Switches to turn on/off power

: > Some people swear by soldering at the joiners, but this seems like a : > Bad Idea to me. Better to just solder to the middle of the track : > section. * : : I tried soldering a feeder at the joiner once, with the feeder between the : the two rails to help bridge the gap. It took so long for the joint to : heat, any ties around there would have melted. : : If you solder the joiner, it's best to drop a feeder a few inches away and : minimize the amount of tie-melting heat applied at one time. : : Puckdropper : --

If it takes so long to heat the ties melt, you're using too low a wattage soldering iron.

You want an iron thats at least 45 watts that gets hot enough to make the joint in 3 seconds, or less. I have an Unger (now Weller) unit that works great.

Len

Reply to
Len
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Get a hotter soldering iron and use paste flux if you want to do it. If you get the solder flowing fast, it won't melt the plastic. Also helpful are some spring clamps to use as heat sinks. I use a 150 watt soldering gun and big gobs of flux on wires clamped to the rail with alligator clips, and I rarely melt ties anymore.

And don't be tempted to solder a wire directly to the joiner. It works nice when you're fooling around with track, but on a layout it seems to give you a hump at every joiner eventually. Just solder a wire to the outside side of the rails, somewhere near the middle.

Someone suggested soldering wires on both ends of the section. I wish I had the discipline for that because it would make a lot of things easier later. *

Reply to
PV

I've always been fascinated by these things when I saw them in catalogs, but I've never tried one. It seems to me like voltage applied to the rails would be a bad thing for electronics - can you use one of these right on the track, or only when soldering on the bench? *

Reply to
PV

Well, yeah, in theory!! You COULD if you really tried, create a problem.

But, the voltages used are usually UNDER 5V, down to a volt or two. The heating is there because the unit has LOTS of AMPS available (think Mini Arc Welder). The voltage available is isolated from everything except the return electrode. There just isn't a path for anything to happen.

In place track, Handrail to stanchion on that brass loco sitting on the track, things at the 'bench'. Really a very useful tool.

Chuck D.

- can you use one of these right on

Reply to
Charles Davis

If you're really worried about it use an isolation transformer like they use on oscilloscopes. The transformer isolates you from main power and also has no ground lug. That's the important bit because should your system have a coupled ground, you could be using the soldering device as a path to a hot lead. It would be a poorly designed system to be sure but some folk who do their own design work make that common error of linking DC ground to AC ground lug believing they're somehow safer for doing that.

-- Ray

Reply to
Ray Haddad

Okay ... But what if I want to use three different throttles? I bring this up because my (rather small) layout has reached the point where I can reasonably run two trains out on the (mostly disjoint) main lines and a third doing switching in the yard. So *mostly* any given block only needs to be controlled from either one of two throttles; but I have been able to envision a few cases where I might want to control a given block from any one of the three cabs.

Reply to
MangroveRoot

Then you can add another DPDT switch for each block or change to rotory switches.

Reply to
Chuck Kimbrough

Well, unless the user is completely clueless.

The 'Resistance Soldering Unit' IS an isolation transformer. Now you CAN have a defective one, but the first and very obvious clue would be 'sparking' when touching ONLY ONE of the two electrodes to the work to be soldered.

If you are real paranoid, another layer of 'isolation' won't hurt.

Chuck D.

Reply to
Charles Davis

If DCC is not an option, then you would use rotary switches, or perhaps plug boards. Since in a DC setup you would be doing all of this at a central location (or just a few locations if you have remote panels), extra wiring for multiple cabs isn't that big a deal.

You would probably have a lot of fun with a simple DCC setup. You can really do amazing things with it that make small layouts much more interesting, and easier to run. *

Reply to
PV

On 1/29/2009 6:04 AM Charles Davis spake thus:

That's true. Since the soldering output is the secondary of a transformer, it would take a break in the insulation of both of its windings (possible but unlikely to happen) to expose one to any danger of shock. (Of course, doesn't hurt to have a fuse or other overcurrent protection device in the RSU to guard against this type of transformer damage.)

Reply to
David Nebenzahl

Thanks, Chuck & PV.

Reply to
MangroveRoot

Your layout sounds sort of similar to mine - 2 separate mainline loops that allow 2 trains to run continuous loops, and then 1 yard. The way I get around this is as follows:

2 Controllers are dedicated "Main line" controllers - Each main block can be switched between controller 1 or 2 using dpdt centre off switches (only one pole of the switch is used, 2nd pole is for future enhancements that may or may not be done). This also allows the crossovers between mains to be set so that the train can run between both mains.

There is a single turnout from the inner main onto the yards. Each yard line is switched by the turnout to the yard line, so that when the turnout is set against the line it is switched off, and when the turnout is set for the line it is turned on.

There is a master yard power switch that turns the whole yard on or off.

Finally, I have it set up so that when the turnout onto the main is set so that the mainline goes into the yard, the yard is powered from the mainline. If the turnout is set against the main, the yard is powered by the yard throttle.

To take a train out of the yard the procedure is simple. First 0 the yard throttle. Set the turnouts so the train has an exit path from the yards onto the main. Make sure the mainline is set to the appropriate throttle, and start the train with the mainline throttle. Once it has left the yards, change the turnout back to be set for the main, and now the yards are back to the yard throttle.

This method of automatic switching from the turnouts only works where each yard line is a dead end, and where there is only one entry/exit point to the main. If there were 2 entry/exit points or if yard lines were double ended, then they would need to be manually switched.

Reply to
Doug Jewell

Some, if not most, modelers are DIY types and there's never any guarantee that they'll be as safe as they should be. Paranoia is far better than death. Your mileage may vary.

-- Ray

Reply to
Ray Haddad

Your last paragraph is quite true!! Discussions such as this, over time, have the benefit of (dare I say it) Education. So that the level of misunderstanding may decrease over time.

Chuck D.

Reply to
Charles Davis

Actually, that's my situation. The yard switching involves only a few blocks. For those blocks I add another dpdt switch. The secondary dpdt (no center off) allows me to choose between the second total coverage cab or the "Yard" cab. Works well. Simple. Easy to wire.

Reply to
Hank

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