If you remember, I previously made my own control board for my layout (or half of it anyway). Have a look here if you need to refresh your memory:
https://www.marklin-users.net/fo...ault.aspx?g=posts&t=6617

This board still works perfectly, but it was quite a bit of work to build it. So as the time has come where I would like another control board for the rest of my layout, I had the choice to make one the same way, or I could have a look at some of the commercial offerings now available. And as I am an Intellibox and Loconet user, the Uhlenbrock Track-Control is a perfect match.
Earlier this week, I brought home such a starter set and various extensions for it.

The very first thing I noticed was that the manual is in german. Darn it. Well, I do read german, but not with the same ease I would with an english manual. However, a closer look at Uhlenbrocks homepage reveal an english version.
http://www.uhlenbrock.de/3/9/1/...17-040.apd/Bes69000e.pdf

The set is a box full of plastic segments, electronics and several sheets of stickers.



The concept is that you build your own board segments to suit your needs. You slap a sticker on top of a segment, and, if needed, put the appropriate electronic board inside it. The stickers shall be placed with some care, or the result won't be pretty.



After you're done (several evenings later), it is time to assemble the segments. This is quick and easy. All of this is very well covered in the manual, which includes a lot of pictures. So I'll just skip forward to the end result:





I am still missing the electronics for 5 signal segments, but I have already emptied the stock at my local dealer.

That was the hardware. Now the board needs to be programmed. This can be done very easily, by just assigning an address for each signal and turnout, but the system is capable of so much more. This is all described in a technical manual, which does NOT come with the set on paper. However it can be downloaded at the website:
http://www.uhlenbrock.de/3/6/I5...2-011.apd/TechBeschr.pdf
Unfortunately, this one is available in german only.

Furthermore, in the set is a CD. In addition to the manuals and a video, it also has a piece of software, TC-Edit (again only in german). With this you can plan and fully configure your control board, including track feedback sensors/indicators, program sequences etc. Once configured, just connect the PC to your Intellibox, and the control board gets programmed. Very impressive.
Unfortunately, I am not there yet, as the program has its flaws. I configured my board on another PC, and when I got home with the saved file from the program, the program was unable to use it. I ended up with half my board on the screen, and the configuration was gone. Now I have to start all over. Saving and loading does work fine, as long as you stick to one computer.

This is my experience so far. I'll bring some updates as soon as I have something more to tell.

Yes,
thank's a lot for sharing.
/Lars

Looks great Mikael (and expensive)

//Thomas

Hi Mikael

I am perfectly happy with my PC WDP control of the layout. Have you as an alternative considered a second touch-screen monitor?

//Thomas

Very good, Mikael.

Hi Mikael,

Very nice!It's the kind of interface I like,it reminds me of the HEKI Gleisbild system,although I realise that one is based on another operating principle.

http://www.heki-kittler.de/heki...n/produkte/produkte.html

Kind regards
Guus

Another update. Windows Vista has now been cleared of all charges. It would seem that I brought home a .plt file, but not the associated .lcv files. And then I used that .plt file to build further on a board. This resulted in corrupt files where all changes were lost.
Today I got a fresh copy of the original .plt and .lcv files, and I have no more problems anywhere, Vista or XP.

A bit strange for such a new program, is that it only supports com1 and com2 for communicating with my Intellibox. Fortunately I was able to reconfigure my USB-RS232 converter from com7 to com1, and the programming of my control board completed without problems.

Whoops. It would seem that I have overlooked your question.
No, I haven't directly considered a touch-screen, but earlier I have had thoughts about controlling my layout with a PC, and ended up deciding against it. And that pretty much rules out touch-screens.

I don't think I'd like the "feel" of controlling a layout with a glass plate either.

Finally some success. I have just finished programming everything, and now it all seem to work I still have some feedback wires to install, so I can't really give it an extensive test yet, but it looks cool.

Mikael: Very impressive. is that system very expensive? I have a homemade control board for my switch yard that I operate manually that I am not really happy with. Might consider converting it.

Expensive? That depends on the needed size. I don't know the prices around the world, but search for Uhlenbrock 69000 or 69010 at the pricelists from your local shops. The size board you see above, is roughly equivalent to one 69000 and two 69010 sets.

The price of the 69010 should be just about the same.

It is perfectly possible to mount everything out-of-sight, especially if you have the right screws without a big head (unlike mine). I am going to mount my board in a better way, which I haven't quite thought out yet. The current solution is only temporary to keep it from falling apart while I experiment with it.

Thanks again. Very impressive IMHO.

I don't fully understand the track occupancy handling. Do you have occupacncy detectors, or are those indications set as parts of routes? Or something in between; a few detectors, but mostly programmed?

/Lars

Mikael,
I have a similar question to Lars,
Your loop from the top left (2-1 RH point) to the top left (10-2 LH point) shows "occupied" (red) at the actual points but "unocupied/route set" (yellow)in the loop.

2 questions.
1) have you left the the middle indicator (1-4 to 1-8) out of the ocupancy configuration or do they have their own ocupancy sesors?
2) If the (2-1) point changes to branch can you have it indicate yellow/red based on a "different" ocupancy sensor? (base program seems to only allow a reference to 1 sensor :-( )

First, I am assuming that you are referring to the picture higher up in the discussion, and not the video, right?


1-4, 1-5, 1-7 and 1-8 indeed have their own occupancy detectors.


No, that is not possible. But the actual points doesn't have occupancy detectors on my layout. Instead when I call up a route, "fake" occupied messages for the points involved are sent. This locks the points so they can't be operated manually anymore. This, unfortunately, has the side effect that points are red when reserved, while normal track pieces are yellow.