The basics

As an introduction, I'm going to explain the basics (already written somewhere else if the forum)...

For not to rewrite things that are already explained, I will put some links to some of the Rocrail wiki pages. I've quickly read the doc of TC, and the main concepts are the same...Only the way they are implemented may differ...

The main concept of an automated railroad model is what is called a "block". Only one loco/train may be in a block at a given time.
See there: http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=block-en

For a software to know if a block is occupied or free, you need to have (at least 1) "sensor"(s) associated to each block. There are many kind of sensors. The most classic sensor is an input line of a S88/V5217/LDT equivalent. This input line is connected to a piece of track which is able to tell "there is an axle on this sensitive piece of track" or "there is nothing on this sensitive piece of track". For instance, you put a couple of K-tracks 2295 (please adapt for M or C-Tracks), insert a wire between where the rails are cut, connect this wire to one input line of a S88, provides "O" and "B" on the whole set of rails, put a wagon between the 2 K2295, and on the CS2, the icon representing the sensor connected to the S88 input changes its color...That means there is "something" between the 2 pieces of K2295. This is the basic concept to provide feedback to a CS2, and thru the ethernet cable and IP addresses of the CS2 and your PC, to a software installed on the PC.
See concept on sensor: http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=sensor-en

But there is an other important concept, which is a "route". A route is a segment of a travel which connects 2 blocks together. Generally, a route is oriented. For instance if you have 2 consecutive blocks "A" and "B" the route "AtoB" is different from "BtoA", even if the same blocks are used by these routes. The difference is the direction the train/loco may take.
Note: The route defined above is specific to Rocrail. Other software may use a different definition for a route...

With these 3 concepts: blocks, sensors and routes, you know the essential of automating a railroad model layout.

Additional useful bits:
-Does a block need to have a signal ?
In the real "train" life, of course YES. The lights of the signal of a block "B" are triggered by the occupancy of bloc "B+1" and "B+2". When a train leaves block "B" (and immediately enters block "B+1") the signal of block "B" is set to red. When a train leaves block "B+1" (and enters block "B+2"), the signal of block "B+1" is set to red, and the signal of block "B" is set to yellow or green (depending of the length of the block)...and so on...To summarize, a block "B+1" drives the logic of the block BEHIND it, i.e. block "B". For a train to be able to leave a block, the next block MUST BE free (i.e. empty). For increased security, sometimes two blocks ahead must be free.

There are also two logic available with blocks: closed blocks (by defaults all signals are red, and set to yellow or green when needed) and opened blocks (by default all signals are green, and set to yellow/red when needed).

Back to the model railroad, a signal is not mandatory at the end of a block, because it is the software which will decide to stop/slow down the loco or let it go, depending of the occupation of the next block. But for realism, it is advised to put a signal; it is not useful (in my opinion) the signal cut the power...Let the software do its job...
With Rocrail, the block logic is the "closed blocks" logic. With other software it depends on the choice of the designer...

-What about the turnouts ? All the turnouts implied in an automated driven layout MUST BE driven automatically for the routes to be correctly set, generally by K83 compatible devices, each turnout/motor having a different address.

-What about the locos ? All the locos you wish to drive with the software (either in manual or automatic mode), must be Digital (i.e have a decoder) and "registered" in the software. If you have a loco with MM protocol, then you have to provide at least the MM address when registering the loco, or the DCC address with a DCC decoder, or some kind of special info when a MFX decoder... After that, when initializing the automatic mode, you put each loco involved in the automatic traffic in a distinct block, you tell the software that loco "X" is in block "B1", loco "Y" is in block "B2"...etc. Then you are ready to start the "auto" mode. The software knows the initial place of each/loco train, and having occupancy feedback from each blocks provided by the associated sensors, it is able to determine possible routes for the various locos and fully drive them...

One important thing to remember: If you have "N" blocks in your layout, you'll be able to drive automatically only "N-1" locos (a free block ahead is mandatory for a train to leave a block).

For a good understanding of these concepts, I suggest you to setup a simple "squared oval" layout (without any turnout and signal) on a workbench, put a block on each side of the oval with one or two sensors in each block, register 3 locos, get a software of your choice, and try some automatic mode with 1, then 2, then 3 locos together...have fun...and let your imagination flows...

It's better to try on a workbench before going to modify your planned or existing layout, especially if you don't have any experience on automated railroad (or find a friend which already knows automating and allows you some testing). Don't be too hurried ! In case you make mistakes, you'll have a lot of work to redo you nice layout, so try to avoid it by taking the necessary time to think...

