Hello All,
I have two PECO turnout motors that I would like to wire parallel; one switch throws both sets of points simultaneously.
I realize that the PECO color coding is different than the Atlas, “Don’t ask me how I know, I just know.”
I’ve gone with the Atlas coding of black being the center pole and red and green being the outside two poles. When wiring PECO turnout motors the center green becomes the black and the outside red becomes green and the black becomes red. Thus maintaining the Atlas phasing at the terminal blocks and switches.
When I wire either of the PECO turnout motors separately to the switch they each work. When I wire them in parallel and activate the switch I get noise but no movement. I’ve contacted PECO but they’re in Ye Olde England, and probably won’t respond as quickly as some of you will.
My Atlas turnout motors are wired the same on my crossovers and they work just fine; feeder wires to the first turnout motor then a set of jumper wires to the second turnout motor, reversing the red for green on the second motor to have both sets of points move simultaneously- -either straight or divergent.
I went with PECO because they offer a #2 turnout.
Other than going with two switches to activate these turnouts (or ditching the PECOs) does anyone have any suggestions?
Again, your thoughts and suggestions are always welcome.
J.J.
Post Script: Yes, this is the same Wye that I asked for advice on how to wire the auto reverse unit- -jj.
Insufficient power to throw both of them at the same time is the likely cause. Do get a capcitor discharge power supply - it should allow both to work at the same time, plus it will protect all of them in the event of one of your control buttons sticking.
Easy to build your own or there are ready to use ones like the Circuitron Snapper.
–Randy
Hmmm…
It’s ironic that my next upgrade will solve my current problem (excuse the pun).
I’ve actually got a CDU on order!?!
In my initial post I failed to mention that all the turnout motors are powered by a separate A/C transformer: Miniatronics 16 VAC @ 800 mA output.
Again, thank you for all your thoughts and responses.
Yes get a circuitron snapper or other CD unit. Peco also makes a low current switch motor (PL-10W) in addition to the regular one.
JJ It’s a wonder that it works at all with only 800ma. If you were using DC you could add an electrolytic capacitor across the power supply to give it an extra boost, but the CDU (Which has them in it) will solve the problem. Isn’t it nice to know you have a fix worked out already.
As an extra bit of information, just because you have Peco turnouts doesn’t mean that you have to use Peco switch machines. You can use any switch machine that you want to, but you will have to make a linkage for it.
Most of us use some form of under the table machine. Tortoise machines are popular and servos are starting to be used more now because they are cheaper. However, with servos, you do need a special control unit, but even with that, servos are cheaper.
Hello All,
Thank you for all your advice.
Elmer, unfortunately my pike sits on the bed in the spare bedroom. No access to underneath.
It’s a 4x8 piece of 3/4-inch medium density fiber board with 1-inch blue insulating foam. It’s trimmed in 2-1/2-inch x 1/4-inch ply around the edges to provide a border. All the wiring is run through flex tubing imbedded in the foam. It’s not much but it’s a start.
Hello All,
Just an update.
I finally got around to installing the Capacitor Discharge Units for the turnouts.
Because I have 14-turnouts on my pike I decided to go with two CDU’s.
I separated my turnouts into two blocks and wired appropriately.
Smooth switching ever since. And I still have some head-room to add turnouts in the future.
Thank you all again!
There was no need to use more than one capacitor discharge supply. In the time it takes to move your finger to the next pushbutton the CD unit is fully recharged and waiting for use. The color of the wires is unimportant to the operation as long as you use the same color for each function.