a dimming of the LED If on the other hand things haven t gone quite so smoothly the next section will hopefully shed some light on the problem and get you back on track 13 Troubleshooting When somethin

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