Infra-red Braking

Collision avoidance is covered elsewhere on this web site. This page concentrates on three Infra-Red based systems suitable for installation in Faller vehicles.

The Friberg system is a design for DIY builders. The completed circuit boards will fit inside a bus or lorry but smaller vehicles may prove difficult.

The Car-Control-Jeuscher is supplied ready for installation and, according to the manufacturer, can be fitted into the smallest of the Faller vehicles.

The DCCar system includes both IR braking and DCC control of Faller vehicles and is small enough to fit in virtually any vehicle.

All three systems have an Infra-Red (IR) emitter at the rear of the vehicle and an IR detector at the front. These are normally mounted under the bumpers. When the detector at the front picks up an IR beam from the rear of another vehicle the circuit reduces the speed of the motor. As the two vehicles get closer the rear one should slow down until either it matches the speed of the leading one or stops.

The Friberg system uses a pulsed IR beam. This reduces the drain on the battery, as the emitter is not on all the time, and reduces the interference from other light/IR sources. The downside is that the circuit boards need a number of components and a 4.5V power supply. In the book which describes the system it is suggested that an extra battery is used. It is now possible to obtain ICs such as the ICL7600 Voltage Converter which can provide the extra voltage needed direct from the Faller batteries.

The Car-Control-Jeuscher comes in two versions, one for standard Faller vehicles with a 3V (or thereabouts) battery pack and a smaller one for cars with a 1.5V battery. The system uses an IR beam that is always on. This increases the battery drain for the model and shortens the operating time - even if the vehicle is not moving. The constant beam is also sensitive to other light/IR sources auch as incandescent light bulbs and this can cause unexpected halts.

The DCCar system comes ready to use with the advantage that the coded IR beams minimise interference from external sources such as lights and camera auto-focus beams.