The things you'll have to decide in the future for your final layout are:

-Where do i put the blocks ?
-If very long straight lines, how many blocks in these long lines ? Beware! More blocks allow more trains at the same time, but if blocks are too short, trains will always start and stop too quickly...
-how many sensors per block ? (in my opinion, two is a good choice, but it depends on how the software manage the blocks)
-signal at block exit ?
-facility for the software to mix manual and automatic traffic ? (I must admit I still need to investigate this point with Rocrail...)

Hope you'll find my writings interesting...

One last point: I don't work in a railroad company, I'm only a guy which loves trains since 45 years, and sometimes I may be wrong compared to the trains in the real life. But for model railroading, most of what I'm saying is certainly correct.

Have fun!
Cheers
fabrice

Edited by user 10 August 2014 08:20:59(UTC)  | Reason: precision on route

A very quick answer:
1. To connect a computer to the CS2, use a RJ45 cross cable and plug it on one end to the network output of your computer, and on the other end to the network plug of the CS2... But it's not enough, you need to set addresses (compatible IP addresses) both on your computer and on the CS2.
2. Yes, in fact that's what I did. Use 2 pieces of 2201 K track, and on each piece of track, replace on one side only the metallic rail joiner by a SL11 PECO insulating rail joiner. Very easy to do. Then when connecting the 2 pieces of track together, you have 90mm length of rail insulated on one side. You have only to use a connector (ref 7500) on this insulated section later to connect to one S88 input.

I'll post a more complete answer later, especially about connecting the CS2 and a computer because using a LAN switch (or Wi-fi router) is better, but I need to do some drawings, and also explain you the basics of IP addressing.

Cheers
Fabrice

IP addresses: A brief introduction (IPV4 only)

An IP address is like a postal address: It allows you to receive messages from the world, and when you want to send somebody a letter, you write on the envelope the destination address.
Computers use the same paradigm, and a computer address is called an IP (Internet Protocol) address. In real it's a bit more complicated but for basic explanation, we stay with this initial metaphor.

Today, there are two versions of IP addressing:
-The oldest one called IPV4, coded with 32 bits, allowing around 4.3 billion addresses. This protocol is the widest in use, even if it is completely saturated today (no more free IPV4 addresses available)
-The new one called IPV6, coded with 128 bits, allowing a much much larger number of addresses (2 to the power of 128)

Most modern computers allow to manage at least IPV4, and for not too old versions of computer Operating Systems, also IPV6; Both can be active at the same time.

The CS2 uses an IPV4 address scheme, and for a computer to be able to communicate with the CS2, they both need to have the same kind of addresses i.e. IPV4

An IPV4 address is composed of 4 bytes : The common notation is A.B.C.D.
Each letter represents a number. The range of the numbers is the same for each letter, i.e. between 0 and 255 inclusive.
Example : The "google-public-dns-a.google.com" DNS server has IPV4 address 8.8.8.8

Among the 4.3 billion addresses, some are reserved for special use.
If you have many computers in your company for various purposes, most of them are not directly reachable from the Internet, even if they can browse the Web.

All these hidden computers from the Internet are connected together thru a Hi-speed LAN (Local Area Network) - a LAN may be very large, allowing thousands of computers -, and some special computers inside the LAN plays the role of gateways, allowing access to (and sometimes from) the Internet.

IPV4 protocol has some reserved addresses, usable only for LAN addressing. These addresses range are :
10.*.*.*
172.16.*.* to 172.31.*.*
192.168.*.*
* means any value between 0 and 255. Note: To avoid some specials case which may generate trouble, do not use the numbers 0 and 255, so stay with 1 to 254 inclusive.

The last concept to know a bit about is the concept of subnetwork: a subnetwork is a set of computers which may communicate directly to each other, without passing thru special devices called routers.

For example, 192.168.10.* is a subnetwork which may be composed of up to 254 computers able to communicate directly; 192.168.33.* is another one, etc... (again * means a value between 1 and 254)

At your home, if you have more than one computer and you want them to be able to communicate with each other or share some common resources (some files for instances), then to ease the things, it is preferable they share the same subnetwork address. This is where the "network mask" comes (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnetwork).

