Control Panel completion

 At last another post, after a rather long gap. I have been working though.

Well, I eventually "finished" the control panel and this photo shows all the sections with DC supply on - up (green LEDs). If I throw the section switches to the middle (they are 3-way, on/off/on) they show red and down shows blue (DCC). Obviously it would be pretty crazy to have some with DCC and others DC. It's either one or the other. So I will be sure to double check before selecting, when in use. The picture shows a Compspeed controller which I had selected before knowing what type of motor Heljan would use in it's L&B MW locos. I have to change it because the Heljan's use a coreless motor and feedback controllers like Compspeed are a no-no. I'm proposing a blanking panel with 2 sockets, one for the DC controller - probably a handheld Gaugemaster analogue one and the other a DCC handheld. Not agreed on which model yet.

Here is an internal view showing a start with the wiring. The 2 "boxes" with holes bottom right are the 2 stabilized power supplies for both 12v DC (analogue track supply) and 5v DC (for all the relays and LEDs). I had to make sure there was enough power (current) available so counting all the amps total for relays and LEDs was very important. 2 of the 5 printed circuit boards are shown.

Here are all the Printed circuit boards (not yet fully wired)
and power supplies fitted to the aluminium panel (helps with heat dissipation) which is then fitted inside the box.

And here it is completely wired, including the toroidal transformer (used them before and they have been very reliable - over 40 years no problems!). So from the right hand side there is the AC mains input 3 pin socket and on the left are 2x25-pin output sockets.

All the LEDS need resistors so I built a separate Printed circuit board to wire them to, which made it very easy to then connect each LEDs "return" lead to its individual resistor which they all then connected to a single lead back to the 5 volt power supply. Kept everything wiring-wise tidy!

This all started from an idea. I had no  diagrams/circuits to guide me. They all had to be invented/created. But I did an apprenticeship in the 1960s in electronics and radio communications so it's sort of in my blood! We all have out "crazies"! It might look complicated but it's basically "many" of just a "few" identical circuits and lots of careful wiring.

The real test comes when I connect to the layout (yet to be started). I'm about 99% confident everything will be OK as I tested as I went along. 

The hardest part? Making the wiring to the 2x25-way sockets. This was done via an "intercept" Printed circuit board to connect all the individual wires to the 25-way flat leads that connect with a single click into their respective 25-way socket. I won't have to wait long to get trains running once the track and wiring is done. Keep dreaming Mike!!