Automation

With the operating logic, your layout does things on its own: close a barrier, switch a light, let a train continue after a waiting time, switch on the lighting every evening at seven. You build this without a programming language, from boxes and cables – like a circuit diagram you read from left to right. By the end of this page you will have built a complete sequence.

The operating logic at a glance

You find the operating logic in the “Automation” tab. The principle: on the left is what happens – on the right, what is done. The sensors sit on the left (“the feedback sensor becomes occupied”), the logic in the middle (“but only if …”, “wait five seconds”), the actuators on the right (“set the turnout”). A cable connects an output to an input. At its core, there are no more rules than that.

A sequence is such a plan of boxes and cables. You can create as many sequences as you like and switch each one on and off individually.

The mark in front of the name shows at a glance which sequences are currently computing. A ! means: something is missing in this sequence or a node reports an error. Move the mouse over the ! to read the reason.

What has to be there first

The selection lists in the settings come from your layout: blocks, turnouts, locos, trains, train classes. If you haven't created a block yet, a block sensor has nothing to choose from. It then says “Nothing available — create it in the track plan first.”, or for locos and trains “Nothing available — create locos and trains first.” How to create blocks and vehicles is described under Blocks, feedback and insulated joints and Locos, cars and trains.

Feedback sensors are the exception. You don't create them; the layout reports them itself. If the layout is offline, the list of feedback sensors stays empty and shows “No feedback modules known — the layout is offline, or no feedback sensors are connected.” That isn't an error – the layout is just silent.

For the “Accessory decoder” node you need a command station that is allowed to switch. If it is missing, set it up first: Devices and command stations.

Creating a sequence

1. Create a sequenceIn the “Sequences” column, click “+ New”. As long as no sequence is selected, the palette is locked; it says “Select or create a sequence first.”
2. Give it a nameIn the “Name of the sequence” field, enter a meaningful name, such as “Bahnsteig Gleis 1” (platform track 1). The name later appears in every message. Without a name of its own, the sequence is called “Ablauf 1”, “Ablauf 2” and so on.
3. BuildPlace the boxes on the board, set them up and connect them with cables (see below).
4. CheckNo box may be dashed, and there must be no findings below the board.
5. Switch onOnly now flip the “running” switch.

Saving happens by itself. At the top right, “…” appears briefly, then “saved” – or “not saved” if something went wrong. If another window has saved sequences, the board refreshes by itself. “Delete sequence” removes the selected sequence with all its nodes; LoDi-Aura asks you first.

Placing and connecting boxes

Placing boxes

The “Nodes” palette is on the right. There are two ways to get a node onto the board:

• Clicking places it to the right of the last box – quick when you are building a chain.
• Dragging it onto the board places it exactly where you want it.

Move the mouse over a palette button and a single sentence tells you what the node does.

You move boxes by dragging. A click selects a box; the “Settings” column then fills up. You remove the selected box with “Remove node” at the bottom of the settings or with the Delete key.

Drawing cables

A cable always goes from an output (right side of a box) to an input (left side). Drag from the right-hand point of one box to the left-hand point of the next. The connection points only appear when you need them – so the board stays calm. Clicking a cable selects it; the settings then show which boxes it connects, with the “Remove cable” button below. The Delete key works here too.

The feedback loop

Sometimes a result should act back: the actuator reports “arrived”, and that resets the latch at the beginning. The cable then runs against the reading direction, and the plan has a loop. That is allowed and needed.

So that the calculation doesn't get stuck in this loop, LoDi-Aura cuts it open at exactly one point: the cable running back is marked as a feedback loop and only takes effect in the next cycle. Below the board you see a line such as “↩ Feedback loop: “Route” → “Latch” delivers the value of the previous cycle (self-latching).” A cable from a box to itself, however, isn't possible – every loop needs at least two boxes.

What the box shows

Each box carries a symbol for its kind, a colour for its role (sensor, logic, actuator), a title line with its name and a subtitle with what is set – such as the turnout it sets. This lets you read a plan without clicking every box.

A dashed frame means: something is missing here. Usually an object – a turnout actuator without a turnout, a feedback sensor box without a sensor. Such boxes do nothing, and the sequence gets a ! in the list.

You set the name in the title line in the “Label” field. If it stays empty, the name of the node type appears there.

