|
|
RAIL-LYNXTM
SYSTEM OPERATION MANUAL |
 |
|
This manual is also available in PDF
format. Click on this link:
System Manual
 |
|
Note: to access a PDF file requires Adobe®
Acrobat® Reader.
This may be downloaded free of charge by clicking on the icon. |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
QUICK LINKS |
| To jump to a particular section of the Manual click on one of the
links below: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
BASIC OPERATION |
|
|
| The basic operation of the hand-held transmitter, hereafter called the
transmitter, (just to save some typing) is straight forward and fairly obvious.
Do not let the fancy panel labels intimidate you. The advanced features
are slightly more complex, but after using them several times, they too
become very logical. |
|
| The operation of the
transmitter is similar to setting the time on your VCR.
No, no, just kidding !! It really is very easy to use and becomes
almost automatic after just a few minutes of operation. |
|
| Basic operation consists of three push-buttons, the rotary knob, a slide
switch, and two channel select switches. The left facing arrow (called
west from now on), stop, and the right facing arrow (called east from now
on), are the push-buttons. The slide switch is called forward and
the rotary knob is obviously (I hope) the speed control. |
|
| After powering up the railroad (by applying 12-14 volts to the track),
all the locos should sit patiently waiting for a command. Select
the loco to be operated, and set the channel switches to that loco's channel.
The upper switch is the most significant digit and the lower switch is
the least significant digit. This means that if the channel
desired is 27, the 2 should be set on the upper switch and the 7 set on
the lower switch. Note that the switches go from 0 to 15 or 16 different
positions. This allows for 256 channels (16 x 16 = 256), except channel
00 is reserved for emergency stop and, thus, is unavailable for normal
use. Note: All receivers are initially shipped set to channel
01. The channel of the receiver can easily be changed at any time
(see advanced features). |
 |
| Having selected the loco desired, we are now ready to operate.
Oops.. first we have to turn on the transmitter. To do this, move the toggle
switch to the up position. As you do so, the tiny red light above
stop should flash momentarily to indicate the transmitter is working. |
|
| OK, now we are ready. While facing the loco, move the forward
switch toward the forward direction of the loco. Set the speed knob
to 0 speed, and push the east or west button (depending on which way you
want to go). Advance the speed knob, and the loco will start to move
in the selected direction. |
|
| The
transmitter does not have to be pointed directly at the loco. The
infrared signals will normally bounce off ceilings and walls similar to
your TV system. Typically, you can expect about 10 to 15 feet of
range. Light colored ceilings and walls help extend the range, and
exposed rafters in an unfinished basement will sop up the signals and reduce
the range. As you gain experience, you will find the distance over
which you can operate on your railroad. |
|
| Well, now that we are moving, how do we stop ? You have two ways.
One is to simply turn down the speed with the knob, and the other is to
push the stop button. If you want to change direction, push the opposite
east or west button and advance the speed knob. If you had stopped
the loco using the stop button, the loco will ramp back up to the speed
where you left the speed knob set. Note that the loco must be stopped,
by either method, before it can reverse direction. This prevents
sudden changes of direction, which can derail long trains. If you
are using the speed knob for control, it is only necessary to hit the direction
buttons when you change direction. |
|
|
| Note that when powering up the
transmitter, a direction must be selected before
it will send a speed command, as it doesn't know which way you want to
go. |
|
| Control of the loco can be exercised using only the three buttons after
the speed has been selected. Pushing east or west will cause the
loco to ramp up to the selected speed, and the stop button will ramp the
speed back to 0. Thus, for switching moves, the three button mode
of operation is very convenient, and is an easy one handed operation. |
|
| The rate at which the speed changes is set by the momentum (mtm).
Changing momentum is covered in the advanced features section.
Receivers are shipped with zero momentum. |
|
| If you run around a reversing loop or turn the loco on a turntable,
the east and west buttons will now work backwards. That is, the button
will not be the in the direction the loco will go. To correct this, just
move the forward switch toward the front of the loco. That is the
main purpose of this switch. It should always be positioned toward
the front of the loco, and the direction switches will have the correct
orientation. |
|
|
| The buttons send a command each time they are pushed, and normally that
is all that is required. If the loco misses a command due to range,
holding the button down will cause it to continue to repeat the command
every 1/2 second. The speed knob sends each new speed command twice.
