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Reply to "Proposed Solution to DCS Watchdog in Yard Tracks (DCS-RC WD Gerber Files Added to First Post)"



...With a break before make rotary switch, the thinking was each track change would break power for long enough to force a reset of the channel and another WD instance...

Wow, I can almost remember the discussion after 5 years...yet I had to think hard about what I had for breakfast.

I'd be surprised if the break-before-make interval is long enough to trigger a new power-on reset.  Additionally, the donor TIU channel would then be ON.  It is my understanding that later versions of TIU would "spray" Watchdog activity for tens of seconds when a channel is first turned on.  So during this time, and to your earlier point, having the passive channel spray watchdog activity for many seconds might interfere with the mainline's TIU channel performing normal DCS control.  Hence, I believe the prudent thing to do is to only turn on the Watchdog channel for a few seconds at most.

Putting the cart before the horse, but if we were in a parallel universe where there was no such thing as a DCS-RC...and we were pondering how to use an unused TIU channel...the tactical decision is whether to have a relay clicking On/Off once per second.  This would be the PBT or Perpetual Barking TIU.    OR, come up with some "change detector" and timer scheme to briefly passively power the spare TIU channel only when a new yard track, roundhouse spur, siding, or whatever is powered.

Last edited by stan2004

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