Proposal for sound handling and momentum integration

[Archive]

Originally posted by jjcrooke on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Oct 4, 2015

Hi Bill,

I'm in favor of your proposal. I bought the RailPro system at the Springfield show last January but have not used it yet (I should have some tracks down hopefully by Christmas). I follow the activities of this group with a keen interest and I appreciate the efforts everyone has put toward improving RailPro.

Joel
St-Albert ON
Canada

[Alan]

Originally posted by William Brillinger on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Oct 3, 2015

Alan,

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying about needing to re-enable manual notching.

I misunderstood your use of cancel. I took that to mean manual notching no longer available until re-enabled someway. After reading your operation description cancel means override which makes total sense now. Do I understand correctly?

[William Brillinger]

I misunderstood your use of cancel. I took that to mean manual notching no longer available until re-enabled someway. After reading your operation description cancel means override which makes total sense now. Do I understand correctly?

Yup, you've got it.

[William Brillinger]

Please Vote...

I intend to submit this proposal to Ring Engineering on Monday. If you are a RailPro user PLEASE register your vote, for or against. The more participation we show as a group, the stronger our voice will be on this and other topics and in the future.

Thanks!

[G8B4Life]

Bill,

Although I voted some time ago I just reread the document.

Given that there was some confusion over the word cancelled I wonder if it might pay to change the word cancelled to overridden in the combined auto & manual notching part before submission to Ring.

- Tim

[William Brillinger]

Agreed, I will change the word Cancelled to Overridden.

- IF the user decreased the throttle to 30% auto-notching brings the sound down to notch 3 and manual notching is overridden.
- IF the user increased the throttle to 50% or 60%, notching does not change.
- IF the user increased the throttle to 70%, auto notching increases to notch 7 and manual notching is overridden.

[William Brillinger]

Current Copy of the Proposal

2015-10-17 Railpro feature requests - momentum integration.pdf

[Josephbw]

Bill it sounds like a good idea, but not being all that familiar with Rail Pro, I have a question. Is the notching done with separate buttons on the HC, while the throttle knob controls the speed?

Thanks, Joe

[William Brillinger]

Manual Notching is done with separate buttons. This already exists in the railpro architecture.

What we are proposing here is to meld the two together to get a more realistic operation of the prime mover sounds, allowing you to spool all the way up (starting a heavy train) or all the way down (coasting) independent of the throttle setting - BUT to also detect changes to the throttle that indicate the prime mover should be changing.

So if you're coasting (sound at idle) at 50 mph, and drop to 35, the sound does not change, but when you decide to increase to 45mph, the sound will automatically ramp back up without any action beyond increasing the throttle.

[Josephbw]

Lets say you get the train rolling and ramp up to notch 6 while the train speed is 5 MPH. Is this done with the throttle knob, and basically your momentum setting will slowly increase the speed?

[William Brillinger]

Speed is always controlled by the Knob and momentum setting. Just as it is now.
Using the knob will be just like it is now, until you hit the notch up or down button.

..so to start your movement at notch 6, you use the notch up button to go to notch 6 (that's just a sound) then you use the knob to slowly increase your speed.

IF your speed gets to be fast enough that your throttle is "faster than notch 6" in auto notching, then auto notching takes over.

Notch up and Notch down override the automatic sound settings where appropriate, and vice versa.

[William Brillinger]

Notching response examples from the proposal:

You're working a heavy train:

    momentum is set to 10 seconds for high throttle responsiveness:
    notch 8 is set at 80% for the sake of easy numbers
       1.   Engine is idling, you're ready to move
       2.   Manually set notch 2
       3.   Roll the throttle a bit to slowly begin moving
       4.   Manually set notch 8
       5.   Slowly work the throttle up 60% (your desired speed)
       6.   Manually set notch 3 ( the train is up to speed and not working very hard)
       7.   Train is going too fast, you roll the throttle down to 45%
                (notch & sound does not change because you did not go below 30% which is notch 3)
       8.   Train is now too slow, you increase power to 50% - Notch auto increases to notch 5 (you needed the power!)
       9.   Train is up to speed, manually set back to notch 3.
       10.   Time to stop... optionally set notch 1
       11.   slowly work the throttle down to zero. If notch 1 was not set, then the notching will decrease
                 with your power reductions.

You're working a light train:

    momentum is set to 10 seconds for high throttle responsiveness:
    notch 8 is set at 80% for the sake of easy numbers
       1.   Engine is idling, you're ready to move
       2.   Roll the throttle to 20%, sound increases with your movement
       3.   Manually set notch 1 since you're coasting.
       4.   Roll the throttle up to 30% - auto notch runs up to 3, you needed the power.
       5.   Manually set notch 1 since you're coasting.
       6.   Roll the throttle to 0% to stop.

[Josephbw]

Thanks for the clarification Bill, you got my vote. 

[William Brillinger]

The proposal has been sent.

I would encourage anyone who is interested  to contact Tim Ring directly ( support@ringengineering.com ) and voice your support.

Cheers!

[William Brillinger]

A short reply from Ring, acknowledging receipt...

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the input!

We will take a look and get back to you.

Tim

Ring Engineering Inc.