I have just finished a long project of restoring 55 022 switches. Here is what I have found and what I recommend. I hope I don’t miss anything. This involves oiling and soldering and a little adjustment. When you are done with the switches, they should operate very smoothly.
Remove the switch motor cover, the switch motor, and the back cover of the switch.
Lubricate the following places in the switch motor: The latch should be oiled at the pivots and where it slides over the moving piece that is connected to the solenoid. Lubricate the lantern pivot and the gear. Lubricate the slide that is attached to the solenoid. Lubricate the two rivets that hold the slide with the contacts. Put two drops of oil in the solenoid. Test the switch motor by putting a lantern in the lantern holder and turning it. It should turn very freely.
Solder all the crimp connections on the bottom side of the switch. These are often high resistance due to corrosion. I either wire brush them with a small soft wire wheel in a Dremel tool, or use a fine sandpaper wheel in the Dremel tool. There are a total of 6 places to solder: Two for the center rails, one for each of the rails that are the rails for the non-derailing feature, and two that connect the two outside rails together. To sand the clip that connects the two outer rails, I had to reverse the sanding disc on the Dremel tool. Don’t put too much solder on this clip, or the solder may interfere with the operation of the switch motor. Use a Scotchbrite pad to clean the clip where it contacts the switch motor frame. This is the ground connection between the switch motor and the outside rails. Clean the corresponding area on the switch motor, and put a little WD-40 on things. Tighten the screw that connects the center rail to the strap. Work the screw back and forth a couple of times to burnish the contact ar
It sounds as though your trouble is mechanical, since the switches do operate, but don’t throw very well.
If you didn’t attach the switch covers with screws, you can probably troubleshoot the switches on the layout with the covers removed. However, if the covers are attached to the switch with screws from underneath, they will have to come off the layout.
I would suggest using graphite instead of oil when lubricating switches. Oil tends to attract dirt over time and gum up switch mechanisms.
I just read all the suggestions for making the switch operations smoother. While very time-consuming and often frustrating (I just finished with some 022 reincarnations myself) the advice is excellent and far-ranging. One thing I noticed in your post is that you get “fairly” good performance at 16 volts. If you follow all the steps as suggested in other replies, the switches should operate very smoothly at 14 volts fixed (using the side plugs on the switches). If you HAVE to use 16 volts, you will likely burn out the switch lamps AND controller lamps prematurely.
So I’m faced with removing up to all 15 switches from my layout to get them to operate flawlessley. Basically that would mean tearing the entire layout down, perhaps in sections.
Well, I geuss I’ll start with the newest additions, and try following the advice given above.
Love to know of any triage style approaches though…
Silly (or dillusional) of me I suppose, to proceed as though 50 year old stuff would perform as new…like me.[:D]
Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger. I have 39 022 switches in a carpet RR and I need to solder all of them as I described. You learn things as you go, and sometimes you have to stop and back up a few steps.
I run my 022 switches from the 20 volt fixed tap on a KW transformer. I do this primarily because I have most of the switches wired in pairs so that the two switches throw at the same time. This allows the train to control the switches and so make a very complex path around the layout. I have changed the bulbs in the switches to 18 volt bulbs to prevent melting the switch lanterns. Install two switches so that the switch points face each other, wire the outer two terminals of the switch motors together. Then when the train throws one switch, the other will switch also.
Here is something I forget in my list of things to fix. Occasionally, the lamp socket for the switch lamp will be loose. It is held in place by two tabs that bend around the bracket that holds it. You can tighten the tabs up with a pair of pliers. Be gentle as the lamp socket is thin.
I found one switch motor that had a high resistance in the connection at the terminal. I soldered this one but I haven’t made a habit of soldering all of these connections. I may regret this decision later.
Here are some more hints on servicing the 022 switches:
I bought some 18 volt bulbs recently ( part number 1445, bayonet base) and they would not go into the socket. They were too long. I took a switch motor apart to try to discover the problem. The switch motor was OK. So I took a soldering iron and reduced the size of the solder ball on the tip of the bulb. Now it fits and it is an easy fix.
I had two switch motors that had the lantern support broken. These were die cast zinc, and there is no way to repair them. I repaired one the hard way, and here is the easy way I used to repair the second one. Use a #43 drill to drill a hole into the rivet from the bottom. This is the tap drill for a 4-40 screw. Drill all the way through and make it as straight as you can. Be careful not to damage the wire going into the lamp holder. Then drill the rivet out with a larger drill. Remove the rivet and what is left of the lantern support. Tap the hole in the rivet with a 4-40 tap. Then, with the tap still in the rivet, check the new lantern support for proper fit to the the rivet. In my case, the support didn’t turn freely on the rivet, so I took my Dremel tool with a sanding disc and carefully reduced the OD of the rivet until the support turned freely. Then I cleaned up the marks from the pliers that I used to hold the rivet while I was tapping it. I also sanded off the end of the rivet where it went through the bottom plate of the switch motor so that it didn’t go quite all the way through. This way, the 4-40 screw I used to hold the rivet in place would be tight. Now install the support and the rivet under the lamp bracket and use a 4-40 screw with a star lock washer to hold it in place. Make sure you properly clock the sector gear on the support with the rack gear on the slider.
