Hello, I have just bought 30 used turnouts, they are pecos and they have the electric motors for switching, the motors work great when not mounted to the switch, and so I am wondering if it could be that the switches are just dirty? and if they are how would one go about cleaning them up?
Apicture would be nice to see what you have there.
How dirty are they ?
I would try one first without switch motor attached of course soak it in a solution of soapy water and use an old tooth brush and scrub a little so as not to damage any moving parts ,rinse real good with clean water a few times scubbing with the tooth brush, then lay on a towel and dry very well with a hair dryer . when finished with that I would apply some light oil to the moving parts and then put the switch motor back on and see what happens .
Trains.com is the forum for discussion of the Forums themselves. Hope you don’t mind if I move this over to the Model Railroader Forums. You’ll get more traffic there. [:)]
I’m assuming that these are not working well when attached to the turnout, right?
Peco turnouts have a small spring which holds the points in place against the stock rails. When you move the points by hand, with or without a switch machine, you will feel resistance until the halfway point, and then the points will flip over to the far side. The switch machines themselves have no springs and should move freely. This is in contrast to Atlas machines, where the springiness is in the wire which connects the machine to the throwbar.
Because of the strong spring in a Peco turnout, more force is needed to push the points over. When translated to electrical terms, that generally means you need to apply more voltage. If you’re using the same power supply that makes an Atlas happy, that’s likely your problem.
The right solution is to get or build a capacitive discharge system to drive your turnouts. You can use it for any twin-coil machines, and it will greatly improve performance while also protecting the machines from burnout in the event of a stuck pushbutton or toggle. One brand name for these is Snapper, or you can Google up a circuit and build one yourself - it’s fundamentally just two resistors and two capacitors if you have a DC power supply to drive it.
Hi G,
Ok, I take it we’re talking HO, first you could do with a meter to check continuity through from the stock rail at the blade end past the frogs to where rails cross( had a few that look fair but where real duffers). Next a Fiber pen or small circular motor tool type wire brush, you need to clean between the blades and running rails(Carefully) on code 100 watch out for tab that goes under the rail. As long as blades move freely you shouldn’t have any problems. A stiff brush (old tooth brush) will do to clean up the rail sides and the sleeper webbing.
Peco Twin-coil if in one piece and still firing are just about bullet poof, if rusted up tap the bar gently to loosen then ease the pin back and forwards ok so far, as above use a good CDU on them to free them up and get em going, then just a very light drop off plastic compatible oil,the stuff can get everywhere.
Reused more Peco than I like to admit. The Insul-frogs go first (Plastic frog) it wears away at the point, Electro-frog are better and more reliable over time.
Be in touch.
pick
Thanks for the cleaning ideas, tried them out and the really gummy ones are moving much better, also hooked them up to a slightly larger power supply and that has helped greatly. only one that is still giving me trouble, But it is really stiff to move!
Thanks for the Ideas again, I am starting to build my first big layout, need 70 to 100 switches, so these 30 will help with that!
Grublet
Hi G,
Nuts, that ain’t no layout that’s a flaming railroad mate, seriously it’s not more power to the coil, they don’t like it, even for just on a second, it’s the jolt from the CDU that works and you don’t need one with Capacitors the size of jam jars either.
As far as points go they have to lay flat, have good continuity of power and I’d always use new fish-plates unless they’re a darn good fit.
be in touch.
pick
Technically, it is more power to the coil that the CDU provides. Power is the product of the voltage and the current. The Capacitive Discharge Unit uses the capacitor to store energy, and then releases it all at once when the button is pushed. The difference is the much larger current flow.
After the initial spike, the current drops off rapidly, even if the button contact remains closed. That’s why a CDU protects your turnouts in the event of of sticky button. On the other hand, if you use too big a capacitor, then the initial jolt will be too large and will eventually damage your switch machines. Save the jam jars for jam.
I guess I should clarify, the lager power source was just a higher end dc controller for the layout, I was using an old model power unit to test at the beginning, and now I am using a newer dc controller.
here is a question though, the newer power pack is a spectrum it is very smooth but if I run any of my larger engines on my track it pops or something, is there a way that I can fix that or is it just old and needing to get replaced.
I have a NCE dcc controller that I will be using on the main layout but I want to keep a dc controller just for the odd time I want to run one of my old girls!
Grublet