TMCC/Legacy Track Signal Booster (Dale's Legacy Continues)

Guns,

  Wait I will join ya, been looking to put an end to that rodent for years!

PCRR/Dave

John

could you please add my name to your list for a TMCC signal booster.  Thanks for the hard work.

John,

Please add my name to your list for a TMCC signal booster.

Thanks so much,

-Richard

Every one added.

Could you please add me to your list my email address is teddybeardean2002@yahoo.com   Thank you.

Done.

Now that we are in the new house, I can finally consider getting back to some of my train projects, including this one.  I should be ready to kick this off in a few weeks, I'm sure many of you were wondering what happened.

Guns,

   I think because most of knew you were moving that we figured it would be a while before you got back to anything Train related.  

Thanks for continuing Dale's work, we appreciate it.

PCRR/Dave

Yes John,

As Dave mentioned and since most of us have moved and know that does interrupt projects.

Thanks for the update

Ray

John,hope the new home is one you and the family will enjoy!

Please add my name for the TMCC signal booster announcement. 

I have an 18' x 18' layout.  The TMCC signal was a big problem especially in 2-level areas or near metal accessories.  I stapled a layer of aluminum foil to the bottom of the layout and grounded it to earth ground.  This helped greatly but did not fully fix the problem.

GRJ,

please add me to the list, we are in dire need of one for the club layout.

Got it guys.  I'll be kicking this off finally this summer, look for an email for further details soon.

I've finally gotten back to considering the build of the TMCC buffer.  I originally started with a thru-hole design, as I expected to build a handful of them.  The list has mushroomed to 82 potential customers.  Even if some drop out, that's a LOT of hand assembly!  That being the case, I'm converting it to a mostly surface mount design so I can get them factory assembled and only have to stuff a handful of parts on the board before I assemble and test them.  Although the turn-around is a few weeks, I suspect that it'll be faster than if I had to do all the work to assemble them!

Here's what the new board looks like.  The schematic for it is identical to the existing thru-hole design, the layout generally follows the same pattern, but some parts have moved.  I expect the actual performance will be exactly the same as the old prototypes.

Sample boards are on order to hand build one of the SMT design to test it before I commit to a larger build.

I also build some simple drilling jigs so that I could prep the enclosures and get the holes in the right place.  After sending pieces of a couple of the little plastic boxes flying, I perfected the process.

Stay tuned, things are moving along.

Thank you John.We are eager to see an improvement 

I know it's been a long time coming, I finally got back to it.  I'm trying to sort out all the potential production issues so I'll be ready when I open the spigot.

👍

Thanks for all of your time and energy getting this project ready to ship.

I'll second that! Hope you are finally recovering from the move and getting settled in your new home!  

We're still here and we want them. Beside, we're used to waiting, the way the train manufacturers work.

John

Could you please add my name to your list for a TMCC signal booster.  My email address is jaws51@embarqmail.com

Thanks,

Joe

You're added Joe.

Once I get the SMT prototype boards back, I'll stick one together and do a test to make sure changing to SMT didn't break something, after testing the prototype, we'll get the process underway.

John,

Could you add me to the list for the TMCC signal booster.

Thanks,

Mike

Email address  is in my profile.

Hello John

I would also like to purchase one please.

Thanks

John

You folks are added to the list, watch your email for status updates.

Just double checking John, I'm pretty sure I'm on your list. I do want one as a backup. Thanks.

Yep Elliot, you're on the list.

Hello John,

Could you please confirm that I am also on the list for one.   Thanks.

Nick 

Yep, gotcha' you.

I thought it might be nice to post the preliminary documentation for the TMCC buffer since I'm getting closer to turning it loose.  This will give you a good idea of what you'd be getting as well as the complexity (or lack of complexity) to connect and use the buffer.

DM TMCC Buffer Documentation.pdf

Obviously, any questions or comments are welcome.

Incredible  I don't how you come up with this stuff.

I should have listened more carefully in my EE classes.

Dale Manquen did all the heavy lifting on this one, he designed it and built a couple of prototypes.  I was working with him and my end was to be creating a product that we could duplicate in some quantity.  Sadly, he was gone before we could get it into production, but I decided to forge ahead anyway and complete what we started.  What you see is Dale's smarts and my limited skills at laying out boards and cutting holes in plastic cases.

please add my name to the list of those who want one. regards, Paul Horgan

You're on the list Paul.

Is there any criteria or rules-of-thumb that say one should add a signal booster tp a layout?  For example, layout overall dimensions, total track footage, length of longest loop, star wiring, number of power supplies, etc.

Jan

Does this affect both the track and earth ground portions of the signal?

Jan posted:

Is there any criteria or rules-of-thumb that say one should add a signal booster tp a layout?  For example, layout overall dimensions, total track footage, length of longest loop, star wiring, number of power supplies, etc.

The only "rule of thumb" is if you're having signal issues and have tried the conventional fixes of adding ground wires, etc.

MartyE posted:

Does this affect both the track and earth ground portions of the signal?

Well, by definition it would affect both sides of the signal as the signal is simply the voltage differential between the earth ground and track signal.  If you check the DM TMCC Buffer Documentation.pdf document I posted previously, you will find a schematic of the buffer circuitry.  You can see that the boosted signal comes directly off the output buffer, and earth ground is tied to a ground reference point internally.  It may not be obvious regarding the ground as it's connected to a virtual ground point that is centered on the 24VDC input power.

Thanks John.  That makes sense.  Sometimes we overlook the obvious.

Marty, sometimes I miss the obvious!

Hi John.     Please put me on the list for 2.  Thanks for all the work on this project!

Art.            katy409@yahoo.com

I'll add you to the list Art.