I finally got my reverse loop track finished today and have had the AR-1 installed for a few weeks, waiting to see how it worked and how loud the ‘clicking’ would be. I installed mine in a small plastic project box I had and when I ran the first loco through I didn’t hear anything. I ran non sound locos and still didn’t hear any ‘click’ but it works flawlessly every time. I am very pleased with how well this phase of my layout went. I guess if I didn’t put it in the box I might have heard something. Just wanted to pass this along to anyone who may be considering using the AR-1.
I have a pair of AR-1’s and I really have to ‘listen’ to hear the ‘click’. I hope you a a hole drilled in the project box so you can adjust the ‘sensitivity’ on your AR-1. When our club started seeing 3-4 MU’ed sound diesels, I had to adjust the AR-1 to handle the large current ‘inrushes’ as it tripped the AR-1. At home, I rarely run more than two sound engines in consist. After all the ‘doom & gloom’ about arcing wheels & ‘tacked’ relay contacts in the AR-1 - I just never have any problems. I am sure there may be better ‘solutions’ out there, but my AR-1’s have given good service for the past 10+ years…
I agree with Bob and Jim. I have four AR-1 units on my layout. They all work flawlessly. I have never had a problem with any of them. In fact, I have never even had to adjust any of them.
I have nothing against the PSX-AR, a competitor auto-reverse unit to the AR-1. I have never owned one. But, from time to time, comments have been made in favor of the PSX-AR claiming that they are faster and quieter than the AR-1. Maybe so. I wouldn’t know. I have never made a side-by-side bench comparison. But, as the OP said, the AR-1 is quiet enough. I am not sure that I would even consider the operation of the AR-1 as a “click”. It is a nearly inaudible sound. As far as the speed of the unit, my observation is that it is fast enough. To me, the change in polarities is immediate.
The AR-1 is also half the price of a PSX-AR. I am sure there are situations where the PSX-AR is better suited to the needs of some modelers because it also serves as a circuit breaker. But, for most modelers, the AR-1 will work just fine.
I have two AR-1’s, both powered by one section of a PM42. I will admit that I did have to adjust them when I first installed them, but once adjusted they’ve worked absolutely fine.
Both of them are installed under the benchwork, without any sort of enclosure. If you’re listening for them, and if the ambient noise level isn’t too high, then yes you can hear the “click”. But I wouldn’t consider it loud or objectionable in any way. And, as already noted, they are “fast enough”. I get no hesitation or sound dropouts whatsoever. I would not hesitate recommending them to anyone.
Glad to see some good reviews of the AR-1. I didn’t adjust mine, just hooked up the four wires and let it go. I didn’t drill a hole for adjustment but can see where it would be an advantage if ever needed. I can still drill a hole from the outside should I need to. My sound engines haven’t hesitated or had any reaction to the polarity change other than ‘keep on truckin’.
Thanks Rich. I don’t have one in my hand yet. I have two of them as well as a Zephyr on the UPS truck right now! Looking forward to getting DCC up and running!
Got my Zephyr today[:)] Set it up and ran a Bachman GP7, as it’s the only DCC unit I have. I actually thought that the headlight was burned out until I realised that I had to turn it on[(-D] Then I set to work and installed a DH 123D decoder into a Model Power Metal Train F7 ( from the Christmas set that started me down this model railroading path). While I was at it I swapped out the headlight for a Miniatronics Ultra Bright L.E.D with a 1/4 W 1K ohm resistor. Wow what a difference! The headlight would hardly come on with DC, but now it’s so bright it even lights up the number boards. And it’s so cool to be able to turn it on and off[8D]. With that success I decided to go at my Roundhouse 2-6-0 that I recently purchased. It had L.E.D.s installed already as well as a circuit board so I just pulled the jumper and put in another DH 123D. Apart from the fact that it was a pain to work on (all those wires in the tender!) it went great. So cool to be able to run two trains at once with no blocking[<:o). ] I’m hooked on this stuff[Y]
mactier_hogger, you are getting up to speed quickly and it sounds like you are having a lot of fun.
I now own 3 AR1’s and have not had a single problem with one. I had read so many comparisons between it and the more expensive solid state devices and had written it off from consideration. Then one weekend I had an urgent need for a reverser and the AR1 was all the LHS had other than some MRC one that I would not even consider. I installed it and discovered that it worked simply and with much less noise than I had anticipated based on the reviews. It has been over a year now of trouble free operation and I am very happy with them.
You should follow the same good wiring practice you would use on any other part of your layout.
For example, my two reversing sections are rather long, longer than any train I ever plan to operate, so I run my “normal” 14 AWG bus both to and from my AR1’s. Then, on the output (reversing) side, I have several sets of 24 AWG feeders from that “output bus” to the track in the reversing section.
Got one of my AR-1s installed today. Had a little trouble at the start. Had it hooked up to one set of feeder wires in the reverse loop and the bus on the mainline side. Duh[:$]. After reading through the forums I realized that I had to split the bus between sides of the loop. It worked intermittently after that…sometimes the engine would stall at the gap requiring a Zephyr reset, sometimes it would stop for a half second or so then keep going. But after some time it started behaving perfectly[<:o)]. Almost as if it needed to be trained[:D]. Suffice to say I am very happy with DCC and Digitrax!!
Not sure what you mean by splitting “the bus between sides of the loop”.
You need to wire the feeders from the bus wires to the input side of the AR-1 and then any and all feeders inside the reversing section need to be wired to the output side of the AR-1.
When I wire up my AR-1’s, I run a single set of feeders from the main bus wires to the input side of the AR-1. Then, I join all of the feeder wire sets from inside the reversing section to a single set of feeders wired to the output side of the AR-1.
That’s effectively what I did. I had it wired originally as DC using an Atlas controller. Silly me, when I first hooked up the Zephyr I took it out and made one continuous bus[:$]. I’m learning[:D]
My point is that you can have a single set of continuous bus wires.
You just have to completely isolate the reversing section by gapping the rails correctly and routing all feeder wires from within the reversing section to the output side of the auto-reversing unit.