Let's have a middle sized example, with 3 computers, and ADSL modem, an IP printer and the CS2:

1) I choose the subnetwork of my home LAN, for instance 192.168.23.*. Once I have chosen it, all LAN addresses must start with this value, and you may choose from 1 to 254 as the last number (number D) for the various computers connected to the LAN.
2) My own computer has address 192.168.23.5; the netmask is 255.255.255.0;
3) My son's computer has address 192.168.23.12; the netmask is 255.255.255.0;
4) My wife's computer has address 192.168.23.18; the netmask is 255.255.255.0;
5) the IP printer has address 192.168.23.100; the netmask is 255.255.255.0;
6) the ADSL modem has two addresses, one WAN (Wide Area Network = Internet) address given by my ADSL provider, for instance 200.200.100.12 and generally a special value for the mask (255.255.255.255), and a LAN address with the same subnetwork as 1), for instance 192.168.23.2 and the netmask 255.255.255.0
7) for the CS2 to be able to communicate with 2), the CS2 must have an unused address in the 192.168.23 subnetwork, let's say 192.168.23.40, and its network mask equals to 255.255.255.0 (the English translation in the CS2 for the network mask is called "IP Network template"). For the IP gateway of the CS2, either enter the modem LAN address or the address of the calling computer 2), and for the DNS address, enter the DNS address given by your Internet provider.

In summary:
-Choose a subnetwork address 192.168.C with "C" between 1 and 254, and stay with it
-Assign the final part of the IP address (D number) between 1 and 254. Please note that all computers must have a different "D" value.
-Use a network mask equals to 255.255.255.0
-Test the communication between your computer and the CS2 by issuing the command "ping <CS2_Address>" where <CS2_Address> is the value set at step 7 above.

Feel free to amend, add, correct if mistakes, provide better examples, etc...

Cheers
Fabrice

Edited by user 08 May 2014 22:36:50(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

[Hi Fabrice:

It's a very interesting technique that will simplify greatly the insulation process. I have ordered a few of those joiners to try them. The traditional method (Dremel or other) is fine, but has a big disadvantage: as in reality, the tracks extend and contract depending on the temperature and the humidity. I had recently a few problem with two blocks due to this phenomenon. When building those blocks, the space between the two cut segments was enough to avoid any ground contact, but with time, the space was reduced to almost nothing, allowing ground current to pass through. I have found you can avoid that by using plumber's putty. You insert a very small amount of this putty just after the cut and shape it to the size of the track. After a few days, the compound is dry enough to be painted. I have attached a PDF copy of an article showing the technique I have used so far. I prefer personally solder directly to the track the cable going to the S88. It's less visible than the Marklin 7500 ground terminal clip, but the soldering may be difficult and can become loose after some time.

Pierre

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your useful comments on using a Wifi router.

Back to your question about setting signals (and semaphores) with Rocrail, it's sometimes a complex topic I don't completely master, and the doc in the wiki would need in my opinion more examples.

Fortunately, in the step-by-step guide ( http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=stepbystep-en ) , section 6.3.2, you have examples showing how to declare semaphores. Stay without using patterns because you may get confused -use default, use PADA addressing (i.e. don't fill address field, only fill port field) it's more simple.

• For semaphore with 2 aspects (7039, 7040, 7042 or Viessmann equivalent) see example #1 and #2. Check the "switch" option, and if needed the "invert" option.
  
• For semaphore with 3 aspects (7041 or Viessmann equivalent) see example #3

Note: of course, each semaphore must be digitally controlled, I mean plugged in a K83 device or Viessmann equivalent...

About pulse time duration for the signals/semaphores in Rocrail, I think there is no dedicated parameter ???, or at least I didn't find it !
My recommendation is to set the necessary pulse time duration inside the CS2.

When running in automatic mode, you may also adjust the "semaphore time" parameter to prevent the loco starting immediately when the semaphore goes to Green or Yellow; (see http://wiki.rocrail.net/...d=rocrailini-automode-en )

Hope that helps...

Cheers
Fabrice

This page : http://wiki.rocrail.net/...d=rocrailini-automode-en shows the default value used when switching a turnout in auto mode.

The small "note" get me a bit confused, especially the "hardware" word... Is the CS2 a "hardware" command station

About each pulse time specific for each turnout, my assumption is:
-if not 0, then this duration is used (running either auto or manual mode)
-if 0, then either the CS2 pulse duration is used if running in manual mode, or the general "switch time" parameter is used in auto mode

I'll try to post a question in Rocrail forum to get the precise answer on this issue...

Cheers
Fabrice

Hi Fabrice, all,

This automatic train control is very interesting. I am a totally newbie with these things, but I would like to have a little bit automatisation on my layout. I'm not going to modify my whole existing layout though. I would like to try this for one track section where there are two 94,2 mm straight C-tracks in the ends near turnouts. So if I have understood right I could replace these normal Märklin 24094 straight 94,2 mm tracks with Märklin 24995 contact tracks?

