B&M Station Clicking

[GregBoxall]

Evening everyone!

When certain B&M coasters move in or out of the station there's a distinct clicking noise. It looks like there's 4 plates the coaster passes over as it moves along. I'm guessing its some kind of sensor, just curious which one. Thanks!

The noise can be heard from 2:18 in this video;

 

[Hixee]

They're contacts for the controls system.

They're really easy to see on the wing riders as they're right at eye level, but they're basically a number of small pieces of smooth copper that (I believe) are sprung loaded. The train has another set that align when the train stops and controls the restraint locking mechanism as well as some positional data. They probably just carry a standard 0-10V control supply, but I can't verify that other than that's pretty standard across the engineering world.

The clicking you hear is them springing back out as the contact for row one on the train runs over the contact for the other rows on the track. There might be some additional noise from the contacts actually bashing in to each other too.

For reference, in the Nemesis Inferno video, the contacts are in those two rails either side of the main track. You can just about see some cables coming off the top periodically.

Why they're designed like that on B&Ms and not like the other types of contacts you see from other manufacturers I don't know. The ones that don't clunk tend to look a bit more like this, and vaguely resemble a Scalextric connection. Probably just manufacturer preference, although the B&M style seems a bit rarer to me these days.

 

[GregBoxall]

They're contacts for the controls system.

They're really easy to see on the wing riders as they're right at eye level, but they're basically a number of small pieces of smooth copper that (I believe) are sprung loaded. The train has another set that align when the train stops and controls the restraint locking mechanism as well as some positional data. They probably just carry a standard 0-10V control supply, but I can't verify that other than that's pretty standard across the engineering world.

The clicking you here is them springing back out as the contact for row one on the train runs over the contact for the other rows on the track. There might be some additional noise from the contacts actually bashing in to each other too.

For reference, in the Nemesis Inferno video, the contacts are in those two rails either side of the main track. You can just about see some cables coming off the top periodically.

Why they're designed like that on B&Ms and not like the other types of contacts you see from other manufacturers I don't know. The ones that don't clunk tend to look a bit more like this, and vaguely resemble a Scalextric connection. Probably just manufacturer preference, although the B&M style seems a bit rarer to me these days.

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply. Its interesting seeing the different techniques manufactures use to relay the same information. I'll be sure to look out for the ones on Nemesis Inferno next time I ride!

 

[bob_3_]

I know that there is some kind of mechanism that tests the chain dogs are fully springy by pushing down on them and monitering their position as the train enters the station, it may be that. I'm not sure the entire train has chain dogs on every row so it would kind of make sense. I've known an anomaly in counting them to be a reason for a ride shut down.