CAN-digital-Bahn
The SignalChef not available -
With the SignalChef one can switch up to eight Color Light Block Signals via solenoid addresses. It has a total of two functions, the setting of the brightness and the fading from red to green and back again. These functions are presented in the context of the 'service tool' in more detail later.
The SignalChef can be operated from all devices of the CAN-digital-Bahn project, such as the CAN-StellPult. Also the Central Station 2 and the Mobile Station 2 are suitable to do so. In short, there are many ways to operate it.
The data connection of the SignalChef is effected with normal network cable. On which side a cable is plugged in does not matter, there is no front and rear.
In addition to the connection to the cable system the SignalChef needs an operating voltage.
Of course several SignalChefs can be also integrated into a bigger system construction, there is no address-specific limitation. A SignalChef can be programmed on addresses from CdB-, DCC- or the Motorola area. Should other addressing ranges come in addition, the SignalChef can also learn these, too.
Connection:
To every SignalChef's pair of outputs a signal can be connected. Every module disposes of an external power supply.
The module is galvanically isolated from the system bus, so that the operating voltage leads to no effect on the bus and each module can be operated with an individual voltage. The supply voltage should lie between 9 V - 16 V AC or DC.
The load per output can be up to 100mA.
The signal needs to be connected to the desired outputs.
The voltage at the outputs of the SignalChef corresponds to approx. 5 Volts.
The operation is, I think, self explanatory and it conforms to the procedure like with all known solenoid decoders. Through selection of the address at a control unit or any other operating panel the to the SignalChef connected signal will operate.
Addresses:
The eight output pairs of the SignalChef are presetted automatically to the addresses 1 to 8 of the Motorola format.
To change the address adjustments, the SignalChef needs to 'learn' the new address.
The alternative and more comfortable way is the usage of the service tool which is described in the next section on this page.
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The manually 'learning' is quite easily done, because therefor the push-button on the circuit board needs to be pressed once or up to eight times. The number of actuation corresponds the output pair which is to be 'learned'. If one presses the push-button nine times, one returns back into normal operation mode.
If for example one presses the push-button of the SignalChef twice, the connected Hobby Signal at output pair no.2 starts slowly to blink. With the blinking the SignalChef indicates that it is now looking for some switching command on the CAN-bus. This switching command can be sent from every control device. The received address of the switching command will be saved permanently for this output pair. This way not only the address is saved but also the belonging data format, too! That means that it is possible to have three output pairs at one SignalChef which react to the address 1, but one to CdB address 1, one to DCC address 1 and the other one to Motorola address 1. Certainly all kind of other address combinations function with a SignalChef as well. The address range the SignalChef can 'learn' comprises 16 bit, what complies with 65536 addresses...
If one has forgotten on which address the SignalChef is setted, one can read it out again. Therefor one needs to put all the eight output pairs one after the other into the learn mode, because not only all outputs of the SignalChef are switching back an forth, it also sends the accordant position messages of the address to the CAN-bus. That implies that also the display of this address in the control unit blinks. With Märklin control units there is the little handikap, that while displaying the address range is not interpreted! Here the display of the address blinks equally if it was a CdB, DCC or a Motorola information. That is a pity, but unfortunately I can't change it. However, all of the CAN-digital-Bahn display modules do know the difference.
The SignalChef has available a position feedback, but this information is sent as answer to a recognized switch command and serves the control of the displays of the control devices only.
The properties of the SignalChefs can be adjusted by the service tool for the 'SignalChef Hobby' to the operating requirements.
The program requires a CC-Schnitte and Microsoft.NET. The tool is tested with XP and WIN 7. There is no error handling as Windows would like to have it. If an error occurs, the tool just crashes. This happens whenever the values read by the tool can not be displayed. This problem can be resolved quickly by using the RESET tool. For this, you just have to run the module once and cause a RESET, all settings are reset and the tool should now be able to process the messages of the module. The RESET tool can also be found in the download area.
After starting the program, one need to select the COM port of the CC-Schnitte. If it is plugged in at the computer only after the start, one can add the new interface with reload to the selection.
By this choice the button "scan" gets activated. If one actuates it, all SignalChefs are summoned to report to the PC. With these announcements the selection box gets filled. Each additional scan updates the selection, for example, if another SignalChef is added or might not even have been indicated the first time.
The resulting list in the selection box contains all SignalChefs, sorted according to the ID of the modules. In the case that a module reports back with ID 0, a message is displayed that one still needs to assign an ID greater than 0 for this module. This assignment is done by entering a number in the module ID and this, please, must be necessarily completed by "übernehmen" (='adopt'). After that, a new scan of the bus system should occur, because the module shall now report with its new ID. At present, this way up to 99 SignalChefs can be managed, which corresponds to 792 signals'. If this is no longer sufficient, then please just let me know, because this is just a limitation on the number of bits used.
If one selects a module from the list, it will be asked to submit all its saved settings.
up
First, the addresses of the eight output pairs are listed, in addition the suitable data format CdB, DCC or MM is displayed, too.
With the various selection boxes in the middle you can now set the behavior of the SignalChefs:
Helligkeit = Brightness:
Here the maximum brightness of the LED / lamp can be adjusted
Range of values is 1 to 20 = 20% - 100% of the time the output is switched on
Überblenden = Crossfade red / crossfade green:
Here the respective duration can be set. The maximum value is 255
Test:
Here, using the red / green buttons the crossfading can be switched on or off and this way the effect can be checked immediately.
The following are some values as a kind of default setting, but of course everyone can generally find the optimal settings for himself by trial and adjust accordingly with the tool:
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Type
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Brightness
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Crossfade red
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Crossfade green
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Light-Signal
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20
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30
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30
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The tool is free of charge and can be downloaded from the download area of this homepage.
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v6.01.13 © 2003-2005