This caused some major concern when it first appeared on the display. For starters it shouldn't be possible for a Duette transformer to tolerate that kind of current draw for more than a few seconds - this went on for considerably longer. Thankfully I soon realised that both tracks were actually running perfectly and quickly deduced that the problem was with the gauge itself.
When I designed the panel I already had the two ammeters that I'd intended to use in the loft and as there was only two, there was no provision made for more, even though there are four controllers. A few issues with the upper loop, combined with the realisation that we could actually use the top loop for much longer, double-headed trains made me realise that we should consider installing ammeters for every controller.
The digital ammeters also don't really suit the vintage 1950s look, plus they have to be wired between the output and the track, wiring between rectifier and controller is preferred as this would measure current irrespective of the direction of the train but these digital meters just wouldn't work in that formation and they can't measure negative current.
I needed a better solution so I went back to basics, analogue meters - nothing wrong with a big needle swinging across a dial face!
After hours of searching I couldn't find a design I liked, the ones I did like didn't have the range I was looking for, I know it's possible to adjust this but this would be more time-consuming. In the end I bought a set of cheap gauges and decided to have a bash at creating a bespoke dial face.
Very cheap looking, and that's because they are cheap! Also they look relatively easy to dismantle.
...And they were! Here the faces have been removed and turned around so that I have a blank face ready for my bespoke design.
A quick scan of the original dial face gave me a design template to work with, after some colour and bespoke graphics, including adding the name of each track circuit via the totems, I had the design printed, again onto self-adhesive vinyl.
Same problems with inkjet printing on vinyl, very hard to smooth out the bubbles. After this picture was taken I stripped the dial again and smoothed it some more before final drilling into the control panel.
Thankfully I kept copies of all the files when I made the original graphics, I had to reprint the section behind the dials as most of it was destroyed during the drilling process.
These dials, to fit them snugly, require some pretty large round holes, I used a wooden hole saw to do this, it took ages and it's fair to say the hole saw wont be making many more holes now (but it did the job!) after drilling more holes to secure the gauges, I bolted them into position and then made a wiring loom section using more pluggable connectors so that the panel is still completely removable for onward maintenance.
The whole thing was then taken over to the layout for final testing - thankfully everything works and I now have ammeters that read in both directions, they also seem more accurate and react quicker to potential issues, vitally important stuff.
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