This can be seen on the small red light above the stop button. It indicates
whenever the transmitter sends a command. |
|
| The loco will continue to do what it was last commanded to do, until
it receives another command or loses power. Therefore, if it runs
into a tunnel or other hidden trackage, it will continue to run until it
emerges. To allow for control of the loco in hidden trackage, RAIL-LYNX
can supply repeater modules which will receive the signals and regenerate
them in the hidden areas. |
|
| The only additional switch you might use during normal operation is
the red emergency stop (emg from now on) button. This button uses
the reserved channel (00) to send a stop command to all locos in the area
regardless of their channel assignments. This can be used to
stop any train in order to prevent a collision, or regain control of a
train that may have accidentally moved out of range of another operator. |
|
| That completes the basic operation section. See, I told you it
was easy. So, go do some operating and get the feel of the system
before you try the advanced features. |
|
| Wait !!! I forgot to mention one of the other neat features:
the built in flashlight. To activate it just push the white button
above emg, and the super-bright yellow led on the front of the transmitter will
light up for you to read car numbers in dim areas or to find something
that just rolled under the railroad. |
|
|
|
|
|
ADVANCED FEATURES
|
|
|
| All the features described below are stored by the receiver in non-volatile
memory. Therefore the data will not be lost when power is removed.
The loco will remember the last settings forever (actually at least 10
years) or until you change them. |
|
| To activate any of these features, you must utilize the shift button.
This button operates similar to the shift key on a typewriter; that is,
it must be held down while the alternate function is used. Each button
has an alternate function (shown below the button in parenthesis).
Whenever the shift button is held down, the (xxx) function is activated. |
|
|
|
| |
|
MOMENTUM |
|
|
| Momentum is the value used by the receiver to control the rate of change
of speed. That is, how fast or slow the loco's speed can change.
The system has eight levels of momentum. The higher the number, the
slower the loco will change speed. This is easily changed from the
transmitter, so that as the train tonnage changes, it can be simulated by
changing the momentum. When switching, a small amount may be
selected, in order to get fast response. When pulling a heavy freight,
a larger number can be entered to create the effect of a heavy load.
Or, in a helper operation, the momentum can be changed when pushing uphill
and when running light downhill. |
|
| To change the momentum (mtm from now on), first make sure the channel
switches are set to the correct loco. Next, the amount of mtm (0
to 7) should be selected by rotating the speed knob from 0 to 7 clicks
above 0. If you set any number above 7, the transmitter will interpret it to be
7. With the shift button held down, push the west (mtm)
push-button. The new momentum value will be sent to the loco, where
it will be stored in memory and used by the loco until next changed. |
|
| If, after turning the speed knob to zero, or pressing the stop button,
the train is not slowing rapidly enough, simply push the stop button
again. Each time the stop button is pressed, the train will slow
more rapidly. In effect, the stop button becomes a brake. |
|
| Pushing the stop button repeatedly, will bring the train to a very quick
stop, even though there is a large value of momentum selected. Also,
the transmitter will continue to send a stop command every 1/2 second if
the stop button is held down. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHANGING RECEIVER CHANNEL NUMBER |
|
|
| Each receiver can actually respond to two channels; the primary and
the secondary. Normally, the primary channel is assigned when the
receiver is initially installed in the loco, and is seldom changed.
The secondary channel can be assigned whenever you want MU (multi-unit/consist)
operation. Any number of locos can be assigned the same secondary
channel number, and they will then operate together. Note that
the primary channel is still active and can be used whether or not a secondary
channel is assigned. The secondary channel can be canceled at any
time, and the same channel reused for other locos. |
|
| If only two locos are to be MU'ed, it is only necessary to load one
unit's secondary channel with the other loco's primary channel, and not
create a new MU channel. You may have to think about it a while for
it to make sense....I did. |
|
|
|
|
|
PRIMARY CHANNEL NUMBER
|
|
|
| To change the primary channel number (units are shipped with channel
01 stored in memory), first set the desired number on the channel switches.
Set the speed knob to 0 (the 0 is used to indicate no speed offset, see
SPEED OFFSET), and push the hidden button on the bottom of the transmitter (bet
you didn't even notice it before) using a pencil or other pointed object
(some people think model railroaders shouldn't be allowed to have
sharp objects). This will send the new primary channel to the loco. |
|
| CAUTION: When changing the primary channel, ANY loco that receives
the command will take that channel number. This is why it should
be assigned on the bench during installation. The only time that
it may have to be changed is if a friend has the same channel on a loco
and wants to operate on your railroad. With 255 channels to choose
from, you shouldn't run out of channels unless you have the brass market
cornered. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
SECONDARY CHANNEL NUMBER |
|
|
| Receivers are shipped with no secondary channel assigned.
