Why is it that its only when I get BACK from JCT I come up with another technical question??
A number of you will recall that the PEEK TRX’s came equipped with a facility of twin load PROMS thus allowing for swapping of controller configs without turning jobs off.. (I also believe that this was an option on T400’s although not publicised that much). Although never much used when they were current this option dose seem very relevant in these days of CDM,etc.
I believe that TCSU still spec this for TfL controllers? and that it might be available on T800/900’s??
It was specified but NEVER used on both the Peek 3 and 400. I've never seen an 800 with the facility, but as you can load a live config from IC4 it doesn't really seem to be a requirement anyway. The theory was good, as long as the site/conflict data remained the same. TfL always produce new site data & conflict proms in sets so the facility isn't used at all.
We use the facility whenever we do a PROM update. It's a great bonus due to being able to keep the signals on - you can do it pretty much any time of the day with negligible impact. I don't much care for the current trend of not having PROMs in controllers - we've had the odd instance where CPU swaps etc have been required and the dataset not readily available. Yes that might be solved by us revising our processes but when a junction is off at night and needs to be on for rush hour the next morning you can't beat a simple PROM swap from old to new CPU.
pop it on a CD or a wee pen drive and leave it in the controller. Thats what I am doing with my PTC-1's (CD in the site folder), all the site documentation will be on a CD, which I *intend* to keep all the up-to-date PI's on.
Eventually I aim to have the info held centrally that can be accessed by the engineer on street with a suitable 3G connection... but thats a way off yet.
I'm thinking along the same lines re engineers having access from street. Because of our move to a new office that will be "paper free" (Don't ask!) I've commissioned Peter Roultledge to provide me with one of his "IMTRAC" databases. Its web based and all my site data will be located on it Configs(2500's),RAM, drawings AND controller configs so engineers on site will HAVE to access using 3G as I won't have the paper info (indeed I will probably be working from home most of the time, but that’s another story!)