Garden Railway Forum

I'm conducting a bit of market research here. Together with a friend who is a talented programmer and circuit designer I'm working on a range of speed controls, both for R/C and manual locos. Current offerings on the market are both bulky and expensive.

What is the preference in terms of connectors? Solder pads or screw terminals? Or to have the choice when you buy?

Any features you would like to see? We will probably incorporate soft start in the manual controller and a single three-way switch for fwd/stop/rev.

I'd go for screw terminals simply because of the number of of bits of kit i've seen ruined due to over-enthusiastic use of a soldering iron. You can also save money by having just one speed controller for several models fitted with velcro.
Barry

In my book, screw terminals are preferable - at least then you won't get some numpty with a soldering iron accidentally dismantling the unit by dwelling too long with the iron........................

I'm used to SMD soldering under a stereo microscope but I can appreciate that not everyone is confident with a soldering iron (or has the correct type) so I'm leaning towards screw connectors as well.

Could you not incorporate both options in the PCB plan, due to PCB mount screw terminals, having a leg, and a solder pad for you to solder it too.

Then the wire can be passed through the hole and soldered on.

if that makes sense

Screw terminals are good, until they come loose/ the screw head is made of cheese!

Once a decent iron has been obtained, surface mount stuff is a doddle, its having the right tools for the job, but as a manufacturer, you'll never get every customer with the right tools for the job- been there, never again.

Screw terminals gets my vote - purely on the experience that not one of my controllers to date has been "fit & forget"
It's more convenient to just release screws to strip something down than removing heatshrink and unsoldering

I used to make and sell micro R/C receivers. Once had a customer who appearently tried to solder wires onto it with a 80W iron. Several SMD components went missing in the attempt....

Busted Bricks:72923 wrote:I used to make and sell micro R/C receivers. Once had a customer who appearently tried to solder wires onto it with a 80W iron. Several SMD components went missing in the attempt....

I had similar experiences when making a DCC decoder kit for a friend when he soldered it into his loco...

Though, I think specifying the terminals as an option pre soldered or unsoldered, may give you a wider market. If I bought one, Id be removing the screw terminals and hard soldering it.

Although I can solder,and have a variety of irons, I prefer screws.

Busted Bricks:72916 wrote:What is the preference in terms of connectors? Solder pads or screw terminals? Or to have the choice when you buy?

Something that can be dismantled easily - screw terminals would be fine. The AnDel RC controller comes with wires soldered on to the board - which I just ran to chocolate block terminals. But screw terminals on the board would suit better still.

Busted Bricks:72916 wrote:Any features you would like to see? We will probably incorporate soft start in the manual controller and a single three-way switch for fwd/stop/rev.

This is mostly about RC rather than manual.

I have one loco with a MicroViper Loco, and the railcar with an AnDel controller. The great thing about the AnDel is having the forward/reverse and speed on different sticks - which makes it far, far easier to run smoothly when you have the throttle on a channel with a ratchet. Having driven both I'd always in future buy on that works this way rather than from a single centre-sprung stick.

Both have that annoying whining noise that I presume comes from the PWM frequency.

A directional lighting circuit is a nice bonus on the AnDel one, not that I've wired that up yet. (The railcar is also getting RC interior lights, so I can switch 'em on going into tunnels...)

The noise is due to a low(ish) PWM frequency as you suggest.

I think we might be able to offer the option of single or dual switch operation on the manual controller.

The R/C controller will most likely have a second input that will allow you to switch lights on/off etc.