I bought a 5132 and a 5133 some time ago. While I was lubricating them, I no
I found a new problem last night. When I tested a switch after repair, it showed a high resistance between one of the terminals and the insulated rail that makes the switch non-derailing. It turned out that the pin that makes contact with the switch motor was loose and there was corrosion on the end of the strap that connects the pin to the rail. I didn’t try to reset the rivet, but put some WD-40 on the pin and rotated it with a pair of pliers and the resistance went to zero. Since there is pressure on this rivet from the switch motor contact, it showed zero resistance when I reassembled the switch. The pin would not take solder as I believe it is aluminum.
I have been going through my switches and correcting the electrical problems, and have found a few new things to check.
I have found another switch motor miswired from the factory. This is the second one. The two wires that come out of the coils near the fixed voltage pin should go to the pin and not the flat spring. If they go to the flat spring, the only thing that will be powered from the fixed voltage plug is the lamp. To fix this, I unsoldered the wires going to the fixed voltage pin and flat spring. Then I carefully unsoldered the wires to the solenoids. I soldered a short piece of flexible wire onto the solenoid wires, and covered it with shrink tubing. I used the soldering iron to shrink the tubing to minimize the heat on the other components. I pushed the shrink tubing into the hole that the wires came through. The wires were routed through the rivet that holds the flat spring, and I didn’t want the wires shorting to the flat spring. Then I soldered the short piece of added wire to the pin and reattached the two wires I had removed.
I found a switch motor where the fixed voltage pin was not making contact to its solder lug. I soldered the pin and the solder lug together.
I found a switch motor that had the copper strip between the two outside rails split in the middle. I soldered it back together with a minimal amount of solder so the switch motor could be put onto the switch.
I found one switch that had an intermittent sliding contact. It appears it was not properly adjusted from the factory. I bent the spring down to increase the contact pressure. Do this carefully, as I also had one where the PO had bent the spring too much, and there was too much friction.
I have put a diode in series with the lamp to reduce the brightness and also reduce the power and heat. It works well, and I think the lantern brightness is now more realistic. If you do thi
I had one switch that was intermittently staying in one position. The problem was clearly with the sliding contacts. When I took the switch motor off of the switch, I saw that the insulator that carries the two sliding contacts was turned slightly. This allowed one of the sliding contacts to move far enough that it was off the end of the fixed contact. I carefully rotated the insulator so it was straight, and the switch now works reliably. One more thing to check.
I have found enough fixed voltage pins that are are not tightly riveted to their solder tabs that I recommend that every switch motor have its fixed voltage pin soldered to its solder tab. I wish I had been doing this to all the switches, but I didn’t realize it was a problem until I had several switches finished.
After all of this, the switches work very well. I ran one of the diesel switch engines for about 20 minutes and never had a switch fail to work perfectly. When I dropped the voltage to 18 or 16 volts, the switches were still reliable, but at 14 volts or lower, I would get an occasional failure. I checked all the sliding contacts for any sign of erosion, and didn’t find any, so I am going to leave the voltage at 20 volts. I am using the 20 volt fixed output on a KW.
After dong all of this, I also checked the voltage drop from the transformer to the furthest point of the layout. I am measuring about 0.25 volts on the center rail and about 0.375 volts on the outside rail. This engine is pulling about 2.5 amps, so this is a resistance on the center rail of 0.1 ohms, and for the outer rail, 0.15 ohms. Some of this track is 50s vintage and some of it is rusty, and all of the switches except 2 are 50s vintage. I am quite pleased with these results. I put the 2046 Hudson on the track, and it will reliably go around the layout at 9.35 volts at the transformer.
I’ll say it again: The number 53 lamp runs cooler than the 1445 at any voltage.
Lamp ratings are a tradeoff among voltage, current, efficacy, and lifetime. The ratings of the two lamps are
#53 14.4 V 120 mA 1728 mW 1 mscp 1000 hr #53 18 V 136 mA2442 mW2.18 mscp69 hr #1445 14.4 V 135 mA 1944 mW .7 mscp 2000 hr #1445 18 V 150 mA 2700 mW 1.53 mscp137 hr
The numbers in italics are values that I calculated using the rules that for incandescent lamps current varies as the .55 power of voltage, light output as the 3.5 power, and lifetime as the -12 power. The 1445 is actually rated at both 14.4 volts and 18 volts; but that doesn’t give it any particular advantage over the 53 in terms of power dissipated at either voltage, as you can see.
