TOD – DCC Track Occupancy Detector

TOD is a DCC-only track occupancy detector for model railroad.

Basic features:

• Up 4 tracks
• Galvanically separated outputs
• Section occupied = output grounded
• No special power supply required
• Maximum track current: 3 A continuous without passive cooler, 5 A continuous with passive cooler.
• Could be divided into pairs with separated J&K
• Easily automatically-mounted-parts via JlcPcb

This repository contains schematics & PCB layout of TOD PCB.

Design

Schematics & PCB are designed in KiCad 8.

Production

PCB is prepared to be automatically assembled in JLCPCB. SMD parts on bottom side should be assembled. Each SMD part has its LCSC_ITEM attribute set.

$ make fab

Authors

TOD is designed by Model Railroaders Club Brno, Jan Horáček. Inspiration from Vladimíř Soukup, Zababov.

Recommended quality check procedure after manufacturing

Use 15 kOhm resistor as a load. Use DCC 15 V. Use standard room temperature.

1. Check LED reaction for de/occupation of each track circuit.
2. Measure voltage output – occupied voltage should be below 0.5 V.
3. Check connection of J, K, GND.

License

Content of the repository is provided under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License as openhardware project. You may download any data, contribute to the project, create PCB yourself or even sell it yourself.