SRC162 - Thoughts and Experiences?

[ednadolski]

Anyone have any familiarity with using Team Digital's SRC162 for DCC control of turnouts/routes/signals?  What are your thoughts re: its strengths, weaknesses, tradeoffs, etc?

http://www.teamdigital1.com/prod_catalogue/src162_product/src162.html

http://www.teamdigital1.com/resources/documents/src162_doc.pdf


Thanks,
Ed

[Scottl]

It can't drive turnout motors without extra components.   Pricey if you want to run more than LEDs with the routes.

[GaryHinshaw]

I don't have any experience with these components, but I suspect they are fine.  The SRC16 seems comparable to the RR-CirKits Motorman board which can control up to 8 Tortoises and accept 8 inputs from toggles, etc.  (MSRP $52.65).  The Team Digital boards seem to be well supported in jmri, so that will make programming them easier.  (I would not try programming a board like this w/o decoder pro).

May I ask: what is your ultimate goal for layout control?  Are you just looking to control track routes from a hardware control panel, or do you imagine integrating this with block detection and signal control?  If the latter, I would encourage you to familiarize yourself with the other hardware you'll need for detection and signal driving and get them all from one manufacturer.   Team Digital seems to have a pretty extensive line.

Also, if you're headed towards detection & signalling, jmri's panel pro provides an excellent interface to devices like this and lets you integrate them into an overall control structure which is very powerful and easy to use, once set up.  It's almost mandatory for managing the logic of turnout states, block occupancy, and signal aspects, and seeing how it works might help you decide what hardware you are going to want to support it.

[ednadolski]

It can't drive turnout motors without extra components.

I see that the doc claims it can drive 8 tortoises directly, is that not the case?   You do need more HW if you want to drive all 16 motors.

May I ask: what is your ultimate goal for layout control?  Are you just looking to control track routes from a hardware control panel, or do you imagine integrating this with block detection and signal control?

I'm still trying to sort it all out.   My thought is that since my layout will not be complex then for a while I can get by running things pretty much manually. Initially I would just need a way to know where trains are in the helix, so I am looking at some simple & low cost optical and IR detection circuits that I could hardwire to some panel LEDs.  Eventually I expect to want something that can at least drive signals, line routes, and such.   Ultimately it would be great to have something like Chris K. has done for his SP Mojave Pass, where it all gets driven by the computer, but that seems like a pretty big climb.  So my main concern at present is to build in enough infrastructure (blocks and such) so that adding future capabilities is not impeded (at the least) or made easier (way better).

I currently have an NCE system but I am willing to consider switching to a Digitrax if that will provide the capabilities that I will need (as long as I can program/control thru JMRI and/or WiThrottle.... the Digitrax throttle UI seems like something only a hardware designer could love).  If I decide on a Surroundtraxx then the Digitrax becomes a requirement as well (the VSD is intriguing but certainly would take a lot of time to make work).  Besides I can always repurpose the NCE for my one-horse P:48 layout, lol.

Also, if you're headed towards detection & signalling, jmri's panel pro provides an excellent interface to devices like this and lets you integrate them into an overall control structure which is very powerful and easy to use, once set up.  It's almost mandatory for managing the logic of turnout states, block occupancy, and signal aspects, and seeing how it works might help you decide what hardware you are going to want to support it.

I'm looking at the JMRI, it does seem pretty powerful.   What I will probably do is put together something that works on my little Loop, and use that as a basis for the new layout.

Thanks,
Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

I see that the doc claims it can drive 8 tortoises directly, is that not the case?   You do need more HW if you want to drive all 16 motors.

In skimming through the manual, it appears that this board will drive 8 Tortoises at 5V.  This is a relatively low voltage for a Tortoise, but they will work fine.  The MotoD accessory will drive them at 12V if you prefer (and you can drive up to 16 with a suitable number of them).   You should get one and try it out on your present Loop and see what you think.

I currently have an NCE system but I am willing to consider switching to a Digitrax if that will provide the capabilities that I will need (as long as I can program/control thru JMRI and/or WiThrottle.... the Digitrax throttle UI seems like something only a hardware designer could love).  If I decide on a Surroundtraxx then the Digitrax becomes a requirement as well (the VSD is intriguing but certainly would take a lot of time to make work).  Besides I can always repurpose the NCE for my one-horse P:48 layout, lol.

I don't see any reason to switch away from NCE.   The above-mentioned board will take commands (and power) from any DCC track bus, so you should be good to go. 

I'm looking at the JMRI, it does seem pretty powerful.   What I will probably do is put together something that works on my little Loop, and use that as a basis for the new layout.

It would make a lot of sense for you to try out jmri on your current layout and see if you like the capability it offers.  It wouldn't take long to set up a basic panel for throwing turnouts with the click of a mouse.  Block detection and virtual signalling would not be far behind.

[bdennis]

Ed,
I have a few of the SRC-162 and they work well.
You can drive 8 tortoise machines directly from the board or, you can get the optional MotoD boards and it can then drive up to 16 tortoise machines. The motoD boards are cheap enough.

The board can be set up to accept a 12V power feed so that the tortoise machines will run a normal speed. The manual suggests that the tortoise machines are driven at 5v. I found the speed of the tortoise machines to be quite good. I have other boards like Digitrax Se8C driving tortoise machines and they seem to operate at the same speed for both boards.
The motoD does not have an input for additional power supply. it draws the power from the board via the cable. The MotoD just enable double the number of tortoise machines for the board.

I have not used the route option, however, via JMRI looks to be simple to set up.

If I have a need to drive more machines then I would look at and buy these again.
Note that I have a range of board types from a number of suppliers to drive signals and tortoise machines and block detection..