Report on installation of Logic Rail "Grade Crossing Pro" and ITT (ITTC?) "Crossing Bell" sound modules:
Last week I installed a crossing flasher system on a set of 30" x 48" club modules for a show this past weekend. The system worked very well 'right out of the box'. A miracle, given my clumsy hands and tendency to make wiring mistakes. I recommend this combination (LogicRail + ITT) to anyone wanting to drive a pair of crossing gates or flashers such as Tomar's, which I use. I am not affiliated in any way with any of these fine companies.
I do have considerable electronic knowledge, and surely could build my own detect and driver modules; however, even using some of the many circuits on the web, it would need a good bit of fussing to get a home-brew system working in anything close to the realistic timing and operation of these commercial units. My own experience tells me that I could never hope to duplicate this combination, even approximately, at the cost of these modules - and also without a lot of personal work to build/test/correct/test/....etc ad infinitum. Far easier and cheaper, for me, to go with these devices on the market.
This grade crossing spans three tracks, with a portion of a turnout in the road, leading to a spur (fourth track). To do this right, it needed three GCP modules, one sound module and speaker, two extra photocells, a pair of Tomar 862 4-LED crossbucks, and a 12-volt wallwart for power. I could also have driven crossing gates, such as Tomar's or NJ's, with the same setup. The wiring was a bit more tedious than I had anticipated, but not too difficult. If one can read and follow instructions, it goes pretty simply, though the three GCP's required careful attention to instructions. Each GCP (Grade Crossing Pro) comes with four photocells; each of the three tracks required four photocells (near and far, each side of the crossing); I put two on the spur side of the turnout, for a total of 14 photocells. Sounds a bit hairy, I know, but it worked just fine. Any train entering the crossing zone, on any track, triggers the system independently, which is just what I wanted. The 'bell' (sound) module from ITT also works very well with plenty of volume, which is adjustable.
There are adjustments on the GCP's for photocell sensitivity to room lighting; we operated in the local shopping mall, and all the 14 photocells worked just great with no adjustments needed.
The GCP boards are very solidly made, with mechanically stable connector modules that will obviously withstand many connect/disconnect cycles.
The only little foible is that, on our modular layout, the three tracks/trains mean that the bell is ringing more than it is off - creating a bit of bell ringing in the head for the operators, after a little while. Also, the GCP's seem to get locked up after an hour or so, with the flashers and bell remaining on continuously with no trains present. I need to get into the instructions to see if there is an adjustment to correct this, but it happens infrequently and a simple cycling on/off of the wallwart (cheap toggle switch) resets the system - making it a non-problem.
The system worked very reliably and continuously, all day Saturday and Sunday, with no real problems other than audio saturation in the brains of the operators. I will include an on/off toggle on the sound module, next time, to give it some 'rest'.
I'm definitely going to use this same system on my home layout, with moving crossing gates as well.
links: ITT sound modules - www.ittproducts.com; LogicRail - www.logicrailtech.com
Dick Chaffer / Bozeman, Montana