Modified Time Saver Layout

John,
Nice lighting job! I hope I can become as competent as you in the wiring and electricity department.

Scott

 

Thanks, Scott.

 

Looks real good there John

 

Since I'm playing around with lighting apps and installation, I need more buildings to light. Finally back to this freight depot. Really disliked the open floors, so am making my own. Basswood cut to fit and will eventually add a third floor for the attic, and put in support posts so it can be removed as a unit for future work, both physical and electronic. Roofs will be removable on both sections. Floors will be scribed to simulate boards and stained.

 

Really like the direction your going John

 

Trying something new (for me) by drawing and scribing lines using a drafting pencil with fairly hard lead, sharpened to a fine point. Next step will be further texturing and staining.

The first picture shows the setup using two drawing boards, though one could be replaced by a simple board, held in place with carpenter clamps, and an HO scale ruler held under the upper board.


The next one shows the scale.


This one shows part way thru scribing/drawing. I chose one foot wide boards.


And the final one, after adding board ends with kinda random lengths.

 

All four floor sections done. Now texture and stain them, then add support pillars to 1/2/3 floors that will allow it to be removed.

 

Very nice J

 

John,
Looking good! I like the idea of using the hard lead and ruler.
I just completed scribing deck boards on the scow I'm making in Z.
I used a compass extension arm and a block of plastic as the guide.
Scott

 

Good news and not so good news. Color seemed to work well using:
India Ink
Pinata' Alcohol Ink, Havanna Brown
91% alcohol

Put miscellaneous weights to keep floors from bending too much which in turn showed up as lighter areas on the floors. I'm not too worried as they will still get some weathering chalks applied and (maybe) some freight and equipment to hide the areas even more than being enclosed in walls with ceilings or roofs.

Overall, I'm pleased with the progress. Pics follow:

 

For the large freight house, I modified some code that I developed a year ago as a test for building lighting and it compiled clean on first try and the breadboard test bed worked on its first try. Time to quit, I guess! lol

Eventually hard coded "times" will be replaced with randomized start/stop within constraints. Also hoping to have a centralized Mega with RTC broadcasting the fast clock times to all Arduino Nanos on the layout. But in the meantime, this will work. There are seven locations within this building, each with two LEDs. A freight room, a priority freight/office (1st floor), an office (2nd floor), attic, external lights on the back, and two locations on the dock.

Here is the breadboard.


And here is the code.

/*
Large_Frt_House_Lighting
Want to set up time spans for lights on by hour/minute format (24hr clock)
Want fast clock capability both as testing function and normal running. Usually 4:1 or 5:1
Include start of sequence flash of all lights 5 times
Watch push button to restart sequence
Initial lights to include
Freight Room (x2)
1st Floor (x2)
2nd Floor (x2)
Attic
Outside Back Door (x2)
Outside Freight Dock Main (x2)
Outside Freight Dock Office (x2)

*/
// Time Variables
unsigned long currtime;
unsigned long starttime;
unsigned long elapsetime;
float floatelapse;
float hourconv;
float hourmsecs = 3600000;
float minmsecs = 60000;
float daymsecs = hourmsecs * 24;
float elapseoffset = 16.95 * hourmsecs; // On startup, start the clock at approx 16:47
float flmin;
float fastratio = 12;
int ihour;
int imin;
int iprevmin = 99; // integer dummy value of previous minute for proper start up

// LED Info
int frtroom = 9; //red
int firstfloor = 3; //yellow
int secondfloor = 5; //green
int attic = 6; //blue
int outbackdoor = 7; //yellow
int outdockfreight = 2; //white
int outdockoffice = 4; //white

// Room Arrays
int onhrArray[] = {17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17, 17}; // Time on hour
int onmiArray[] = {00, 05, 10, 25, 00, 12, 12}; // Time on minute
int offhArray[] = {19, 19, 18, 17, 19, 19, 19}; // Time off hour
int offmArray[] = {29, 28, 20, 40, 29, 28, 28}; // Time off minute
int statArray[] = {false, false, false, false, false, false, false}; //Current on/off status of LED
int ledArray[] = {frtroom, firstfloor, secondfloor, attic, outbackdoor, outdockfreight, outdockoffice}; //Pin numbers of corresponding rooms
int allarraysize = sizeof(ledArray)/sizeof(ledArray[0]);
int outdockfreightIdx = 5;
int justRoomLEDs[] = {frtroom, firstfloor, secondfloor, attic, outbackdoor, outdockfreight, outdockoffice};
int justroomLEDsize = sizeof(justRoomLEDs)/sizeof(justRoomLEDs[0]);

// Misc Variables
int i = 0;
int j = 0;
int longdelay = 300;
int shortdelay = 200;

// Start of Code
void setup() {
starttime = millis();
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(frtroom, OUTPUT);
pinMode(firstfloor, OUTPUT);
pinMode(secondfloor, OUTPUT);
pinMode(attic, OUTPUT);
pinMode(outbackdoor, OUTPUT);
pinMode(outdockfreight, OUTPUT);
pinMode(outdockoffice, OUTPUT);

for (i=0; i<5; i = i + 1) { // Flash all LEDs 5 times
for (j=0; j<justroomLEDsize; j = j + 1) {
digitalWrite(justRoomLEDs[j], HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
}
delay(longdelay); // wait for long delay
for (j=0; j<justroomLEDsize; j = j + 1) {
digitalWrite(justRoomLEDs[j], LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
}
delay(shortdelay); // wait for short delay
}
}

void print2digits(int number) { // Print with leading zero
if (number >=0 && number < 10) {
Serial.print('0');
}
Serial.print(number);
}

void loop() { // Main Loop
currtime = millis();
elapsetime = currtime - starttime;
elapsetime = (elapsetime * fastratio) + elapseoffset;
floatelapse = float (elapsetime);
hourconv = floatelapse / hourmsecs;
ihour = int(hourconv);
flmin = hourconv - ihour;
imin = 60 * flmin;
if (imin != iprevmin) {
Serial.print(" Time: ");
if (ihour > 23) {
ihour = 0;
starttime = currtime;
elapseoffset = 0;
}
print2digits(ihour);
Serial.print (":");
print2digits(imin);
Serial.println();
iprevmin = imin;

for (j=0; j<allarraysize; j = j + 1) {
if (statArray[j] == false && ihour == onhrArray[j] && imin == onmiArray[j]) {
statArray[j] = true;
digitalWrite (ledArray[j], HIGH);
}
else if (statArray[j] == true && ihour == offhArray[j] && imin == offmArray[j]) {
statArray[j] = false;
digitalWrite (ledArray[j], LOW);
}
}
}

delay (75);
}

 

Here is a Fritzing view of the breadboard test setup.