For screw-based lamps, the number 52 is cooler than the 1447:
#52 14.4 V 100 mA 1440 mW .75 mscp 1000 hr #52 18 V 113 mA2035 mW 1.64 mscp 69 hr #1447 14.4 V 135 mA 1944 mW .7 mscp 2000 hr #1447 18 V 150 mA 2700 mW 1.53 mscp137 hr
With the diode in series with the lamp, and running the switches from the 20 volt fixed output of the KW, I should have about 10 volts on the lamp which puts me in a good position as far as power dissipation and life are concerned. The lamps are cool enough now that I can touch them after they have been on for some time and not burn my fingers. And they look great.
A series diode is a good, efficient way to reduce voltage, but it doesn’t cut it in half. It will reduce 20 volts to about 14. An ordinary voltmeter will indicate 10 in that case; but it is designed for a complete sinusoidal waveform; and the half-wave that the diode produces is very different from that. Your lifetime with a 1445 is going to be close to the value specified for 14.4 volts, that is, 2000 hours.
I am a little confused. 20 VAC is the RMS value of a sine wave that has a peak of 20*1.4 volts. The peak is 28 volts. Now if I take a half wave rectified sine wave, I have half as many peaks, and the RMS value of the peaks I have has not changed (ignoring the diode drope for simplicity). Therefore, the RMS value for the half wave rectified sine wave should be half of the RMS value for the entire sine wave. What am I missing?
BTW, I remember reading something in Model Railroader back about 1954 where they had done tests on grain-o-wheat lamps. They advocating running the lamps at half their rated voltage to make the brightness more realistic. They also stated (and I am going back a long ways in my memory) that the life of the bulbs would be increased by a factor of 19,000 (it may have been 1900).
You have to go back to the meaning of RMS, or “root-mean-square”, or the square-root of the mean of the square. The square of the full waveform is a 120-hertz sine wave raised up so that the most negative peaks are at zero and the most positive peaks are at (20*1.4)^2 = 800 square volts. The mean or average of that waveform is halfway between the peaks, or 400 square volts. The square-root of that is 20 volts, as expected.
Now, when you take out every other half cycle, that 120-hertz waveform loses half of its cycles; so the average of the modified waveform drops by half, to 200 square volts. The square-root of that is 14 volts.
You can do a little experiment to demonstrate this. Just take two transformers (real ones, not CW-80s). Set one to 10 volts, the other to 20, but with a diode in series. Then switch a lamp back and forth between them with an SPDT switch. I’ll bet the lamp looks dimmer on 10. Then increase the lower voltage until the lamp brightness is the same in both switch positions. I’ll bet the lower voltage will be about 14.
The lifetime is usually considered to vary inversely as the 12th power of the voltage. So I would expect that it would increase by a factor of 4096, more or less.
I don’t know how the guy that wrote the article in Model Railroader did his calculations. I am not sure I remember the number correctly. It was a very long time ago. They may or may not have done the calculation correctly. A factor of 4000+ in bulb life time is a healthy increase.
If the bulb life was 2000 hours at the rated voltage, then it gets so large it is difficult to test when you cut the voltage in half. There are about 8000 hours in a year, so a bulb that would last 8 million hours would take 1000 years to test.
You can do the calculation another way to validate your analysis. The diode shuts off the power to the lamp for half a cycle, so the power delivered to the lamp is half of what it is without the diode. But since the power is V^2/R, and R doesn’t change (ignoring the temperature coefficent of resistance of tungston), the voltage with the diode has to be 0.7071 times the voltage without the diode which is the result you got. Very interesting, and not exactly intuitive.
Before I added the diode to the switch motors, I ran a test to see what the lamp brightness was at 10 volts, and the lamps were not as bright at 10 volts as they are with the diode. Now I know why. Like I said, not exactly intuitive. At 10 volts, the power delivered to the lamp is 1/4 of what it is at 20 volts.
Linn Westcott wrote the Model Railroader article, and I think we can be pretty sure that he knew what he was talking about, being that he was Mr. Electronics, so to speak, of the model railroad world for a couple of decades. I remember the article and have thought about citing it, but can never remember the figures he used. (It’s around someplace in my apartment, but I’m not sure where it is.) I do remember that he said that at half voltage, most lamps used in model railroading would last long enough to call it “forever” – longer than a person’s life.