|
|
| The secondary channel (or MU /consist channel) number is assigned in
two steps. First, the loco must be armed to take a second channel,
and then the channel number is loaded. |
|
| To load a secondary channel into the loco, set the loco primary channel
on the channel switches and move the forward switch to either the HL or
RL position. HL means the loco will be run headlight first, and RL
means the loco will be run rear light first. (This allows MU'ed units
to run with either end forward). With the shift button held
down, depress the stop (arm) button. This arms the loco to accept
a secondary channel. |
|
| Next, set the new secondary channel on the channel switches, and with
the shift button held down, depress the east (sec) button. This loads
the secondary channel into the loco. |
|
|
| |
|
CANCELING SECONDARY CHANNEL |
|
|
| To cancel the secondary channel, set the primary or secondary channel
number on the channel switches. With the shift button held down,
push the headlight (cncl) button. This will cancel the secondary
channel in the loco. |
|
| Note that if the secondary channel number is set on the channel switches,
all units with the same secondary channel will all cancel with one command.
This is useful when breaking up an MU/consist of locos. If the primary
channel number is used to cancel, only the loco with that channel number
will cancel. This is useful when a helper may have been assigned
to a set of MU'ed units, and you wish to cut off the helper, but want to
keep the other units MU'ed together. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
PARK / UNPARK COMMAND |
|
|
| When a loco is not going to be used for a while, the park command may
be used. This is just a precaution that you may want to implement. |
|
| When a loco is
stopped, it will remain stopped until it receives a message with
it's channel number and a speed command. If you have several
operators operating in the same area, occasionally signals from two
or more operators may overlap. This is rare (each message is
about 0.1 seconds long), but it can happen. And, despite all
the message security used by the system, there is the rare
possibility of two messages merging together to form a valid but
unwanted message. If this also happens to match a nearby loco's channel, then it might start
to move. The park command will prevent this, by locking out speed
commands until the unpark command is received. |
|
| To park a loco(s), first completely stop it by setting the speed knob
to 0 and using the stop button. Set the primary or secondary (you can park
MU'ed units with one command) channel on the channel switches, hold down
the shift button, and push the emg (park) button. This parks the
loco(s). The loco(s) will now ignore any speed commands until unparked. |
|
| To unpark a loco, set the primary or secondary channel on the channel
switches. Set the speed knob to something other than 0, hold down
the shift button, and push the emg (park) button. This will unpark
the loco(s). |
|
| Note that the only difference between the park and unpark commands,
is the position of the speed knob. 0 speed equals park, and anything
above 0 equals unpark. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
SPEED OFFSET |
|
|
| Speed offsets are used to match locos that are to be run together, or
to correct for locos that require a large speed setting before they start
to move. We have found that if the locos start together, they will
share the load equally at most speeds. |
|
| |
|
POSITIVE SPEED OFFSET
|
|
|
| This is used to correct for a loco that doesn't start until the speed
is increased to a fairly high value. This command essentially adds
several (up to 7) clicks to the speed knob's position. Any
number over 7 will be interpreted as 7. |
|
| For example,
suppose a loco does not start to move until the speed knob has
reached 6 clicks. A reasonable correction would be to add 4
clicks of positive speed offset. To do this, set the loco's primary
channel on the channel switches, and advance the speed knob 4 clicks above
0. Depress the hidden button on the bottom of the transmitter. This
will load an offset of 4 into the loco. Now the loco should start
to move after only 2 clicks. |
|
| CAUTION: This command is an offshoot of the primary channel command,
and will be accepted by any loco seeing the message. It should normally
be used only during installation on the bench, or be sure you prevent any
other locos in the area from accidentally accepting the command. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
NEGATIVE SPEED OFFSET |
|
|
| This command is used to subtract clicks from the speed knob. The
effect is as though the speed knob has been rotated past the 0 position.
For example, suppose a loco starts at 2 clicks. A negative offset
of 4 will make the loco wait to start until the speed knob reaches the
6 click position. |
|
| This can be used to match locos with a large speed differences, and
may be used in the future with the sound system to allow the diesel sound
to ramp up before the loco starts to move. |
|
| To load a negative offset, follow the positive offset command sequence,
except hold the shift button down when you press the hidden switch on the
bottom of the transmitter. The CAUTION also applies for this command. |
|
|
|
|
|
HEADLIGHT COMMANDS |
|
|
| The headlight commands provide two dual outputs that can independently
drive front and rear lights in an on/off, off/dim/ bright sequence, a dim/bright
flashing (for mars light), or an alternating (for ditch lights). |
|
| For headlight operation, set the forward switch to HL (for headlight)
or to RL (for rear light), and push the headlight button. The selected
light will step through the sequence of off/on, or off/dim/bright/brighter,
etc, depending on the installation. See the headlight installation
manual. |
|
