page 6
Creating Control panels with Cobalt
D
Alpha
For many DC or DCC modellers... creating a control panel
has always been a complex job that few modellers really
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the like, and inevitably, what seems like hundreds of wires
that all need soldering... exactly, carefully and correctly.
Once that step is done comes the connection to the layout.
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of soldering that you’ll never know works until you plug it in!
Cobalt
D
Alpha and its companion products, Alpha
D
Box
and Alpha
D
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once and for all - and to do it for ALL modellers, DC or DCC!
So how does using Cobalt
D
Alpha make it easier?
Step 1: Install an “Accessory power bus”. That is just two
wires that run around the layout passing all of the pointwork.
We’ll be delivering power down this wire, so please use
1mm
2
(14~16gauge) or greater wire diameter please!
Step 2: Fit all your points (turnouts) with accessory decod-
ers and connect them to the Accessory power bus.
Step 3: Create your control panel design and install the
switches from an Alpha
D
Switch-D pack - You can Choose
between Red, Green or Blue illumination.
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with step by step pictures, on pages 24 and 25)
Step 4: Switch wiring has plugs on it! Just plug the switches
into the Alpha
D
Switch-D Circuit board. (it is just as easy
as assembling LEGO really - you cannot get it wrong)
Step 5: Using DCCconcepts DCD-RGB 3-wire ribbon cable,
connect each output of the Alpha
D
Switch-D to the inputs
of the Cobalt
D
Alpha unit.
Step 6: Using a 6-wire cable DCD-ACL or similar, connect
the Cobalt
D
Alpha unit to Alpha
D
Box, or, if you are an
NCE user, directly to the Powercab Panel or UTP Panel.
Step 7: Following the Cobalt
D
Alpha instructions, set the
cab number for your Cobalt
D
Alpha, then set the switch
numbering as needed (The default is 1~12)
Step 8: Following the instructions for your accessory decod-
ers or digital turnout motors, set their address. In the case of
DCCconcepts Cobalt motors or Acessory decoders, simply
put their “Run / learn” switch into learn mode, press the but-
ton that you want to use to operate them and then return the
switch to the run position.
It really is THAT Easy! No soldering at all, most parts are just
plug and play it’s a FAST process too! Usually, by utilising
Cobalt
D
Alpha, the time taken to produce a professional
control panel is reduced by 75% or more.
Please take a look at pages 24~25 to learn more!
BUILD your panel with Alpha
D
Switch
Connect Alpha
D
Switch to Cobalt
D
Alpha
Connect Cobalt
D
Alpha to Alpha
D
Box
Connect Alpha
D
Box to the “Accessory Bus”
PLEASE NOTE:
In some cases, the images used in this manual are of prototype or pre-production units and may vary slightly in appearance
from those actually on sale. However in all cases all of the connections and diagrams are identical and the information given is correct.