At the moment I have routes configured in my CS2. These routes control my turnouts, but not any signals and don't cut power on any track sections.

So are these 24995 the right tracks to use with C-tracks? And then I need one S88, right? I would want only very simple setup. When a train comes from direction A or direction B on this track section between these two contact tracks 24995, it would "tell" my CS2 that this block is occupied and then turn my mainline turnouts to avoid any trains to run to this track section / block. If I have understood right this kind of "simple setup" is possible without any computers or computer programs? Only CS2, contact tracks and S88 needed. I have my layout power feeding wires in eight places and two of them are on this track section which I would like to be "detected" for CS2 to be occupied or free. So no automatic power cut off needed and I would like to still run my trains manually.

There is one thing that can cause this kind of setup a bit difficult to use. As I sometimes just run my trains around the two mainlines going side by side of each other and this "block" is on the outer mainline it can cause some problems if this "block mode" can't be set on/off when wanted. If I run my trains around my layout manually and there are two or more trains on the outer mainline and some trains on the inner mainline running at the same time, then when one train just runs on this "block" it would cause always my outer mainline turnouts to switch and cause the other train on the outer mainline to run then on the inner mainline and collide with the other train(s)...

So some further detection is needed or this mode put on and off manually. Is this kind of setup easy to do with CS2 routes only?

I'm sorry to ask these questions here, but I thought I would get some advices here from the pros .

Regards,
Janne

Hi Fabrice,

Thanks for answer. It seems like if I need to install more contact tracks for train detection in the other places too I will not do this then. It gets too complicated. But if it is possible to do this with routes, two contact tracks and one S88 then I will do it and take away those two power feeder wires from that track section / block. One more question: How do I get power feeded to this block?

If I run a train on this outer mainline and the first contact track section detects the track block as occupied and S88 sends command to CS2 to switch the turnouts, it would be best to first switch only the turnout on the other side of this block and not the one where from the train comes as otherwise the rolling stock would derail... I think the whole layout should be built differently to be able to use these S88 and contact track sections like they should be used. Full computer control is then again a different story. The track section lenght between the two 24995 contact tracks would be around 3 meters and after them there is turnout on each side.

Maybe this is "mission impossible" and I will then just stay in using routes to switch my turnouts like at the moment without any train detection by contact tracks and routes controlled according to this.

Regards,
Janne

Hi Janne

I think what you would like to do can be done in the route section of the CS2. I fiddled a short while with setting up some routes in CS2 before deciding to go all the way with computer control and am now finally finishing putting in my 'new' contact tracks.

You can use a contact track to trigger an occupancy event in the CS2 which can than be programmed to initiate a route in the CS2.

I decided to change to complete software control based on Fabrice and Lasse input and the possibility of using the computer to automatically slow down and stopping the individual trains without the need to have brake modules or dead power sections/blocks.

I will attach a pdf of a presentation I got somewhere (maybe in this forum ) of how to use M contact tracks in a shadow yard with the CS.

Laxman

Hi Laxman,

I'm glad you find this thread useful, even if it's the very beginning

The answers:

1) difference between a straight RJ45 and a crossover RJ45: see http://www.cablesplususa.com/rj45-utp-guide.php
To summarize TX (transmit) at one end is connected to RX (receive) at the other end and vice versa, in case of crossover.
In case of straight, TX is connected to TX and RX to RX.

Crossover cables are used when connecting directly 2 PCs together, without using a hub or switch or router (The 1st one speaks - transmits- to the 2nd one which is listening -receiving).
When using a hub/switch/router, generally straight cables are used. Most recent version of these devices have a feature allowing auto detection of the cable type, and automatic appropriate settings inside the switch. That's the reason why today most RJ45 cables are "straight" -easier to build- as it doesn't matter.

2) if IP address are not automatically assigned by a dhcp server, then you have to set them manually:
-On your PC, use the network card properties to assign the IP, the mask, and the gateway if needed
-On the CS2, do the same thing: you can either use manually assigned ip address or dhcp assigned address

Don't forget when assigning manually IP adresses, to assign IP on the same subnet and a compatible mask - see my post above about IPV4 addresses

3) Yes. In fact your PC has 2 network devices (I suppose, but it's very probable): The wired one which use a cable, and the other one which use the wireless card/chip.

Cheers
Fabrice

Chook

That would be great.

