Katzhagen - Archive - October 2009
"OFF !"
This kind of yell occasionally was heard from a distant corner of the garden when the layout's electrical system needed some attention. The yell was acknowledged loudly by the ancillary staff after switching off the power supply inside the garage with a short "IS OFF!" and the work on site could be resumed. Unfortunately, an ancillary staff was avaible on rare occassion only and each power cycling caused a trek of 600ft (300ft to switch the power off, work on site, 300ft once more to switch it on again). In case of adverse circumstances a mile per hour was to achieve quite easily... Although this happened once or twice a year only, it remained to be a nuisance.
As the layout's power supply is cycled by an impulse switch, conventional wireless switch system (like used with plug outlets) weren't usable. Professional systems being able to also handle impulse switches, weren't available at reasonable costs...
The other day I visited the DYI store and accidently stumbled across a "wireless supplement" for a bell system. Of course the instructions printed on-pack didn't mention how this product was meant to work. My guess was that it would just need a suitable power supply and that it would produce some electrical signal upon receiving a transmission (for the system it was meant to be conncted to). This looked like being worth an attempt to convert it to something useable ... and I put the wireless set into the shopping cart (when using the link, you may need to reload the target page).
Fiddling around with a socket power supply from the box of remainders and some standard electronic parts from the stock resulted in the circuitry shown on the right. The end of annoying relay races in the garden.
The circuit's left part converts the power supply's voltage (12V) into the
voltage needed by the wireless module (4.5V). The right part inverts the
module's output signal so that it can be used for a relay which controls
the impulse switch.
The related parts dumped to a hole matrix board, led to the following picture:
Adapter board with wireless bell receiver
Wireless switch ready to run located in a moisture-proof distribution box mounted in the garage:
Normal operations of course with a cover only !
Reproduce and use at your own risk and only in case being familiar with
the related electrical rules ...
The tree never beared fruits, but this year it had more than plenty. As a result the ripe fruits bombarded the engine facilities below the tree. The sand tower's small parts of course didn't cope with this.
The repair was done using some semi-finished brass (2mm), cyanoacrylate adhesive, methacrylate adhesive and a bit of grey colour - after the tree's fruits had been picked.
The related parts dumped to a hole matrix board, led to the following picture:
Adapter board with wireless bell receiver
Wireless switch ready to run located in a moisture-proof distribution box mounted in the garage:
Normal operations of course with a cover only !
Pear grenades
or why a pear tree should be subject to the war weapons control act:
The tree never beared fruits, but this year it had more than plenty. As a result the ripe fruits bombarded the engine facilities below the tree. The sand tower's small parts of course didn't cope with this.
The repair was done using some semi-finished brass (2mm), cyanoacrylate adhesive, methacrylate adhesive and a bit of grey colour - after the tree's fruits had been picked.
