Thank you

Thank you for fixing.

I'm happy to be one of first readers

I did not find any "personal" way how to inform you about my observation.

A question please?

Hi Jerry, all

Thanks for a great article on what was involved in animating your Ferris Wheel. 

Just curious, I can see the I/R sensor being used to turn the Ferris Wheel on when a train comes past. 

But what turns off the Ferris Wheel after it is activated by a passing train? Is it a simple time out in the Arduino code, or does the wheel continue to run until another input from the JMRI panel?

Ferris wheel motion pattern.

Hi

After enjoying the article on how to animate it, I consulted my nearest Ferris wheel manager (MR colleague though) for another opinion on it. Then I got the remark that a Ferris wheel dosn't usuallyt start just for turning some revolutions on its own. I would be pointless to do so without passengers. And to load passengers, it must make the first revolution at low speed with repeated stops att each passenger seat position, before it takes up speed and completes the joyful ride by some further turns. And then starts the unloading/loading procedure over again. I didn't immediately figure out how this behaviour could be most easily reproduced with the help of the PC-JMRI/Arduino controlling. I figure it would involve some further programming and possibly also some further positioning HW.

Any ideas to share?

Programming Ferris Wheel motion

Dear ??? 

A couple of thoughts occur:

- tiny magnets on the bottom of each car, interact with a reed switch located in the base of the ferris-wheel/"rider load/unload point" = car positioning

- Polarised reed switch + 1 car with its magnet deliberately mounted "magnetic polarity reversed"
= "car #1 ID" reliably
(or, if the magnets are tiny enough/the car floor is wide enough,
put all normal car magnets on LH side,
and Car #1 gets an extra magnet on the RH side of the floor pan.
Avoids "polarisation" requirement).

- Arduinos can "count" reliably,
so either/both "rotate and pause at each magnet, stop/finish when Car #1 is detected"
and "rotate until Car #1 passes X Times" sequences are relatively simple tasks

FWIW... 

Happy Modelling, 
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

PS sounds like an excellent opportunity to investigate Can VS Stepper motors...
(Search "Pelsea Turntable Controller" in the Search Box at Top Right of this page)

PPS also a perfect opportunity for some LayoutSound design...

Ferris wheel questions/answers

Hi all -

Glad you liked the article (be sure to click on the rating stars!).  Thanks for your questions and comments.

I currently have the arduino programmed to turn on the Ferris wheel when the IR beam is interrupted by a passing train (transmitter and receiver angled across the track from each other) and turn it off when the beam is back (train has passed).  Not prototypical, I know, but pleasing to my usual train crew.  Since I send that information to JMRI, the same sensor can be used to indicate train location/block occupancy for other purposes in JMRI.

Great idea on slow start-up and shut-down.  That should be relatively easy to add to the arduino sketch.  I’ll work on it and post an update to my code when I do.  I keep the current speed setting so can calculate a fraction to step it up or down from that speed.

As to stopping to load and unload passengers:  remember I said this was a “simple” animation!  My goal was to show how easy it is to get started with “traintech”!  Of course, you are welcome to add magnetic switches, counters, stepper motors, etc. One of the benefits of using arduinos connected to your PC on your railroad: you can do almost anything, adding as much realism as you want.

Thanks again, and have fun!

Jerry  

I appreciated the

I appreciated the straightforward explanations and additional notes about what you did and why. Very helpful for inspiring a project of my own. I had no idea the part prices had dropped so low. One thing I'd still like to know is about how long it took you to complete this project, given your level of experience with the components involved. Always helps to have some idea of the effort it takes to accomplish something like this. Thanks for your article!