Hi all: I’m taking a little break from assembling switch stands, and I noticed a lot of posts from people new to DCC, turnouts, and wiring. When I purchased my first DCC system, about 4 years ago, I wanted to learn as much as I could about it. One good source I found was Allan Gartner’s web site. He recommended building a, what I call, a buzzer box, to check continuity in wiring and track. I used and use it a lot. He describes how to build it, and I thought someone might be interested to see how it looks. So, I just replaced the leads, (too stiff), with more flexible ones and took some photos while I had it apart.
A voltmeter with a built-in audio continuity checker is not hard to find. You can get one of them for less than the cost of the “buzzer box” components.
How about some price comparisons, details, links to sellers? Some people are not aware of these details. I do know most digital meters have audible continuity, but some are not very loud compared to Grampys device. I have used both devices for many years.
How about while working under the layout where you can’t see or it is hard to see a voltmeter or when one needs both hands to work with and hold the meter. It would be nice to hear the buzzerer. I myself made such a thing while doing auto repair to deal with my color blindness. I however used a seatbelt buzzer from a mid 70’s Chevy Nova. Btw I do have a digital volt-ohm meter and Radio Shack use to sell a kit volt-ohm meter years ago which I still have. It was cheap at the time but it still works.
And a great post Grampy. A simple item to built and learn soldering skills with. Edit; Besides you could use it to scare the cat off your layout by adding a test switch or simple shorting the test leads.
I have a volt meter, but find the buzzer box to be incredibly useful. It is perfect for wiring feeders under the layout. Instant notification of a short situation without having to look away from the task at hand. When wiring track I tend to drop all the feeders for a particular block and then go under the layout to do all the soldering to the power bus in one session. THis can mean soldereing dozens of feeders at a time. The buzzer has alerted me several times to an inadvertent switch of a feeder. Mine is not nearly as fancy as yours as I simply soldered the components in series and did not put them in a box.
I just got a digital meter with continuity beeper for $2.99 at Harbor Freight. I need to get another and just keep them around like pencils at that price. However, the beep isn’t very loud and it has probes, not clip leads. I built a de-luxe beeper box a while back, photo is on my web site. In addition to the battery and beeper, I added a switch (DPDT) to switch the leads between the beeper and a 2-lead bi-color LED with a 1K resistor - track power checker! Put the switch on the track power side, connect the clip leads - ok, track is dead, it’s ok to switch to the beeper. These kind of beepers are loud enough to hear while under the layout connecting up feeders.
I agree. A little buzzer box is a good little first time electrical project. Leave it in. I’ve got both a buzzer box and a digital meter with a buzzing continuity checker. I use both. The buzzer box is much louder than the meter’s buzzer, much easier to hear. And I put a bright light on it too. Also, when I’m hanging upsidedown under my layout, working over my head, trying to do a 3-hand job with only 2 hands, I’d sure as heck rather drop that little buzzer on the floor than my $125 meter! And my little granddaughter likes to sit on the floor and push the leads together and watch the light blink and the buzzer buzz!
The fuse on those meters is a fast blow, one mistake connecting it with the dial set wrong and poof. You can replace it. I had another ones, same brand as sold at Harbor Freight but I got it at a train show for $5 I used for years. A friend has one of the HF ones, and he’d be the first to admit he’s no electronics genius, and he hasn’t managed to fry his either.
I wouldn’t ever turn the dial while the probes are in circuit, with this cheapo or ANY meter. Disconnect fromt he circuit under test, make the settings, and reconnect. Inadvertantly switching to ohms or diode check while attached to a live circuit measuring voltage or amperage is a pretty quick way to fry the testing tool. I wouldn’t put it past these cheapo ones to fry if you over range the volts by a lot - say have it on 10 volts measuring 120.
excusing my ignorance – the 9v battery is to power whatever it is you’re testing, right? EG if I was wiring a new 15’ extension, i’d have the box attached to the rails of the extension section while I was witing the feeders to the sub-bus for said extension (before wiring the sub-bus to the main power bus)…?
Thanks Grampy for posting the pics. I’m intending to build one or have a friend build me one and it’s very useful to see it’s actual size. (Bigger than I imagined.) It’ll also be a useful guide for the building as opposed to just the diagram on (if I remember correctly) on Gartner’s site. It was nice of you to think of us! Glad to get the additional feedback about the meters as wel guysl.
This is quite simple. The battery powers the buzzer when the two clips come together though track and or wiring. It is called continuity testing a very old method of checking continuity of wires used by phone men.
Here is a link to a Google search for continuity testing.
I learned that method of testing over forty years ago from a old time telephone worker. That method was used for checking continuity of telephone wire pairs. It evolved to the Fox & Hound type of tester. A signal source put on a pair of wires and a sensor used at the far end of the wire bundle. The sensor could sense the signal some where in the bundle, the closer the louder until you are actually on the correct pair. The tester is much more sophisticated today.
A member of a local club I belong to is a retired telephone worker and uses his tester for his large layout much more than a meter.
Glad to get the additional feedback about the meters as wel guysl.