I am running Atlas code 100 track and turnouts. I have eight (8) turnout controllers hooked in parallel. Six of the turnouts are on a lower yard section of track, the final two are on an elevated mainlaine, independant (of track power) from the lower. The turnouts are on a separate power supply desinged for accessories. Yesterday, the two mainline (top) turnout motors got extremely hot and burned up. When I first smelled the problem, I thought it was the power pack burning, but later, by accident, found it was the turnout motors. This seemed to happen shortly after a Bachmann Spectrum Heavy Mountain derailed over one of the turnouts and lay there for a few seconds. Could this have caused the problem? All the other turnouts are fine, no overheating. I’m at a loss as I have to replace the motors and don’t really want to throw money out the window if I have some other problem. Any suggestions would be helpful. FYI the two turnouts involved serve as a passenger terminal siding entrance/exit, isolated for power. Thanks in advance. PS I re-tested the locomotive in question and it still runs perfectly.
What type off turnout motors are you using.
The standard Atlas motors that came with the turnouts. One other thing, my layout is DC not DCC. Also, I forgot to add that none of the wiring to the trunouts was cooked, it’s as good as the day it was installed.
The normally open push button used to control the turnout may be closed (burned closed or other failure). The turnout coils are intermittent rated. Unlikey for two to fail at the same time. Do your power supplies-track and turnout- have a common connection. May be the engine wheels bridged the gap between the rail and connection screws of the turnout motor?
My guess is that the Bachman Mountain ended up shorting track power to one of the terminals on the switch machine. If the wheels of the locomotive were in contact with both the terminal and the track at the same time, this could have happened. I’d also surmise that the 2 machines that fried are somehow wired slightly differently from the 6 that lived, although it may just be that the longer distance and thin wires protected them from too much of a jolt.
If you have this derailment problem frequently, you should do something about either the trackwork or the Bachmann. As a short-term protection for your switch motors, you could put a piece of electrical tape over the terminal screws to protect them. However, I think this was just a real freak thing that will never happen again.
You might consider a capacitive discharge circuit to power your switch machines. This circuit builds up a charge in a capacitor, and then releases it all at once when you activate a turnout. (These are for twin-coil machines like Atlas or Peco, not for Tortoises, by the way.) After that first jolt, the voltage drops off quickly. If you have a problem like a sticking pushbutton, this feature protects the switch machine from burnout. In your particular case, this may or may not have made a difference. The circuit provides a cleaner, sharper snap to the switch motors. I found it particularly helped with the more power-hungry Peco’s.
Years ago, when I was using a bunch of Atlas push button controllers for their turnouts, one of the push buttons stuck and destroyed the motor. It sounds to me like you have the same problem. If you’re using those Atlas switches that require you to slide the switch to one position or the other and then push down to make contact, throw them away because they have a bad habit of sticking. My suggestion would be to use some momentary, center-off toggle switches or better quality pushbutton switches.
The derailment was the freak thing-first one in a very long time. But the thought of the push button sticking rings a bell. I seem to remember that the last switch in line was stuck in a position other than neutral. sounds like it may have been a combination of the stuck swtich on one end and the derailment at the other end. Thanks to people like you guys, I learn something new everyday, and I retired several years ago. Thanks again for the suggestions, hints and probabilities.
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