I have installed a pair of NJInternational crossing gates powered by a Tortoise. BTW this is HO scale. A single track, bi-directional. I am in a quandry trying to decide on the activation method. I have no problem using optosensors or infra red. The optosensors would be easier to install, I think. Lighting should not be a problem. It will be quite a few years before I can do "night" on the layout. I have looked at the Circuitron and I liked the idea of having 4 sensors. which allow the train to pass before raising the gates. I also went to Dallee Electronics and couldn't tell if it had the same abilities as the Circuitron regarding the 4 sensors. However, the idea of a digital bell intrieged me? Does anyone know how it sounds? If you have installed either of these two or any other brand I would be very interested in learning how you like it and would you do it the same way if you had to do it again.. Thanks for your help.
Chris, You might want to take a look at RR-CirKits crossing gate controller. It includes the detection and logic on the board. It also has the flashing light, gate activation, and bell incorporated. It comes complete with everything except the actual detectors (IR receivers, reed switches, current detector, your choice). It even has the speaker. Here is a link: http://www.rr-cirkits.com/cgc-rev-f.html The controller has many options. The way I have mine set up is when a train enters the first detection section, the lights start flashing and the bell starts. The bell sound is an actual recording loaded on a chip. A few seconds later the gate starts coming down. When the gate is all the way down the bell stops. You can set the bell to continue ringing or go off after so many seconds if you so desire but I used a micro-switch to tell the board when to turn the bell off. After the train clears the island, the gate goes up slowly. When the gate is full up the lights stop flashing. Very realistic in appearance and sound. David
