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Tram wiring help needed!

Discussion in 'Starbound Discussion' started by desbro, Jul 15, 2017.

  1. desbro

    desbro Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    I'm super rusty with using the wiring system and everything (what little I did know) is fuzzy coming back to the game. BUT. I am loving the security of the tram versus platform method of travel down really deep elevator shafts.

    That being said, I'm stuck trying to make a cross section of tramline with a single tram work between call buttons.

    [​IMG]

    It's presently only an inverted T, but I intend to go farther down into a proper cross section of tramline. This is the main shaft. Please ignore various little disconnected bits, this is still largely a work in progress.

    The problem I'm running into happens generally when I want to call the tram up to one of its vertical call points from the horizontal ones and it just runs side to side ignoring that vertical bit of railing. Before you question the ram stop in the middle it's purely for the convenience of riding. I'd like to choose left or right rather than always default to the left stop (as it seems wont to do when there is just a cross section of track there.)

    I've used no wiring outside of what's considered basic to get the tram from stop to stop (and I'd love if I didn't have to, but at this point I think what I'm doing may require slightly less basic wiring)​

    TL;DR;
    • Longterm goal is a cross section rather than inverted T. Just haven't cleared farther down.
    • Tram stop in the middle is to have greater control when riding down (I can pick left or right, without advanced wiring. But if you know something I don't, please help me.)
    • Issue occurs when calling tram from a horizontal position, to a vertical one. It ignores the upper track entirely and bobbles between left and right endlessly.
     
  2. M_Sipher

    M_Sipher Oxygen Tank

    I wanna say you can try something with rail-gates and inverters and timers so when you press a button, the gates close off the directions you don't want the rail car to go long enough to force it to the way you do. Like, there's airlock-like gates that won't interrupt a rail (right? in space stations?) which might be what you need.

    Unfortunately I'm not quite in a position to experiment with that right now.
     
  3. Masiakasaurus

    Masiakasaurus Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Rail objects always follow the path of least resistance. If there's a downward path, they'll always take it; if there's an upward path, they'll never pick it over a flat or downward one.

    The only way around this is to ensure that when you want it to go up, there isn't any other path available. A combination of rail switches and sensors should do the trick.

    1 sensor on the left path
    1 sensor on the right
    2 rail switches at the left and right of the intersection
    1 sensor on the upper path
    2 persistent switches

    Here's how it works:

    Wire the left sensor to the 1st persistent switch top input (on)
    Wire the right sensor to the 2nd persistent switch top input (on)
    Wire the upper sensor to both persistent switches top inputs (on)

    Now wire the 1st switch output to the left rail switch, and the 2nd switch output to the right rail switch

    Finally, wire the call button for the upper tram route to the lower input (off) on both switches

    When you press the call button on the upper path, it'll turn both rail switches off. But, as the tram moves towards the junction, it will pass either the left or right rail sensor (they take like half a second to register - put them several blocks away from the junction!). The sensor in turn switches on the rail switch for the corresponding side, but the other side remains off, blocking travel in that direction. Since it has nowhere else to go, it'll go up. Then it will pass over the upper sensor, turning both switches on so that it can travel freely in any direction on its return.

    Doing this with a 4 way intersection uses similar logic, but you need to keep the lower path blocked off until it's needed using rail switches.
     
  4. desbro

    desbro Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    I have a long distance for wiring to travel from the top call button, I just use relays in that instance, right?
     
  5. desbro

    desbro Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Also, will that center tram stop be an issue? or is t basically just a junction?

    [​IMG]
    (are the switches not where they need to be?)

    [​IMG]
    Still having that issue of it bobbling side to side, it looks like both he right and left are opening up rather than closing.


    Nevermind that, got it working for the t junction anyways. If you could spare a little knowledge for how to do a complete cross section I would be GREATLY appreciative.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2017
  6. DraikNova

    DraikNova Spaceman Spiff

    Here's my similar but infinitely expandable solution:
    First off, since default rail tram stops have wiring ports above and below them that block you from wiring objects directly above/below them, it requires rail tram stops with diagonally placed wiring points, either from Enhanced Rails or from my mod. Then, you'll need rail switches, persistent switches and rail sensors. You place the tram stops where you want them and wire them up normally, then at your middle stop, you put the rail switches directly besides it. 10 blocks further away from the rail switches, you put rail sensors (so make sure there are 9 blocks between them). You put the persistent switches somewhere, it doesn't matter where exactly, but you'll be using one persistent switch for each direction. The output of each persistent switch should be attached to the corresponding direction's rail switch, and its set (the upper input) should be attached to all buttons for rail trams in that direction of the network. You should also hook up the buttons for each direction to the reset (lower input) of the persistent switches of all other directions. You hook up each direction's rail sensor to the reset of the persistent switch of that side (this is optional but helps prevent issues as far as I can tell) and to the rail switch of that direction. Net result: persistent switch/button system opens a direction for access when you want a tram to go that way, and rail sensors open a direction for access when a rail tram is approaching from that direction.

    Now, you still need to be able to access all directions when moving from the middle stop when you're in it. To solve this, just add a motion sensor close to the middle stop and hook it up to all rail switches.

    This works for 3 and 4-way intersections. No clue if it works for 5 and 6-way intersections.
     
  7. desbro

    desbro Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    @DraikNova Thanks a bunch! I'll look into it today and give it a whirl.
     

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