Hi, its been now a while since I've added more modules for my servo turnouts to be controlled via different electronic modules.

a.) servo motor with metal gears (ESU)
b.) switch pilot servo module (ESU)
c.) home made opto coupler module consists of 8 individual optocouplers for 4 servo motors. one side of the opto coupler = 5 volt DC the other side of the opto coupler = 18 Volt AC
d.) home made braking module

the way the whole mechanism works is as follow:
1.) reflective opto couplers are placed between sleepers of a K-track, they are activated by anything that goes over them up to 8mm anything above this height the opto coupler will not respond.
the opto coupler is fed by 18 Volt AC and its output is 18 Volt DC, these 2 wires go to the braking module and activate 2 relays.
on the other side is the ESU switch pilot servo module and there are 4 servo motors attached to it or up to 4 can be added.
to activate the servo motors there are 8 pins designed (5 Volt DC = common wire) to activate them via switches (not part of the switch pilot servo module.
so what I've done is add connectors to these pins and designed another opto coupler module whereas the 5 Volt DC come in from one side and 18 Volt AC the other side.
so everytime the opto coupler between the tracks gets activated the servo motors starting moving and the turnout is either turning left or right depending which wire is connected and this occurs when 2 braking modules are used = 2 track operation) 3 or 4 track operation will increase the number of turnouts and this will increase the numbers of braking modules.
the reflective opto couplers between the sleepers have to be placed in such a position when the train enters the siding the last carriage has to go beyond the turnout so there is no derailing.

this system has been installed on other locations on the layout and will be part of an automatic running system whereas 1 train enters the siding or platform track stops, activated the reflective opt coupler and sets the next track to green and at the same time changes the turnout direction, when the next train arrives it stops and does the same routine again.
the turnouts themselves can be manually operated via a track plan diagram on the ECoS and also show the direction the turnout is.






here you can see 8 blue wires coming off the opto coupler module, each wire is designated for the left or right direction of a turnout , as the switch pilot servo module can accommodate 4 servo motor units, for each unit there are 2 options = left or right turn.







the braking modules shows 1 of the wires from the opto coupler module is attached to the socket (green light = activates track power) as the third connection point of the 3 pin connector socket is dedicated for the (red light = track power is de-activated)

one unit is missing and this is the reflective opto coupler which connects into the 1st (green) or 3rd pin (red) of the 3 pin socket.



further down the connection of all modules there will be an extra one for signals and this unit will be able to change lights from red to green or visa versa in a prototypical version.

some statistics: there will be about 50 braking modules, so far 27 ESU switchpilot sevo modules, 27 opto coupler modules, 108 ESU servo motors, 60 reflective opto couplers

hopefully by the end of the week we will be able to operate the outside track consisting of 3 stations, 2 of them with 3 track sidings and the 3rd one with a 2 track siding.

the operating sequence will be as follow:

1 siding with 3 tracks will be fully occupied whereas the other 2 will have 1 track free. one could increase the amount of trains by having all station tracks full and having trains between stations also running but this could cause some disasters if nay thing happens to 1 train it would have a domino effect on all the other trains unless its computer controlled and any misshape would be preventing any disaster.. e.g uncoupling, etc etc.

with 4 main lines it gives us a total of at least 14 trains running simultaneously with a total amount of 26 different train compositions, the whole layout track system can or could support 42 trains.

John