windigipet.de
Win-Digipet - english forums => Win-Digipet Forum English => Thema gestartet von: Thor Marum am 03. April 2022, 11:14:41
-
I'm recently retired and wants to take up my childhood hobby of modelrailways.
I use Märklin C-track and Märklin rolling stock (engines and wagons).
What kind of electronics would You recommend to work with Win-DigiPet?
I have no preference for a specific brand, but I have looked at the ESU Ecos II.
-
Hello Thor,
welcome to the forum! The first question is: do you need a display at your central station or not? That depends on if and how you roll your trains without Windigipet. Then you need a central station that supports mfx as well as other digital protocols like DCC if needed. I'm running N scale so I using DCC only. Therefore I can't recommend you a specific central control for you.
-
Hello Stefan.
I want the possibility of running engines from other manufactures in the future.
I want to divide my track in sections so that a section can only be used by one train at a time.
I want automatic control of turn-outs and stopping/starting at stations.
In short I want that my trains can run without my interference in their running.
This will of course only be possible if I have programmed Win-DigiPet correct.
-
Welcome to the forum.
Some other items to also consider is how will you control your turnouts.
- Will it be a decoder and solenoid type drive unit that is installed on the underside of the C-track turnouts?
- Will it be a decoder installed elsewhere and the solenoid type drive unit installed on the underside of the C-track turnouts?
- Will it be a servo type drive unit instead with a servo decoder installed elsewhere?
I have use solenoid type C-track drive units and encountered issues with reliability and am now considering servos as the new type of drive mechanism. Humidity does strange things to material that can absorb moisture and change to overall operating characteristics of a model layout.
What type of feedback system will you be implementing so that a program such as Win-Digipet can monitor where locomotives are on the layout?
Since you are using C-track, you can use one of the outer rails as the sensors for indicating when something is in a section of track (or commonly known as a block). You would just need to decide on what feedback product you would want to use for connecting the sections of track to inputs on the feedback modules which would then pass the information along to the chosen central system.
I personally try to pick technologies that are not 100% tied to a single manufacturer. This way if you choose to switch from one manufacturer to another for some reason (example, if you had a Märklin central unit and now you want to switch to an Ecos central unit) you would not be forced to change out other control modules such as the feedback modules and/or accessory control modules for the turnouts because it can only be used for a specific manufacturer's product line and no one else's.
Also, it would be helpful if you could add some information to your profile as to what you currently have and update as things progress along so that answering questions become easier and clearer.
-
Dear Thor,
How have you progressed with your new hobby? After about 12 years of playing with Märklin and two varoius simple layouts, I started a somewhat ambitous (for me at least) project in Feb.2019, which will be built on three levels with full Windigipet control. At the moment I`m completing the second level with a turntable. As of yet there are no major mistakes in this process which I hope will continue until completion in 2023/24. If your plan centres on Märklin I may be able to offer a little help/advice if required.
I started my Windigipet journey with a laptop which I replaced over the last two years with a basic PC and two large Benq monitors, one of which is mounted on the ceilling above the layout, what a differnce this makes.
Enough of my project, what news from you?
Best regards, David Conner.
ps, Many thanks to Markus and the beta testers for some great software.