TAM VALLEY OCTOPUS III WITH ROCRAIL TRIAL
TAM VALLEY OCTOPUS III WITH ROCRAIL PLUS

It does briefly short the one LED to send the signal to the Octopus. The fascia controllers work the same way, except with a momentary pushbutton, and an extra resistor for a pullup somewhere. But since it's not given as an option, I think not. Now if it's the OTHER LED that should be on in that position, it might actually work. I don't think this will work though, since when the toggle is closed it will be shorting out the one LED.

Next thign would be to connect LEDs to the Ocopus as shown in the lower right diagram in the wiring examples.

But if you count 1-2-3 down oen side of the DPDT, and you have 1-2-3 on the switch conenction ont he Octupus, then you should have Octopus #1 to toggle #1, Octopus #3 to toggle #2. OK, sounds like you have the toggle right - using a DPDT is probably confusing you since it has more connections thant you need. No, the Octopus can operate with toggles - that's what the Mtr jumper is - momentary contact to trigger it or a fixed contact (toggle). I don't have one handy to look at to see where it goes. Maybe getting oen and looking at the circuit would help - it's much as I described above as somethign to try except there's an extra resistor.

TAM VALLEY OCTOPUS III WITH ROCRAIL PLUS

I'm guess it's possible, the fascia controllers work in a similar fashion although that s a pushbutton plus LEDs. Wiring LEDs AND a toggle, that's nto shown int he examples. The fascia controllers Duncan sells jus tplug in and work. It's when trying to figure out an alternate method of usign the device that you are pretty much on your own. I can see why he says 'not for beginners' but using the deisnged components together isn t very difficult. I talked to one of the Motrak guys at Timonium, after the Springfield show - he said Duncan was at the Springfield show and cleaned him out of the servo mounts, they've been selling liek hotcakes. I know he's runnign behind these days trying to keep up with demand.

TAM VALLEY OCTOPUS III WITH ROCRAIL TRIAL

Or for $8 you can get 4 of the controllers made for it, with LEDs and a pushbutton.Īfter my first trial Singlet, I had some technical questions before I ordered more, and DUncan promptly answered my email. Take the Mtr jumper off, and wire the SPST toggle switch across pins 1 and 3 of the switch/LED connector. If for no other reason than if there's a short, you can't throw the turnout without proper power segmentation 2) looks like you can power servos separate from the board - that seems like a better idea and would allow more servo size options (though the 9g's are pretty strong) 3) you can add relays through daughter boards - seems different than Octo, but looks like it achieves same thing.My best guess looking at the wiring examples would be to wire the LEDs as shown in the lower right diagream for two LED indicators. Regarding the Quad-PIC, it looks very similar to the Octo but there are a couple of things that caught my eye: 1) you can power from DCC - if this is using track bus or DCC accessory bus for the servos, that would concern me. Though he doesn't cover servos, he does everything else. If you are interested, Dana Zimmerli has a great book on LCC and practical implementation. Since there are no LCC servo boards, this is what I have come up with using commercially available products. My end goal is to use LCC to control block detection, signaling and turnout control. I am not 100% sure how the relays will work in this config but we will see. I am experimenting with using LCC to control TVD Octopus3 which will drive the relays and servos. Both TVD and RRCirkits have stated that their boards can talk to each other with what appears to be minimal effort. I just received some LCC components made by RR-Crikits. FWIW, on my HO layout, I am using Octo's and push-buttons and relays for testing purposes. On that layout, I use the Octocoder, as well as relays and a few pushbuttons. My quick fix was to put a toggle on the DC bus between Octo's and turn them on a couple at a time. This one supply isn't powerful enough as all the servos jump a little on power up.

The only power problem I have had is when turning the power on for the n-scale where all Octo's are on the same power supply TVD sells. since they are double pole, I can control 2 frogs with one relay for a crossover. That is, the side where the fascia controller, touch toggles, momentary or toggle switches would connect. The relays connect to the Control side of the Octo, not the servo side. I use the relays for frog polarity/power. On both layouts I use 9g servos switching old peco's with the center spring still in for N and with fasttracks for the HO. I use the wye cables on the servo port to connect both. Many are cross-overs or are in yard for a route. I have 3 on the n-scale with about 28 servos. I use the Octopus 3s on both my N-scale door switching layout and the HO garage layout I am building.

Tam valley octopus iii with rocrail