I have plenty of Cat 5 cable if thats what I need.

I also should have some RJ45 connectors lying around and a crimper (if I can remember where I used it last )

Thanks

Laxman

Hi Laxman,

It doesn't matter because the two RJ45 plugs are both "males". Look at this link, and you will see that those crossover cables are pretty inexpensive and come in different quality and length: http://www.newegg.com/Pr...&N=-1&isNodeId=1

You're right: the CS2 is a small computer with dedicated functions for train management. I am not sure about the CS, but the OS (operating system) of the ESU Ecos is Linux. As Fabrice said, you have to configure "manually" the IP address for both your computer and the CS2. Please refer to his post #6 for more information. It's not difficult to do, but it might be a bit tricky depending on your computer's configuration and your operation system (windows, Mac, Linux, etc.). Please let us know if you have any problem, and we will guide you step by step in this process.

Regards,

Pierre

Rocrail & CS2 version 3.6.2

Hi all,
For users of Rocrail, if after an update of the CS2 to version 3.6.2 you encounter some problems reading S88 feedback,
see there : http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=cs2:cs2-en

In summary, disable model-time clock.

My CS2 has been updated to 3.6.2, and the model-time clock is off. All S88 feedback sensors run correctly.

Cheers
Fabrice

Hi Laxman,

I'm glad you have successfully connected your computer to the CS2 .

You've said in point 3) that your IP would change from time to time, due to your wireless network. That's a bit strange, and it may be really annoying if 2 computers must exchange data for a while.

I don't know what kind of DHCP server is embedded in your wireless router, but I'd like to tell you 2 things:

1) Generally, a dhcp address has a "lease time". When this lease time expires, the IP address is renewed if the computer is connected. Normal dhcp servers should provide the same address as before. If not, try to look for the lease time parameter, and increase it to for instance 24 hours (beware, the value is sometimes shown in seconds)

2) On "advanced" dhcp servers, it is possible to assign some kind of fixed address to a computer. More precisely, a permanent association may be done between the MAC address of the network chip (wired or wireless) and an IP address. Try to look is such a feature is available on your wireless router. A MAC address - 48 bits wide - is the physical address of the network chip (it's not an IP address; more than one IP address can be associated to a MAC address, but it's advanced networking computing and out of topic here). A MAC address is generally shown as xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx where x between 0 and 9 inclusive and A to F inclusive - (it's hexadecimal representation).
A MAC address example : 6C:F0:49:E1:8F:46
Each network chip throughout the world has a different MAC address, until so far...

HTH

Cheers
Fabrice

Hello Mike,

The definitive way to get rid of these address changes would be to use a name server (DNS) coupled with a DHCP server, and call your CS2 by its name and not its IP address... But I'm afraid most of embedded dhcp server in wireless routers don't provide such a feature...

The other way is to use fixed addresses (either manually assigned in the traditional way, or pseudo-fixed inside the dhcp as I described it my previous post in 2)).

When you run a software on a PC which drives your CS2, both must have stable IP addresses... If not, a major crash with many locos involved may occur on the layout, which is not acceptable (This hobby is too expensive for that, at least for me...)

Cheers
Fabrice

Laxman,

Can you provide me the exact reference of your Apple Time machine (there are many docs on Apple support site, and I'd like to download the "good" handbook) ?

If this device provides CLASS A (10.*.*.*) ranges of dhcp addresses, I'd like to see if you can shrink the range of dhcp IP addresses provided, just to put a fixed address on the CS2 compatible with the 10.*.*.* range...

Cheers
Fabrice

Hi Fabrice and all

This is my first post in this forum...

Frist of all, congratulations Fabrice, I've seen the pictures of your work and its really quite impressive!! Also the way you explain things here is very helpful.

I have started to experiment a bit with automatization, and finally managed to understand how to isolate blocks, and do some routes with my CS2. I use C-Tracks, but instead of using contact tracks I am doing the isolation by means of cutting the contact of one of the tracks, therefore I can use any piece of railtrack I need...

The question I have now, for anyone who can help is the following:

I want to put an entrance signal before a turnout that leads to two tracks of the station. Lets call track A and track B.

