Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Dave Holt
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Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby Dave Holt » Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:56 pm

Can anyone advise the wiring arrangements for the 5 pin DIN socket to go with a hand-held Pentroller - I have a spare, somewhere, with the instructions, but can't find it just now!
Ideally, a description based on a view of the tags on the back of the socket would be most useful. (Presumably, two pins are 16V AC and two are outputs to the track - but which is which?)

Any help gratefully received.

Dave.

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Paul Willis
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby Paul Willis » Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:14 pm

Dave Holt wrote:Can anyone advise the wiring arrangements for the 5 pin DIN socket to go with a hand-held Pentroller - I have a spare, somewhere, with the instructions, but can't find it just now!
Ideally, a description based on a view of the tags on the back of the socket would be most useful. (Presumably, two pins are 16V AC and two are outputs to the track - but which is which?)


Hi Dave,

I've got a set of the instructions back at home. I only saw them on Sunday! I'm in the Netherlands until Thursday, but if no one else can help before the weekend I'll scan them in and mail them to you.

Flymo
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Dave Holt
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby Dave Holt » Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:40 pm

Hi, Flymo,

Thanks for the kind offer - I'd appreciate that.

Regards,

Dave.

Philip Hall
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby Philip Hall » Wed Mar 03, 2010 12:08 am

Hi Dave,

The usual convention is pins 1 & 4, AC, 3 & 5 DC with pin 2 (the centre one in the crescent) spare. If your Pentroller came with a DIN plug fitted, the ones that Stewart usually used have the pin numbers marked next to the pins. The socket, of course, will be a mirror image, but most sockets have the pin numbers marked at the solder tag end. If not, looking at the socket from the front, pins 1 & 4 are on the left, 3 & 5 on the right, with 4 & 5 nearest the centre pin 2.

Be quick with the soldering iron!

Philip

Dave Holt
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby Dave Holt » Wed Mar 03, 2010 12:37 pm

Philip,

Thanks.

The plug on my controller does have the pins numbered, so I'll wire the socket as you advise.

Cheers,

Dave.

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steve howe
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby steve howe » Thu Mar 19, 2015 11:09 pm

I have just been given a Pentroller Rover to try out on my latest plank, can anyone please advise on a couple of things? having never used Pentrollers, I have 4 wires into the plug; white, brown, yellow and green, which of these are the AC inputs? also, can the Rover be used independently of the panel mounted Pentroller?

Many thanks

Steve

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Paul Willis
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby Paul Willis » Fri Mar 20, 2015 7:38 am

steve howe wrote:I have just been given a Pentroller Rover to try out on my latest plank, can anyone please advise on a couple of things? having never used Pentrollers, I have 4 wires into the plug; white, brown, yellow and green, which of these are the AC inputs? also, can the Rover be used independently of the panel mounted Pentroller?

Many thanks

Steve


Hi Steve,

When the original conversation took place, I neglected to add the copy of the instructions for the hand-held Pentroller. So here they are now.

Pentroller instructions.JPG


I'm not sure what difference there may be with a "Rover" compared to a hand-held, although I'm sure that there weren't very many different models of Pentroller produced. I don't recognise your colour coding though, so perhaps the physical pin locations are a better bet, unless someone else knows better.

HTH
Flymo
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steve howe
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby steve howe » Fri Mar 20, 2015 10:20 am

Thanks Paul,

I think a Rover and a handheld are one and the same thing. I'm not sure about the wiring either because I suspect the 5 pin plug has been changed at some point, hence my doubts about the correct order of the pins. I dont want to connect things up wrong and wreck the unit!

Steve

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Jol Wilkinson
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby Jol Wilkinson » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:30 pm

Wasn't the Rover the H/H "remote extension" for the large panel mounted Pentroller.

As I recall there were the large panel mounter unit with two chicken head knobs, the Rover, the self contained H/H unit (small round silver knob) and the small, square panel mounted unit with the single round large back knob. I think the Rover and the H/H both used the same casing.

nigelcliffe
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby nigelcliffe » Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:38 pm

There is at least one more Pentroller variation to the list Jol provided. A large front panel, simple speed control on right and an ammeter on left. Motor type switch also alters the deflection range of the ammeter. This was used by Copenhagen Fields for many years, and I have one of this type.

