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Free-mo In The Pacific Northwest
A number of Northwest modelers are actively building Free-mo modules. This page is designed to provide information on these efforts and help you learn more about the Free-mo effort. |
Northwest Modules
Pudding River by Rick Selby
Amity by Keith Thompson (coming soon)
Paxton by Brian Rutherford (coming soon)
Wallace by Paul Mack (coming soon)
Have a Free-mo module? Contact us with a description
and a few photos and we'll add it to the list here.
Wiring The Free-mo Track Bus Connectors
One of the most challenging parts
of building a Free-mo module so far has been the wiring of the track bus
connectors on the ends of the modules. It's very easy to get them confused and
wired incorrectly as a result. |
To help alleviate this confusion,
Keith Thompson produced this truth table that shows the proper plug orientation
on the ends of each module. Several of us in the Northwest have chosen to use
blue and yellow
for our track bus feeders - blue for the south rail, yellow for the north. We
also designated each module with
an "A" end, and a "B" end. Our The A end is identified as, when facing the
module, the North (yellow) rail is
on the right. Conversely, the B end places the north rail on the left. See the
diagram below. |
Wide blade | Narrow blade | Wide slot | Narrow slot | |||||||
Module 1 | A End | N | Rails | S | ||||||
Male | Female | |||||||||
N | S | S | N | |||||||
l | I | l | I | |||||||
B End | ||||||||||
Male | Female | |||||||||
S | N | N | S | |||||||
l | I | l | I | |||||||
B to A | Either Male to either Female and wire colors match | |||||||||
Module 2 | A End | N | Rails | S | ||||||
Male | Female | |||||||||
N | S | S | N | |||||||
l | I | l | I | |||||||
B End | ||||||||||
Male | Female | |||||||||
S | N | N | S | |||||||
l | I | l | I | |||||||
B to B | Either Male to either Female but wire colors don't match | |||||||||
Module 3 | B End | S | Rails | N | ||||||
Male | Female | |||||||||
S | N | N | S | |||||||
l | I | l | I | |||||||
A End | ||||||||||
Male | Female | |||||||||
N | S | S | N | |||||||
l | I | l | I | |||||||
A to A | Either Male to either Female but wire colors don't match | |||||||||
Module 4 | A End | N | Rails | S | ||||||
Male | Female | |||||||||
N | S | S | N | |||||||
l | I | l | I | |||||||
B End | ||||||||||
Male | Female | |||||||||
S | N | N | S | |||||||
l | I | l | I | |||||||
The key to wiring modules successfully is to designate a north and south rail and an A and B end. By doing so, you can easily determine when modules are paired and coupled correctly. When you pair module ends "A" to module ends "B", the colors should "flow" thru the connectors. However, if you connect an "A" end to another "A" end, or a "B" end to a "B" end, the colors should reverse thru the connectors. Logically speaking, you're "flipping" the north and south rail such that the wire crossover is necessary to maintain correct track polarity. And in any case, only one set of connectors needs to be used. |
For questions or more information, contact us.