>
> >
> > "Sim> >
> > > A large number of railway modellers (myself included) nowadays use
> > > hand-held controllers for their layouts, both for home use and at
> > > exhibitions. Most seem to connect these devices to their control panels
> > > or other locations on their layout by means of DIN plugs and sockets. > > >
> > > Are there any recognised standards within railway modelling for which
> > > types of DIN plug/socket to use (eg: 5-pin, 180 degrees), and for the
> > > arrangement of the wiring to the pins?
> > >
> > > I am thinking about analogue controllers here, rather than DCC. > >
>
> The short answer is no.
>
> > 3/5(180)/7 and 8 pole Din plugs all fit the same format so the plug with
> > less pins will fit the sockets.
> >
> > I use the two outer pins for 16 volt AC and the one intermediate pin for
> > controlled output.
> > The top center pin for "common track".
> > The other intermediate pin can be used for another controller circuit. > >
> > In addition, there are hand-helds which use a baseboard mounted controller
> > - the other two pins of the seven pin plug carry the output.
> > Eight pin I use for computer games port hand-helds.
> >
> > With this set-up, there is no danger of plugging incompatible hand-helds
> > and damaging either the baseboard circuitry or the hand-held circuitry. > >
> > Regards,
> > Greg.P.
> >
>
> I have taken a different approach, in that my walk around hand piece is
> only half the controller.
That's my third variant above.
My hand pieces only contain a reverse switch, a
> variable resistor and a led. The high current part of the controller is kept
> under the layout. The advantages are the plug you use only needs to carry
> small currents, you can make the hand controller as small as you like
> without going to surface mount technology and walk around memory is easy. >
> I currently use 25 pin D connectors for my hand controllers mounted > vertically.
25 pins seems just a little over the top! :-) 15 pin connectors should be plenty for a home layout. I'd guess you are providing separate P/Ss for each controller on each connector
- you could simplify.
These allow me to use the same sockets for all my controllers,
> without the need to go to serial communications. Using the existing
> controllers I can have 5. If I had used a split power supply system, I could
> have up to 23 hand controllers in theory before needing a second plug type
> and wire bus. It is also possible to have a couple of accessory switches
> on your hand piece, though this will limit the number of controllers you
> can have if you stick to analogue control.
>
> --
> Terry Flynn
>
> For HO scale track standards go to
>
formatting link
also includes details of HO wagon weight and locomotive tractive effort
> estimates