Separating C7042 APB track

1294 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by sealevel, Nov 20, 2010

sealevel

Discussion Starter · Nov 19, 2010 (Edited by Moderator)

No, I do not have an Advanced PB.... yet.
Still struggling to get my original layout up and working with the C7030 PB + PB-Pro + S-H.

However, a thought occurred to me that my help others...

First the question...
Q. Are the wires connecting the APB the same as those on the original 6 car PB? That is... 8 data wires and 2 power wires?

Why the question?
I have read about members talking about swapping in and out PBs for analogue and digital and know that someone will want to separate the track from the PB for the new APB. Also, there has been much discussion about the missed lap readings on the new APB track. So if the wires are the same for the two 6 car PBs, then here is the suggestion...

Separate the PB with banana plug terminals for the power and an RJ-11 data jack for the data (see pic on JeremyR's description of his track - JeremyR PB Separation).

Do the same for the new APB or just the power for an analogue PB.

When you want digital, connect the power wires and the data cable (use an off the shelf ethernet cable with an inline connector to a standard RJ-11 plug on the track end).

When you want pure analogue (let's say you do not have the APB), connect just the power wires to your analogue PB (assuming of course that all the power jumpers on the CLCs have been modified to separate the track power circuits).

When you upgrade to the new APB, and want to avoid the lap counting issues due to the location of the sensors on the new APB, just connect the PB to the existing track using the 2 power wires and the data cable. As I understand it the location of the sensors is the main cause of the missed laps which apparently do not happen with the classic 6 car PB. Correct?

Can anyone see any problem with this suggestion?
Cheers!

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RichG

· #2 · Nov 19, 2010

QUOTE (sealevel @ 19 Nov 2010, 23:16) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Can anyone see any problem with this suggestion?

Will work fine except that the sensors in the new Powerbase are identical to those in the old, so any lap counting issues will not change.

Rich

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MrFlippant

· #3 · Nov 19, 2010 (Edited by Moderator)

A couple things.

1) EDIT: nevermind, RichG says no problem, so my concern about wiring differences between old and new base appear to be unwarranted.

2) the lap counting issues are not just hardware, but also software. The track itself and the bits underneath APPEAR identical between the APB, the original 6 car base, and even the SSD Lap counter. Same ID sensors, same blade sensors, same positioning across all three. Missed laps are also a problem with the original base, alleviated by following the golden rule. Unfortunately, a lot of people are getting an advanced base never having had an original 6 car base, and learning how to avoid missed laps for the first time, making it appear as if the problem is worse than the original base. Top that off with some software issues that some people are running into (light sensitivity, etc), even when the base is appropriately placed in their layout.

3) The APB has TWO sets of power wires, one for each lane, to support two lane analog. This would be just like a 2 lane analog PB-Pro SH unit, but NOT like other 6 car PBs.

All that said, I think your idea would be fine, but how would you count laps in analog mode? To me, it seems more logical just to use the new APB, put it in an appropriate place in your layout, and keep the firmware up to date to fix any bugs that might contribute to lap counting anomalies.

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sealevel

Discussion Starter · #4 · Nov 20, 2010 (Edited by Moderator)

Thanks RichG and Mr. F.

My idea was for those few who have said they wanted both analogue and digital but either did not want to buy another digital PB (might be me?) or who already working on complex analogue/digital switching arrangements with existing C7030 and analogue PBs. Just seemed to me that if the track was separated then you could plug in the appropriate PB and not have to dismantle anything.

Now regarding the dual power lines on the APB, is that just to avoid a jumper for the power from one lane to another? Are they supplied power in parallel (i.e. from the PB is the power split into two power lines, one to each track)? As mentioned, I do not have the APB so cannot open it up to see.

One could say that this might be a simpler way to have both digital and analogue without using Gorp's glad hands connections. And analogue PBs seem to be cheap on the internet, too.

Just trying to be creative here...
Cheers!

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