Control panel for turnouts

[Derailedtoosoon]

electrolove: Good Question [^] [tup]

UnionPacific4018: Impressive! [wow]

photos too small: Try using copy and paste to Microsoft Word, resize the page and use your mouse on a corner of the gif to resize it until the photo or schamatic begins to pixalize. The photos copy across fairly large without extra enlarging.

Roy

[Pruitt]

Here’s mine:

Here we’re looking at the back of the panel with the back frame removed. This view is nearly edge-on to the panel proper. I hadn’t started wiring it yet when I took this shot:

One of these days I’ll add a view of the wired side. It isn’t nearly as neat as the electrical engineer’s panel above, but it serves its purpose.

The switches are SPDT submini toggles from Digi-key. The panel is roughly the size of a sheet of letter paper - 8 1/2 X 11 inches.

[electrolove]

WOW brunton, I love it!!!

I really like that I can see the whole layout on the panel, makes it easy to see where the turnouts are located. I will make mine like that.

How big is the panel? What swithes do you use?

QUOTE: Originally posted by Brunton

Here’s mine:

Here we’re looking at the back of the panel with the back frame removed. This view is nearly edge-on to the panel proper. I hadn’t started wiring it yet when I took this shot:

One of these days I’ll add a view of the wired side. It isn’t nearly as neat as the electrical engineer’s panel above, but it serves its purpose.

The switches are SPDT submini toggles from Digi-key. The panel is roughly the size of a sheet of letter paper - 8 1/2 X 11 inches.

[bn7026]

QUOTE: Originally posted by electrolove

Somewhere in the future I will build a control panel for my turnouts. The idea is to use tortoise machines and swithes on a control panel OR on the fascia where the turnouts are located. I know that it’s pretty cool to have decoders for every turnout/tortoise but…

1 - It’s expensive to have a decoder at every turnout/tortoise.
2 - And you don’t have a clue what turnout you are using if you don’t have a very good memory. So it’s not user friendly. But that’s only my opinion.

I’m not that good at electrical things. So can someone please show me how to connect all cables to do this? A picture is the best, so I can see this in a graphical way.

Thanks in advance.

I handled this one a little differently.

Firstly I used a 18v power supply with a tap also at 9v. The 9v became a common and then 0v became -9v, and 18v became +9v.

I ran the common as a bus which all the switch machines then tapped into for one side of the power. The +9v and -9v then run to each toggle switch which are SPDT rocker switches.

I mounted these switches directly on the fascia in line with the turnout blades, I don’t bother with control panels as I use walkaround operation with DCC. If I have a crossover I wire them to a single switch which is in line with the closest turnout.

Having said all that - i’m planning a new layout. At this stage I’m planning to use Tortoises with NCE’s Switch-It which also has the ability to use push buttons which i’ll place on the fascia in a similar way to what I did before.

Tim

[oleirish]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TEFFY

Jim:
For my slip switches I have 4 Bi-polar LEDs mounted between the ties to show how the train will go throught the switch. The train will follow the green lights.

Do Ike and Mike get there quicker if they run in tandom?? I have a PFM two truck shay, but it’s been in the box for over 15 years. I like the big steam - 2-8-8-2 and the 2-10-4’s.

[:D][:D]No they are still shays and slow ,but can pull more,They don’t realy like to run tandom,They both have can motors,but not the same ones,They will work better togethor when I get twin can motors in them, Mike is 15years old and Ike is six months old.[^][^][:)]
JIM

[Pruitt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by electrolove

WOW brunton, I love it!!!

I really like that I can see the whole layout on the panel, makes it easy to see where the turnouts are located. I will make mine like that.

How big is the panel? What swithes do you use?

Thanks, for the kind words, electro!

The switches are sub-mini DPDTs (I said SPDTs earlier by mistake) from digi-key. I don’t have the catalog number right now - I’m halfway across country from home. But they’re about the cheapest small ones they had. The panel face is roughly 8 X 10 1/2, with the rest of the standard letter sized paper (8 1/2 X 11) hidden in the retaining grooves cut into the frame.

[Anonymous]

timbowa said

"Firstly I used a 18v power supply with a tap also at 9v. The 9v became a common and then 0v became -9v, and 18v became +9v.

I ran the common as a bus which all the switch machines then tapped into for one side of the power. The +9v and -9v then run to each toggle switch which are SPDT rocker switches."

Great Simple solution. I went to electronics school 25 years ago and forgot that simple answer. ( if you don’t use certain brain cells, then the grind of daily living throws out the older knowledge ) Great way with + - 12-16 V to throw Kato Unitrack Switches. Dave

[bn7026]

QUOTE: Originally posted by davsachz

timbowa said

"Firstly I used a 18v power supply with a tap also at 9v. The 9v became a common and then 0v became -9v, and 18v became +9v.

I ran the common as a bus which all the switch machines then tapped into for one side of the power. The +9v and -9v then run to each toggle switch which are SPDT rocker switches."

Great Simple solution. I went to electronics school 25 years ago and forgot that simple answer. ( if you don’t use certain brain cells, then the grind of daily living throws out the older knowledge ) Great way with + - 12-16 V to throw Kato Unitrack Switches. Dave

I think it’s called split potential. I’ve also seen throttles built using a similar principle. I did it because the wiring on each switch was easier.

I’m defineitely no expert with electronics. I’ve done a few decoder installs including LED lighting and also built a throttle based of a adjustable voltage regulator.

Tim