Setting up boxes

What you can set on the selected box is shown in the “Settings” column. A few peculiarities are worth knowing:

• Fields only appear when needed. Anything that is irrelevant for the chosen effect is hidden instead of greyed out.
• Explanations are hidden in the “i” next to the field name: hover over it with the mouse and the text appears, a click expands it below the field.
• A plain-language sentence puts the setting into words, such as “Every 30 minutes from 06:00 to 22:00, every day.”. It is there for double-checking: if the sentence sounds wrong, the setting is wrong.
• Times are set with a slider with fixed notches; next to it is the number for setting it exactly.
• Multiple selection (such as “only these trains”) works with tags, not with a list. If nothing is selected, the node applies to all.
• “(not found)” means: the box points to something that no longer exists – a deleted turnout, a deleted loco.

The test button on the button node

If you select a “Button” box, a button appears in the settings: “⏻ Press and hold” if the button is a push button, or “⏻ Off — click to switch on” or “⏻ On — click to switch off” if it is a switch. This lets you trigger the sequence without a train running.

Who else accesses it?

If several nodes access the same object, the selected box says so: “One more node accesses the same object” or “3 more nodes access it”, with a list of sequence, node and field below. ● means this sequence is running, ○ that it is idle. Clicking a line jumps to that node.

In the track plan, objects that sequences depend on carry a round A mark. In the object's inspector, the “Automation” section shows which sequences access it; clicking a line opens the sequence in the operating logic.

If you want to delete a turnout or a loco in the track plan that sequences still depend on, LoDi-Aura tells you beforehand: “⚠ One sequence hangs on it:” with the list and a note that the nodes will then point to nothing.

Watching what computes

When a sequence is set to “running”, the board comes alive:

Sensors

A sequence needs a beginning. Six sensors are available – they form the left edge of every plan.

Feedback

The simplest trigger: on as long as a single feedback sensor is occupied. This is the raw state without any interpretation – just right for a switching contact that should only say “now”. You only choose the feedback sensor.

Block occupied

One step smarter: on as long as a train is in the block. Below the selection, a bar shows the block with the trains currently in it.

Point in block

The most precise trigger: a pulse when the train passes a particular spot in the block. You drag the trigger range directly on the block bar with its two handles, or use “⌖ Take the position” to place it around the spot where a train is currently standing. When you choose the block, LoDi-Aura first puts the range in the middle of the block.

Button

A button you press yourself – for trying things out and for anything that should happen on demand.

The destination on the button is the trick for a control panel: many buttons with different destination blocks hang on one route box, instead of each button needing its own.

Push buttons in the track plan

The button also exists as a push button in the track plan. Then the control panel sits right where the layout is.

1. Place a push buttonIn the track plan (edit mode), drag a “Push button” from the “Automation” palette group onto the plan.
2. Name itIn the inspector, give it a label under “Name”.
3. Connect itSet “Triggers” to “a sequence button” and, under “Sequence button”, choose the button from your sequence.

In operation, the push button works like the button in the operating logic. If the sequence button is a switch, the push button lights up green as long as it is on – the same in every window.

For simple switching without a condition, you can also set “Triggers” to “an accessory directly”. You then choose the command station, protocol, address or node and the kind (push button or switch) there – without any sequence at all. Such a push button doesn't switch addresses of turnouts and signals from the track plan; for anything with conditions, the sequence in the automation remains the way to go.

If “Sequence button” shows “No button has been drawn on the Automation tab yet.”, first create a “Button” node in a sequence.

Time of day

A pulse at the set time – for the evening lighting or a train that runs every half hour. You set it up like the switching times of a street lamp in the track plan: a row with 🎲, “from”, “to” and “every … min”, with the weekdays to click below.

If a clock leads to a route box, it also appears as a departure in the Timetable – that is the easiest place to create such departures. Sequences from older versions with hour, minute and weekday are converted by LoDi-Aura itself when they are opened; irregular minutes become an even interval. After the update, check the sentence on every clock.

Departure request

The most unusual sensor: it isn't triggered by the layout but by the automation itself. It is on as long as a train ready to depart in this block is waiting for a release, and it carries this train with it – so that, for example, the right loco whistles. As with “Block occupied”, you choose the block and can narrow it down with “only these trains” and “only these train classes”.

Together with the “Release departure” actuator, you tie a departure to a condition. This is the pair you use to put departures in order instead of forbidding them.

Logic

The logic sits between trigger and actuator. Ten nodes, from the one-liner to the step chain.

NOT, AND, OR, Edge and Pulse

Delay

Passes the input on later. The classic is the run-on: the barrier stays closed for a few more seconds after the train has passed. You set the “Duration” with the slider (default 3 s), and the effect in the “Kind” field:

Latch

Remembers an “on” until the reset comes. It has two named inputs: “Set” (S) and “Reset” (R). With it you build “closed from now on, until someone says: open again”. The loco the latch passes on comes from the set input.

One after another

Of several inputs that are present, only ever lets one through until it is finished. This is how you sort out competition: three trains want to enter the same station, one may. The node takes as many cables as you like.