I already know how to detect occupation on both tracks
I also know how to make the light go green or red depending on the occupation on the track. (using routes in the CS2)
But the problem now is that I can only make this work "individually" (hope I can make myself clear), so I have to put one signal for each track, after the turnout.... this will only help if I have a train entering the station and the track is ocuppied, then it will stop to avoid a crash...
But what I am trying to do (and CAN'T!!!) is the following:

I want to put only ONE entrance signal, before the turnout, and depending on the direction of the turnout make this signal respond. To explain myself:
- If the turnout is set for track A, and track A is ocuppied, then the signal is red. If the track is free then the signal is green (or white in this case).
- If the turnout is set for track B, and track B is occupied, then the signal is red. If the track is free then the signal is green
It seems that I don´t know how to launch a route depending on the turnout direction (this is supposed to be the condition), which I think is what I need to do...

In this way I can set the block before the turnout, and have only one entrance signal.

I am using s88 module, but I don't understand how to program this in the CS2...

Any help will be appreciated!!

Hi Fabrice, and thank you for your clear explanation..

It seems I still need to understand better how signals and blocks work. I still need to understand how to prevent a train to enter a station if its occupied by another train, but to stop before the turnout... and if the other side of the turnout is free, then letting that train come into that track.....

I downloaded itrain software, and it seems that there is a lot you can do with the software, so I need to study the whole thing...

Can you deepen a little on the explanation on the "entrance" signal? how the logic works?

Thank you very much again

Hi all,

As this place is dedicated to software control of a layout, I add here links to previous articles I wrote.

Warning: These articles are specific to Rocrail !

Turntable 7286 & Rocrail : Quick how-to
See here: https://www.marklin-user...ck-Howto.aspx#post337543

The second article speaks about complex "actions" (in Rocrail meaning). This article is of Advanced level, so if you don't master the basics and are not used to Rocrail, you may get lost...

Rocrail & actions: complex driving of railroad crossings
See here: https://www.marklin-user...rossings.aspx#post390239

Cheers
Fabrice

Hello Esteban,

Yes, you're right. There is no use, if you go to computer control, for the signal to cut the power. The consequence is all locos and coaches keep their light "on" when the loco stops in front of a signal, and it's much more pretty...

Extract from post #2:

Back to the model railroad, a signal is not mandatory at the end of a block, because it is the software which will decide to stop/slow down the loco or let it go, depending of the occupation of the next block. But for realism, it is advised to put a signal; it is not useful (in my opinion) the signal cut the power...Let the software do its job...


Cheers
Fabrice

Hi Laxman

I have been playing around with iTrain, and have finally understood the whole concept of the signals and blocks... (i think... )

Now I am ready to start building my layout after gathering all the necessary things

I have another question to ask:

Since you know I will be using contact tracks (doing the isolation by cutting the contact track).. but I am not sure of the following: Do I need to isolate the whole length of the block, or just where the "feedback" is going to be?. I have some blocks that will have 3 feedbacks (entry, brake and stop), but some others (the longest ones) that will have only one (because they are just rail track with no signals)...

I was reading (i think in this same post) that you cannot put "B" and "0" inside an isolated block, which leads me to this doubt, because my whole layout will be divided in blocks, and if I isolate all the individual blocks, then I wouldn't have anywhere to connect the power..... I don't know if I am making myself clear about this...

But on the other hand, I have thought that if I only isolate a part of the defined block, then when the train passes that part, the program will think the block is free....

Any clarification on this will be very appreciated

Best regards,
Esteban

Hi Esteban,

To complement the very clear Laxman's reply, a small drawing that may be useful in some cases...



I say "put an additional 0 feeder if length is >50cm"... This length is only an indication, not an absolute rule. It may also be useful if detection sections are done in curves...

Have a nice day
Fabrice

Budt what S88 decoder do i need to buy ?

Hello Fabrice/All,




I have tried to improve your diagram to have and extra s88 contact and include the diode trick for better power supply.
It is best to use occupancy sensoring rather than momentary contacts for more reliable operation.

See my tips page and look for the Diode trick article which also shows upgrading standard 6088 (s88) to the s88-N standard.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~.../pdf/the_diode_trick.pdf

Thanks Fabrice for creating this topic, great work.

Edited by user 02 May 2016 02:54:29(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Hello all,

I have used WinDigipet latest English version about two years. I have to say that this is good but expensive application. You can control your layout as muchs and as complicated as you wish.

My point is that from WinDigipet´s WEB-site you can find very valuable information for all questions conserning controlling Märklin layout with PC.
The only thing is that you have to register into site first, its free of charge.
Go to forum and use English version. I have found for instance WORKSHOP No. 11 very usefull.

If you register into site, you can download also WinDigipet English manual, which is huge, but in many cases usefull for users of other applications.

I do not want to advertise anything in particular, only to get more help fore you, so I hope you don´t mind this post.


Jukka