the MRH Forum

Networked Fast Clocks Advertiser promotion
Reply
Regular poster 232 posts Michael Petersen petersenm Regular poster 232 posts
Michael Petersen petersenm

Looking to enhance your operations with a fast clock system?  Do you need multiple displays around the layout?  Do you want a configurable, yet easy to use system for your operators?  The Iowa Scaled Engineering Fast Clock system may be exactly what you need providing wired or wireless networking between clocks, three stored start times, programmable fast time ratios from 1.0:1 to 99.9:1 to match any operating scenario, and a highly flexible, yet easy to use interface.

Fast Clock Master:

 

Fast Clock Master and Secondary Display shown with optional face plates:

 

 

All of our design are open, meaning we provide all the schematics, plans, and source code, and encourage you to find new and creative things to do with them.  If you have any questions, or new ideas, please don't hesitate to post them below.

For more information or to buy, click here.

Michael Petersen & Nathan Holmes
Iowa Scaled Engineering

 

ure-line.png
Modeling the BJRY in Le Mars, IA
Co-owner of Iowa Scaled Engineering
ignature.png
Reply 0
Babbo_Enzo Regular poster 209 posts
Babbo_Enzo

Yes, I've bookmark your Fast

Yes, I've bookmark your Fast Clock page some "years" ago as this is exactly the solution I've in mind !

Great features and the wireless version seems so flexible not only for my personal layout but also for modular (Fremo) meetings where layout are changing every time and wiring is not the best solution to walk around.

BUT: I can't find on your data  any indication of dimensions? How big is the secondary display? It's visible from... how many meters/ feet? That's important, if one plan to suspend the remote display on the walls around the layout, as installation on the fascia is not possible  ... have you pictures of such installations?

Sincerely

Enzo Fortuna
Modeling the friendly Espee in Italy

http://enzofortuna.altervista.org/   http://valleybeforesilicon.blogspot.com/

http://sp-layouts.blogspot.com/
Reply 0
Michael Petersen petersenm Regular poster 232 posts
Michael Petersen petersenm

Dimensions

We recently uploaded a dimensional drawing of the Fast Clock Master and its face plate. The drawing can be found on the documentation page of the MRB-FCM: http://www.iascaled.com/store/MRB-FCM The secondary display PCBs are 3.5" x 1.75" with the face plate slightly larger than that. We will get exact dimensions uploaded to the website shortly. The digits are 0.8" tall (http://www.lumex.com/specs/LDD-A812RI.pdf) in the current version of the secondary display. These are easily visible across the 20' of my workshop, but visibility is of course somewhat subjective. We have also considered making a version of the display with larger digits. If that's something you are interested in, let us know and we can work on something that fits your needs. Several users of the fast clocks have posted their own photos. There are links at the very bottom of this page: http://www.iascaled.com/fastclock/

ure-line.png
Modeling the BJRY in Le Mars, IA
Co-owner of Iowa Scaled Engineering
ignature.png
Reply 0
Joe Atkinson IAISfan Super User 3,774 posts
Joe Atkinson IAISfan

Outstanding system

I've been a VERY happy user of the Iowa Scaled Engineering fast clocks.  Install and setup couldn't have been easier, and they've performed exceptionally well.  As I've tweaked my operation session times, it's been easy to change the fast clock ratio accordingly.

Enzo, my clocks are easily visible from as far away as I can locate myself in my layout room - about 25' (7.62 meters).  They're located in my fascia to facilitate wiring them to the DCC bus, and even with my very twisty aisles, I can see one of my two clocks from anywhere around the layout.

Joe Atkinson
Modeling Iowa Interstate's 4th Sub, May 2005
https://m.facebook.com/groups/iowainterstate4thsub

https://www.iaisrailfans.org/gallery/4thSub

My MRH blog index

https://instagram.com/iaisfan
Reply 0
robteed Frequent poster 865 posts
robteed

MRServo-3: Slow Motion Switch Machine with PowerFrog Technology

Are there plans to have these work with DCC and JMRI? Great products and nice to see them open source.

Thanks, Rob

Rob Teed

Railyard Productions

http://www.youtube.com/user/dreambuilders48808?feature=mhee

http://www.modelrailroadtech.com

http://railyardproductions.com
Reply 0
Michael Petersen petersenm Regular poster 232 posts
Michael Petersen petersenm

MRServo and DCC

We don't have any current plans to make a DCC version of the MRServo turnout controllers. However, they can be used with DCC stationary decoders. We have a writeup here: http://www.iascaled.com/driving-mrservo-from-dcc-accessory-decoders/

ure-line.png
Modeling the BJRY in Le Mars, IA
Co-owner of Iowa Scaled Engineering
ignature.png
Reply 0
Michael Petersen petersenm Regular poster 232 posts
Michael Petersen petersenm

Fast Clocks

For anyone who tried to go to our website yesterday and had trouble viewing the product pages, I apologize.  We had a last minute server move (to something better, fortunately) but that caused a few minor kinks and made the website unavailable at times.  Everything should be back and stable now.

I also wanted to mention two more things about the fast clocks.  First, the master display (1st picture above) is actually quite flexible.  Although we sell it as a fast clock master device, since it is open source, you can tailor the source code to do about anything that you can fit on a 20x4 LCD display, using 4 generic button inputs, a real time clock, and a MRBus network interface.  Other model railroading applications might include an interlocking controller, yard ladder interface, speedometer, animation controller, weather station...  OK, so that last one isn't very model railroading related (but I've done it!).  So, if you have ideas or want to experiment, talk to us.

Second, a starter kit for the fast clock system is available.  It includes everything needed to get started including one fast clock master, 2 slaves, face plates, power supplies, radios (for the wireless version), and a 10% discount.

ure-line.png
Modeling the BJRY in Le Mars, IA
Co-owner of Iowa Scaled Engineering
ignature.png
Reply 0
Michael Petersen petersenm Regular poster 232 posts
Michael Petersen petersenm

Fast Clock Secondary Display Dimensions

Detailed dimensions for the secondary display (and faceplate) have been added to the website:

http://www.iascaled.com/store/MRB-FCS

 

ure-line.png
Modeling the BJRY in Le Mars, IA
Co-owner of Iowa Scaled Engineering
ignature.png
Reply 0
Marty McGuirk Regular poster 464 posts
Marty McGuirk

I'll second Joe's comment

I also use these fast clocks on my home layout and have been extremely pleased with the ease of installation, versatility and performance. 

When it came time to install a fast clock system on my layout the last thing I wanted to do was string miles of wire (there's already enough wire under there) - the wireless feature is what sold me on these, and Joe's recommendation. 

Recently I moved the location of my dispatchers and operators stations - with a hard wired clock this would have been a real pain, with the wireless system all I did was unplug from the wall and move to the new location. 

Actually, I need to get another repeater, now that I'm thinking about it!

Marty

Marty McGuirk, Gainesville, VA

http://www.centralvermontrailway.blogspot.com

 
Reply 0
Reply