I also think the hand-held came in two forms, one being stand-alone and the other a rover plug-in to the classic twin-knob panel type. But I am not totally certain.


- Nigel

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barrowroad
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby barrowroad » Sat Feb 13, 2021 3:30 pm

I am seeking some advice on the correct wiring of Pentrollers.

I have been donated a Panel mounted Pentroller and a Handheld Rover Unit. The Panel Unit is contained in a plastic box. Inside this box there is a small square circuit board fixed to it's base. The box has 2 white cables which enter the box at the rear. These 2 cabled have been cut off on the outside, Each cable has 4 wires, one red, one black, one blue and one yellow. The 4 wires from one cable are soldered to the small circuit board. The 4 wires from the other have the red and black screwed to a terminal block on this small circuit board whilst the blue and yellow are loose.
The photos below hopefully explain:-


IMG_20210213_120923240.jpg


IMG_20210213_120947760.jpg


IMG_20210213_120958160.jpg


IMG_20210213_121017864.jpg


IMG_20210213_121046400.jpg


I believe the small circuit board is associated with the Rover Unit and the cable with the 4 soldered wires is intended to go to a 5 pin DIN plug for the Rover. Is this correct.

I believe the wires in the other cable are:-
Blue = AC input
Yellow = AC input
Black = DC output to track
Red = DC output to track
Is this correct?

Finally the terminal blocks - one on the rear of the panel unit, the other on the small circuit board - have 2 terminals marked AC.
Which of these do the loose blue and yellow wires go to?
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shipbadger
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby shipbadger » Sun Feb 14, 2021 9:04 am

I've just looked at my original set of Pentroller instructions. With reference to the wiring all they say are 'connect the AC supply to the terminals marked AC'. Not much further help there I'm afraid :-(

Tony Comber

DavidM
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby DavidM » Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:32 pm

Robin,

I have attached scans of the original instructions for the Rover and Pentroller.

You are right about the 4 wires soldered to the smaller Rover board - they were originally attached to a 5m cable leading to a DIN socket to which the hand-held unit attached.
The output to track comes off the Rover board as shown in your photo. The Yellow and Blue AC IN go to the main Pentroller board, with a single connection from ONE of these to the single AC connection on the Rover board. I never understood this and when I met Stewart Hine many years ago he did explain why but I don't exactly recall the reason. At the time I was doing the artwork for a Pentroller board computer interface for Pendon, dubbed the "Comptroller" - Stewart got to prototype stage with this but it was abandoned I believe because the Pendon drivers objected to being replaced by a computer! There was a separate team developing the software and delays contributed to the project being discontinued. Stewart was ahead of his time.

David Murrell


Pentroller.pdf
Pentroller Rover.pdf

DavidM
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby DavidM » Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:43 pm

I didn't attach the files properly, hope this works...

Pentroller.pdf
Pentroller Rover.pdf
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barrowroad
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby barrowroad » Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:06 pm

David, Thank you so much that's dug me out of a hole!

Regards,

Robin

chrisyates
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby chrisyates » Sat Feb 03, 2024 10:42 am

Hi Can anyone let me have a photograph of the backplane of the handheld Pentroller, please, so that I can see where to connect the incoming 15v AC wires. I removed the cover from our Pentroller to change the direction switch for a centre-off patternm, which I did successfully, but when I went to replace the back cover the AC leads fell off! I know - I should have photographed it before changing the switch - mea culpa. Any help appreciated.

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Paul Willis
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby Paul Willis » Sat Feb 03, 2024 12:17 pm

chrisyates wrote:Hi Can anyone let me have a photograph of the backplane of the handheld Pentroller, please, so that I can see where to connect the incoming 15v AC wires. I removed the cover from our Pentroller to change the direction switch for a centre-off patternm, which I did successfully, but when I went to replace the back cover the AC leads fell off! I know - I should have photographed it before changing the switch - mea culpa. Any help appreciated.


By backplate, do you mean this? The underside of the circuit board?

IMG_0306.JPG


Best,
Paul
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chrisyates
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Re: Hand-held Pentroller wiring

Postby chrisyates » Fri Feb 16, 2024 12:13 pm

Hi, Paul

Many thanks for the photo - much appreciated. Job now done! CHRIS


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