Skip to main content

An introduction to the FCU

 At  today's meeting of the North Wales Area Group, Alan Turner presented a basic introduction to the FCU ( FLim Configuration Utility) for controlling CBUS units.

Alan began by describing the minimum requirements for a test board which is the best way to begin with CBUS so that you understand how things work before attempting to implement it on your layout.



Starting with a push button operating a led that switched off when the pushbutton was released, Alan showed how this can be readily changed to a latched operation  by manipulating the Node Values.

Depending on whether you use push buttons or normal switches you have the flexibility to choose either.

Alan then added a new module , the CANMIOSVO which can control up to 8 servos.

The end positions can  be set up and then controlled by switch or pushbutton.

The beauty of CBUS is that a single event can actually trigger more than one output which would allow one switch to set a route of perhaps five points on a layout.

Important messages from the talk appear to be always READ the Node Values in the FCU before attempting to update them and experiment before applying to a layout.

I'm sure the talk was recorded, so if you want another look check out MERG TV

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Train sequence / timetable using Arduino

                              Following discussions in a MERG Zoom meeting about potential projects for the Cumbria virtual area group I have started this blog to share my ideas for building a train sequence / timetable system based on an Arduino UNO. The trigger for this project was Andy Robb's article in the MERG journal (June 2020 edition). In it Andy describes using an UNO with a OLED display to produce an electronic station display board.  Having tried out Andy's version I started thinking about expanding the idea and have come up the following list of possibilities: 1. Replace my card index train sequence with an electronic version. 2. Have the train sequence synchronised with the on platform displays. 3. Display an analogue clock on the station display and have it display the train times. 4. Store the position reached in the sequence so that it starts where it left off on power up.  To mak...
8 comments
Read more

Cumbria Group Meeting Friday 9th October

 Although this was only a coffee and chat meeting, eleven members joined us for an interesting session which basically covered what was on our workbenches. Some members suffered from technical gremlins on the Zoom session but hopefully they will have that sorted for next time. Andy Woolass had volunteered to be a guinea pig for building the latest version of an EzyBus Input Module. It was a fairly straightforward build but the lack of sufficient ground points for external connections was a suggested improvement. The original Input board which used an MCP23017 Module was originally supplied by Davy Dick for £2. Members trying to build their own using a provided PCB, sometimes fell foul of the different form factors of this Module which caused obvious fitting problems. It is for this reason the PCB has been redesigned to accept a more standard 28 Pin DIL device. The Kit will be available in the Kitlocker, but at £7.20 it is a little expensive. Various members showed Arduino developme...
2 comments
Read more

Shuttle Plus or Super Shuttle?

 A really interesting project was discussed at tonight's JALSIG Zoom meeting. The Basic shuttle kit PMP4 was designed in February 2013 and remains one of the most popular Pocket Money Kits. It uses a 555 circuit as a basic timer  and changes the state of a relay to reverse the polarity of the track. Davy Dick has revisited this circuit but this time used a 14 Pin PIC (16F676) to replicate the circuit and  add a few enhancements to take advantage of the additional pins available. It is hoped that this will eventually appear as a Pocket Money Kit with PCB sometime in the New Year. Potential features include adjustable cycle times, controlling semaphore or lights using a delay or detectors set by an option jumper and incorporation of PMP4a  for shuttles with branches.   Two additional pins might be used to control crossing gates or trigger sound effects or anything else your imagination fancies. Using around 12 components and some simple coding techniques, thi...
Post a Comment
Read more