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Offline Dr. Tom's Kid  
#1 Posted : 24 May 2017 19:17:38(UTC)
Dr. Tom's Kid

United States   
Joined: 18/01/2016(UTC)
Posts: 25
Location: Utah, Orem
My dad was doing something with these but I'm not sure what. They were in a box marked "Digital Flat Cars". They light up at certain points of the track. They have shoes. Could they maybe be for measuring voltage or polarity? I'm not sure of age. The box (an old M track box) was pretty beat up.

Thanks -- Laurie

IMG_7210.jpgIMG_7207.jpg
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Offline hwestl  
#2 Posted : 24 May 2017 22:24:28(UTC)
hwestl

Sweden   
Joined: 13/10/2007(UTC)
Posts: 82
Location: Ystad, Sweden
I would guess that they are more advanced than just checking voltage or polarity. Looks like the top one is something like a K83. So if you set the disp-switches correctly you could get 1 of the 4 leds to light up corresponding to the button on the Keyboard simulating (or for real) accessing a switch/signal. And I guess the bottom one is similair to a loc-decoder. 16 leds could be speed 0 - 15.
But I'm only guessing Cool

Regards
Håkan
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Offline kiwiAlan  
#3 Posted : 26 May 2017 22:41:54(UTC)
kiwiAlan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 23/07/2014(UTC)
Posts: 8,082
Location: ENGLAND, Didcot
Originally Posted by: hwestl Go to Quoted Post
I would guess that they are more advanced than just checking voltage or polarity. Looks like the top one is something like a K83. So if you set the disp-switches correctly you could get 1 of the 4 leds to light up corresponding to the button on the Keyboard simulating (or for real) accessing a switch/signal. And I guess the bottom one is similair to a loc-decoder. 16 leds could be speed 0 - 15.
But I'm only guessing Cool

Regards
Håkan


My guesses would be similar. They are obviously purpose built decoders, and i would suspect they are to help with debugging problems or demonstrating how digital works.

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Offline Markus Schild  
#4 Posted : 27 May 2017 07:49:52(UTC)
Markus Schild

Germany   
Joined: 14/01/2006(UTC)
Posts: 1,802
Location: Wurttemberg
Hi Laurie,

I would just test what happens when you put the cars on a digital rail and try the adress on a 6021.

Regards

Markus
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Offline analogmike  
#5 Posted : 27 May 2017 10:57:09(UTC)
analogmike

United States   
Joined: 02/08/2014(UTC)
Posts: 737
Location: NEW JERSEY, USA
They need Preiserlings with sledge hammers. BigGrin
Mikey
I love the smell of smoke fluid in the morning .
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Offline clapcott  
#6 Posted : 28 May 2017 01:11:34(UTC)
clapcott

New Zealand   
Joined: 12/12/2005(UTC)
Posts: 2,433
Location: Wellington, New_Zealand
I would say they are just (pretty old) diagnostic tools for representing visually the 1) Functions? and 2)Speed command for a particular locomotive address.

I am unclear on why 3 decoder modules are needed on the bigger board, or why it would not include F0.

The smaller board has the signature labeling of 1,0,2....... 15 , which would appear to reflects the way the MM OLD format was use with speed command "1" meaning reverse. and speed commands 2-15 translating to speed steps 1-14.

The lack of (obvious) "resister per LED" would point to only expecting one LED on at a time.

When Motorola New came along these would have become defunct. (I do not see the hardware logic to handle the translation tables)

In the late 80's,early 90's when this type of development was being toyed with, using the actual MC1402* chipset would be logical. But as the 6021 and Motorola New appeared, this would have then been done more efficiently and effectively with a PIC to account for the versatility needed (and save space).

Comment:
The value (I wont offer a price) would be in recovery of the MC14027 ICs, which are hard to come by.
for about 5$ of additional basic electronics you could have yourself a k83.

Edited by user 28 May 2017 12:16:07(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Peter
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Offline kiwiAlan  
#7 Posted : 28 May 2017 13:34:03(UTC)
kiwiAlan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 23/07/2014(UTC)
Posts: 8,082
Location: ENGLAND, Didcot
Originally Posted by: clapcott Go to Quoted Post

When Motorola New came along these would have become defunct. (I do not see the hardware logic to handle the translation tables)

In the late 80's,early 90's when this type of development was being toyed with, using the actual MC1402* chipset would be logical. But as the 6021 and Motorola New appeared, this would have then been done more efficiently and effectively with a PIC to account for the versatility needed (and save space).

Comment:
The value (I wont offer a price) would be in recovery of the MC14027 ICs, which are hard to come by.
for about 5$ of additional basic electronics you could have yourself a k83.


The MC14027 chips will ignore the extra functions available in the Motorola New format as the coding of the additional functions of the data stream violates the MC14027 format. The only way to decode these is with a programmed chip such as a microprocessor or FPGA, or, as Marklin did, with a specially designed chip.
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