Boston MBTA Transit Bus

Boston MBTA Transit Bus

This is the first vehicle I started experimenting with and originally was built with an Arduino micro and Infrared proximity sensors for distance control. It also had 9v power as well. It is a OEM Faller modified chassis with the body removed.   

I found the Arduino was very effective but the 9v battery was too heavy and it caused high load on the dc motor. The Arduino micro offers many possibilities,  however it's size is still not ideal for anything in 1:87 besides buses and trucks.

I decided to start testing the DC-Car dc05si decoders in this vehicle.

Here you can see the scratch built shell for the bus test fitted and wired decoder installed.

The bus now uses 2.4v Faller batteries and a new Reed switch. I will update this post soon. I have started to decal the body and getting ready for paint. 

After the paint and decals are applied I started adding the lighting. After making up each 0402 LED and installing it I like to test it with a breadboard and 2.6v with a resistor.

After test fitting the LEDs for proper location, I add a drop of superglue to hold the light and wires in place.

I use small zip ties and electrical tape to keep things organized during construction. When wiring with these vehicles I find it easier to wire from the bottom up so you don't have to work around what you've already installed.

Hopeing that this will work, I am using a slightly larger Guage wire as a bus wire that the smaller leads for the LEDs are soldiered to for connecting to the DC-Car chip so I don't have to soldier so many times to the chip and risk damaging it.

Here you can see all of the wiring and lighting completed (may add a few more lights later) but you get the idea. After months of little work here and there I finally was about to get the bus to respond to infrared commands using a DC-Car dc05-si chip. I am happy with its response and quality. I do note how the lighting add the bench effects commands but I expected this. 

This is a quick video shot on the work bench of the basic functions being tested. It still needs windows and detailing but this gives you a good idea of where this project is going.