Step – the step chain

The biggest node: one step of a chain. To its “Active” output you attach the actions of this step; you connect “Done” to “Start” of the next step. This creates a sequence of steps that is worked through in order.

Distance travelled

On as soon as a train has travelled far enough since the input signal – the condition for anything that depends not on a feedback sensor but on a length: “three metres further” instead of “at the next contact”. It is measured from the moment the signal arrives, forwards and backwards. If the signal goes away, the measurement starts again next time.

Actuators

On the right is what gets done. Seven actuators – and one of them, the route, can do more than all the others put together. For actuators that need a loco or a train, the default is “the triggering loco” or “the triggering train”: a plan like “whoever enters block 3 whistles” then applies to all trains. Only choose a fixed loco if you really mean a particular one.

Turnout

Sets a turnout from the track plan – including a barrier or bell if it is in the plan as a turnout. Manual and spring turnouts don't appear in the selection, because LoDi-Aura never sets them.

All three effects react only to a change at the input. A plan where nothing is happening never throws a turnout, and a turnout thrown by hand stays where it is.

Accessory decoder

Switches an accessory address that has nothing behind it in the track plan: an uncoupler, a lamp, a bell, an output on the LoDi-Shift-Commander. The effect is at the top, below it the command station – it determines which protocols are available.

Loco function

Switches a function on a loco – whistle, light, sound. You choose the function key by its label, not by its number: “Whistle” sits somewhere different on every loco but has the same name everywhere.

Speed step

Makes a loco drive as long as the signal is present. When it goes away, the loco stops – so a shunting move lasts exactly as long as its pulse.

Drive distance

Drives an exactly measured distance and then stops by itself – for coupling up or pulling forward to the platform. When the move is over, the “Done” output switches; the next step of a chain, for example, can hang on it.

Route

The most powerful actuator: it books a complete route to a block and runs it – finds the way, sets the turnouts, books the blocks, drives the train and releases behind it. One box for what would otherwise be a dozen turnout actuators. Without a successful booking it doesn't drive, and it doesn't book a second route over a running one.

If a route is already running for the train, that is not a failure: it keeps its train until it is finished.

Release departure

The counterpart to the “Departure request” sensor: the train has asked, this actuator says yes. If the “Train” field is empty, it means “the waiting train”. The actuator isn't a driving command – it only allows a departure that LoDi-Aura was going to make anyway. So a faulty sequence can never send a train anywhere, at most keep it standing. This is how you put departures in order, for example so that only one train at a time leaves the staging yard.

Example: a train stops at the platform and continues

Now a sequence for you to build yourself, with three boxes and two cables. The task: a train stops on “Gleis 1” (track 1), waits half a minute as if at a platform, and then continues on its own. “Gleis 1” and “Ostbogen” (east curve) are example names – use the blocks of your layout.

Block occupied (Gleis 1) → Delay (30 s) → Route (destination: Ostbogen). On the left, a sensor asks: is there a train on Gleis 1? In the middle, the delay waits half a minute. On the right, the route books the way and sets off.

1. Create the sequenceOpen “Automation” › “Operating logic”, click “+ New” and name the sequence “Bahnsteig Gleis 1”. Leave the “running” switch off for now.
2. Place the sensorFrom the “Sensors” group, drag the “Block occupied” node onto the board. Click it and choose “Gleis 1” as the block in the settings.
3. Place the delayFrom “Logic”, place the “Delay” next to it and set the duration to 30 seconds. Read the plain-language sentence – it tells you whether you have picked the right kind.
4. Place the routeFrom “Actuators”, place the “Route” to the right of it. Set “Mode” to “drive” and “Destination block” to “Ostbogen”.
5. ConnectDrag a cable from the output of the block sensor to the input of the delay, and one from there to the input of the route.
6. Check and switch onNo box is dashed, and there are no findings below the board. Only then switch “running” on.

Checking the result

Put a train on Gleis 1. The block sensor lights up, the delay works for half a minute (the box glows meanwhile), and then the train sets off on its own towards Ostbogen. In “Last switched” you can see what the sequence has done.

The next level

• Only certain trains: set “only these trains” or “only these train classes” in the block sensor – then the freight train doesn't stop at the platform.
• Not always the same length: instead of the delay, use a “Step” with “…to (random)” – the stop then lasts, for example, 20 to 40 seconds.
• Put departures in order: if two trains want the same way, put a “One after another” in front.
• A control panel: several push buttons in the track plan, each with its own destination block, all leading to one route box with “— wherever the trigger says —”.

When a sequence does nothing

What the automation has done or refused is also recorded in the log.