Installed a Digitrax AR-1 auto-reverser on my turntable last night

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I purchased the AR-1 at my LHS for about $26 last night. It only took about 15 minutes to install the unit once I got home. I mounted it with two screws to the under side of the benchwork and attached the four required wires (two from the track power bus, and two to the turntable tracks).

The nice thing about this unit is that it has an adjustable trip point (.25 to 8 amps). When I first tried it the set point was too high and the Zephyr’s power supply would trip before the AR-1. But I kept turning down the adjustment until the AR-1 would trip.

It was real nice to finally be able to turn locos on the layout without having to physically pick them up.

2

Thanks for posting this. I have a new section of my layout in the design phase and had been debating the use of a turntable. I had not thought of it in terms of just simply turning a loco around, so may design it out of sight in the staging as I really don’t want to build a complete loco maintenance facility.

3

Glad it worked out so well for you. The AR-1 is a pretty simple gadget, all in all. I’m sure your post will be referred to a lot because this type of question seems to come up frequently on this forum.

I suspect I will be doing the same whenever I get around to building the area that will have the turntable.