Bastards, about one in four will not move the point whatever you do with it. Test as much as you like beforehand, drill as carefully as you want, and still the little sods sit there smugly going "bzz" and not moving at all. Guy
Have you removed the 'latching spring'?
No. Without that the microswitch pushes the rod back to dead centre. Guy
What microswitch?
Jeff
I use Gaugemaster SEEP motors. They are also fiddly to install and adjust. Once their position is fixed, it's possible to adjust the throw by carefully bending the actuating rod.
A Capacitor Dischage Unit (Gaugemaster £11 from Hatton's, or make your own) delivers a strong momentary burst of DC current, which gets rid of the AC buzzing. Even so, with more than two point motors wired in parallel it usually needs an extra push on the (on)-off-(on) switch to get them all to change completely.
The disadvantage with SEEP motors is you have to solder your own leads to the PCB. I find drilling a small hole through the solder tag and slipping the wire through the hole before soldering makes for a better connection.
The one that switches the supply to the point frog. Guy
Yes, but what type of microswitch?
Jeff
A Peco PL-15, I don't know of another microswitch that would fit (the PL-13 is a sliding contact switch and IME has too much drag). Guy
You guys seem to ba having a lot of trouble with your electrically-operated point motors. I don't have any trouble at all with my air-operated ones.
I have never had any problems with Peco point motors, even using the extended pin version and mounting then below the base board.
How are you driving the motors, is there enough current available from whatever you are driving then from, or is the wiring run way too long, or are you using a gauge of wire that is too thin?
Jeff
Same here, all mounted below baseboard but no pin, no microswitch either. To check if its microswitch, can you swap a working with non working and see if working stops and non working does. But would agree more likely current. Seem to remember small Hornby struggled but guagemaster threw easily.
cheers, Simon
What's going to hold the blades in place if he does that?
MBQ
Always use a CDU for solenoid motors. A small increase in voltage gives a large inprovement as the energy stored is proportional to the square of the voltage.
MBQ
I don't have any problems with servos, which are cheaper than solenoid motors but require a little more electronics (can still be cheaper than solenoid + CDU).
MBQ
I use a latching relay from Maplin instead of a microswitch on Peco point motors. They are pretty cheap, work extremely well using the feeds from the passing contact switch and provide Double Pole Double Throw. This is they:
I am surprised you have to give an extra push for more than two motors with a CDU. I have (for example) a scissors crossing that has two point motors and two latching relays all fired off by one passing contact switch via a Guagemaster CDU. Works fine. I suppose being N gauge makes the motor travel a bit shorter, but I wouldn't have thought it would make that much difference. There are a number of other instances on the layout where one passing contact switch fires off multiple motors and relays.
Do they go PSshhhhh thump like the ones on London Transport used to do? It's a sound I remember from holidays with relatives in earshot of the District Line ,you could tell when the train was a Richmond one when you heard the sound. Either the Double glazing now fitted to the same house is good or the successors to London Transport have replaced the pneumatic system at that and probably other locations.
G.Harman
It depends on the coils and the voltage used to power the CDU, as well as any mechanical issues.
MBQ
What's going to hold the blades in place if he does that?
MBQ
I've used Peco point motors since the days before they introduced the plastic framed version. (haven't bought any in the last decade) I've never had a dud one other than one with a dead coil in a batch of second-hand ones and that was obviously cooked.
Mounting them separately from the turnout requires very careful precision alignment, angle, vertical and horizontal. The mounting bases (PL9?) can bind if they are screwed too tightly. Generally I mount mine directly to the turnout, with a piece of card under the turnout to cover the big hole. The card also makes it possible to lift them again later after ballasting. I even have point motors throwing two of Peco's cheap switches (frog and turnout sequencing), one on one end of a double slip!
I also have a few H&M point motors (with switches added). These move anything - sometimes I think the baseboard jumps and the points stay in their original position. ;-)
Greg.P.
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