Wipers

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
2

Usually a piece of brass that makes contact with an axle or a back of the wheel to provide electrical connection from the track to the engine, tender or lights in a lighted car

3

Hello all,

The technical definition…https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wipers

In what context are you asking?

•Windshield?

•Wheel?

•Track?

Hope this helps.

4

Thanks, guys.

I originally typed in my question with more details as to the wipers’ use, but the system oddly deleted most of that text. And as I was writing, a box opened up below with row upon row of the word “font” and the letter “p”. Apparently, there’s a technical glitch somewhere. So, I’ll try again.

The context for my question is this (regarding powering the frog of DCC-friendly Shinohara turnouts operated by Tortoise): The wire from the frog needs to be connected to the wiper of one of the internal switches, either terminal no. 4 or no. 5. That’s the wiper I had in mind.

5

What they’re calling the “wiper” is the contact strip that moves along with the Tortoise actuating arm. It represents the “common” connection that was discussed in another Tortoise wiring thread here.

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/t/272407.aspx

The contact strip “wipes” across the other contacts as part of the P-C board in the Tortoise.

This site has a few photos (rather grainy) of a Tortoise insides:

http://www.northriverrailway.net/NRStallMotors.htm

You can see the “wipers” mounted on the back side of the actuating arm. These contact the traces on the PC board to function as a switch.

Good Luck, Ed

6

Ed,

Thanks for the explanation and photos.

Since the wipers are inside the Tortoise body, the statement I quoted (from a tech guy at Circuitron!) in my updated post above should instead read:

“The wire from the frog should be connected to either terminal no. 4 or no. 5.” Soldering it to something inside the machine would be well, quite a task!

7

If you accidentally hit the F12 key on your keyboard it beings up the “inspect source” or open developer tools window. Just hit Esc. to close it then continue to write your reply.

Regards, Ed

8

With my sometimes deftless typing, that’s likely what I did! [:$]