Uncoupler/unloader wiring

I have been fiddling with a program called Tiny Cad. It is free and not too bad after you get used to it. I don't quite get all the symbols though. If you find a better one please post and I will do the same.

Some folks use Paint and some use Power Point. Paint and I don't play well together and I have just recently tried Power Point and don't know how to use it. Going to give PP some more time though, it was also recommended by another forum member.

I use TinyCAD as well, here's an example of something done with it.  This is a wiring schematic for a BEEP I upgraded.

Thanks so much, I have got to get some track cleaned now, but will try this later today, once I get it right I will post the schematic for the switch.

thanks, I already downloaded the program, I was fascinated by Gunrunners lighting scheme. Puts a lot more action in the engine. Quite ingenious. Like it a lot. I was working on an led scheme for the O22 switches, but reached a stumbling block as to how to fill the big holes in the remote control. Benzes are not available at a reasonable price anymore.

Yeah, I understand, re not energizing the magnet. I did think about that, and concluded that the cars are going to be parked anyway on the track, so what difference does it make? I have some weird switches that I bet you  would like to have for that project, they are center off, momentary one way, and fixed the other. Let me know if you can use some like that.

The lanterns are available for around 75 cents last time I checked.  The easiest way is to find one of the LED replacements that has the lighting to the sides and just replace the bulb.

The controllers are another matter, I guess it depends on which ones you have.

The LED in the switch is not too bad of a problem, the lantern will cover up any construction ills.  The problem is how to fill the very large holes in the remote switch, that the big light bulbs stick thru. An LED as you know is less than 1/4 the size of the bulbs. I noticed a control I had from somewhere, that the factory glued a piece of black plastic over the holes and re-drilled for a smaller bezel. I am not really very neat when it comes to that kind of work. I tried to find LED mounting pieces but could not find any large enough. I am really close to this solution, but have run into this stumbling block. I even thought of black silicone, but that is kinda hokey.

 I figure I could supply an external 16 volt dc (laptop style) power supply that could potentially power up to 40 switches, if we can use led's. There are lots of those on the surplus market with really odd power connectors.

 I have 39 switches on my layout, and cannot believe how much juice all those little light bulbs take.

Up more your alley then mine Gunrunner, but once we get this perfected, doing the conversion for example an O22 switch over to the new style wireless programmable  controllers should be a snap, due to the dc switching. I have heard from a lot of guys who feel they are being held up for ransom to change everything over, ie track transformers etc, to accommodate the new systems. As said, more your field of expertise than mine, I am having enough problems just perfecting systems for cleaning track! 

It depends on what your goal for the switch controllers is how you'd approach it.

It would probably be easier to simply come up with your own replacement, it's just a toggle switch the LED's and a couple of resistors.  When you get a lot of switches in a layout, the old Lionel control start to take up a lot of panel space.

Another point is many people want the toggles in a panel that represents the layout.

excellent idea, I am glad I thought of it!

Can't I take a little credit?

ok, a little bit!

Thanks for the lead to Tiny Cad.  It's a great program and the price is right.

These tracks can, and should, be wired so that the magnet is not energized when Unloading is done.  The magnet can overheat if the unloading car must be energized for awhile, plus it adds to voltage drop.  I don't use controllers, so for dual purpose (uncouple-unload) tracks, I use a push button to uncouple and a momentary contact DPDT to unload.

When I get time, I'll make a TinyCad schematic and post it.

Do be aware that wiring differs between RCS and UCS tracks.

If this is important to you, what I would do (because I want to keep to a 4 wire cable and use the screws)I would isolate the coil from the 2 right hand control rails, eliminate the ground (outside rails) tap from pin no one, and then use pin no 1 to feed power to the coil. You will then need to add a ground lead from the transformer to the switch. This will still enable you to feed a track power connection to pin no 3.I bought some dpdt center off switches by mistake, that would be ideal for your setup. One side of the switch is momentary, the other non-momentary. If you like, you can have some for your layout, I don't think I would ever use them. 

 I really don't think we are in any danger of overheating the coils in the track for uncoupling, they seem to be pretty robust.  We buy a lot of these tracks, and as of yet, I have never had one where the coil was burnt out. I have had many where the red is discolored from heat, but they still work.

Hey Gunrunner!

I also liked the tiny cad, but do you know how I can save the drawings so I can insert them into a word doc? I also would like in some cases to make the drawings a little bigger.

I'm on the Outer Banks today, and can't check the way my layout is wired, but the attached schematic, drawn from memory, should do it.  Note that the switches can be replaced by an AIU, but you cannot have both AIU and switches.

[Edit: how do I get the schematic to appear in the post itself?]

You could print the Tiny Cad drawings to a pdf file then possibly use with Word? I was thinking Word would work with PDF's but not sure? Also I was thinking you could re-size the drawings in Tiny Cad, but don't recall how? Maybe GRJ will be along with assistance, looks like he knows how to use it a bit better than I do.

Yup that will doer very nicely done, how did you save the drawing to be able to use it. Whenever I try it will only save as a bit something or other.

Tin Man, I assume your question is to me.  I have Acrobat Pro installed on my computers, which enables me to print to Acrobat.  So in Tiny Cad, I select Adobe Acrobat as the printer and check the box to print all on one page. 

You can print to PDF, which will certainly work.

You can also do what I do.  I simply use my screen capture program to create a JPG from the screen image.  Since I have a 28" main monitor at 1920x1080, I get good resolution for the schematics in my JPG files.  It's simple, and you can directly insert them into any word processing program, post them here, etc.

You can also export as an image file directly from TinyCAD.

Ok, I will try to figure this out. Definitely not my field of expertise.

I forgot to mention that if you want a PDF, there are a number of free PDF printing solutions, no need to buy Acrobat Pro. 

CutePDF,  PDF Creator and many more.

Agreed.  I use Acrobat Pro for business, so I have it.

GRJ, how do you get the schematic to show in the post, rather than as an attachment?

GRJ, ok, so you had the schematic as a photo, rather than an Acrobat file.  The box you show only relates to video and pix.

Correct, you can't get a PDF to display in-line.

BullZip is another free pdf printer to add to the list. They also have one that prints to Word files and some other interesting items. However, not sure this print to Word would work with Tiny Cad? Might just be for text files, but I have never tried it. 

I'll endorse BullZip - it's great.

Lots of choices.

yup, I was really blown away!