I'm looking for a grade crossing detection unit which will activate lights, bell and gates. I had a very old unit made by Roanoke Electronics which worked great but they have been out of business for years. Any suggestions. Optical detection would be great.
Grade crossing bell/gates/flasher detection
- Thread starter espee
- Start date
I did have an infared detector system I built. It was based loosely on an article in MR. I added a delay curciut that kept the gates down for a short time in case the train was shorter than the distance between the 2 detectors.
This looks like a good system.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/GC04.html
This looks like a good system.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/GC04.html
Thats a really cool idea. Not so sureI'd actually be able to make that circuit board myself though
look under ho scale thred and topic infered grade crossings there was some talk about it there if that helps
Go to www.walthers.com and then click on advanced search. Then type in grade crossing detection unit into the keywords box.
3-track crossing protection
Espee,
I recently installed a 3 track crossing protection system made with Circuitry by " Logic Rails Technologies " . It operates absolutely prototypical. The people at Logic Rail were a great help by designing the photo cell schematics to produce proper operation for my situation which was quite involved. Three tracks diverging to two tracks, a double crossover, then another diverging track. It works great ! One circuit runs about $ 40 and includes the photocells needed to protect a single track ! You need to provide your own gates or flashers of which many are available. I even included a sound (bell) module which is triggered by their ( GCP )circuitry. I've got several dollars invested in the 3-track Protection Setup but Alas, Retired and Luckily I can finally afford to make these improvements to my long-time layout ! Let me know if I can be of further assistance ! Joe :thumb:
Espee,
I recently installed a 3 track crossing protection system made with Circuitry by " Logic Rails Technologies " . It operates absolutely prototypical. The people at Logic Rail were a great help by designing the photo cell schematics to produce proper operation for my situation which was quite involved. Three tracks diverging to two tracks, a double crossover, then another diverging track. It works great ! One circuit runs about $ 40 and includes the photocells needed to protect a single track ! You need to provide your own gates or flashers of which many are available. I even included a sound (bell) module which is triggered by their ( GCP )circuitry. I've got several dollars invested in the 3-track Protection Setup but Alas, Retired and Luckily I can finally afford to make these improvements to my long-time layout ! Let me know if I can be of further assistance ! Joe :thumb:Many thanks to all of you. Straight-track seems to have the best solution but at $40 for the detection unit and another $30 for the bell circuit plus flasher lights, crossing gates and gate actuation mechanism I'm probably looking at well over $100 per grade crossing. With the plan to have several protected crossings it gets cost prohibitive .......like $400 for 3 crossings. I was hoping someone would make something like the old Roanoke system......detection, drivers and bell circuit for about $25.....and that was 20 years ago....long before todays great integrated circuit technology. Walthers has a Train-Tronics unit that might work but I can't find much about it and I don't believe they have a website. I guess I'll have to keep looking.
kf4jqd
Active Member
Electronics
I have baught senors from here: http://www.tchtechnology.com/ TCH Techmologies. He is expensive and easy to use!:thumb:
Andy
I have baught senors from here: http://www.tchtechnology.com/ TCH Techmologies. He is expensive and easy to use!:thumb:
Andy
Thanks for that link Andy. I think you mean "inexpensive" don't you?kf4jqd said:I have baught senors from here: http://www.tchtechnology.com/ TCH Techmologies. He is expensive and easy to use!:thumb:
Andy
Those prices seem reasonable. :thumb:kf4jqd
Active Member
I was half asleep EZdays when I wrote that! I hope it works out well. And he is CHEAP!:thumb:
Andy
I hope it works out well. And he is CHEAP!:thumb: Andy