To cold to do much today but play with the trains,
I got the extra crossing signal from RT today and decided to hook them up. It seems the one from RT is older than the 1957 one I had and is a bit sluggish in operation compared to the first one I got from 1957. It needed some cleaning and TLC so maybe it will improve with use. But all in all they do the job as I was hoping for.
Thanks for the help setting this up guys!
The inside gate is the older of the two and the outside track is the 1957 gate.
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
looks like you need to extend the relayarea one section as my old one looks more realistic as to the speed to be dropped. wondering if the other one is wired to the set up first if thats may be why yours reacts faster. ( ie may be a slight power drop if there hooked up in series. )
Over all thou looks great Kevin. Like it )
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
RT, I can't put another section on the one end because it is going into a turnout as soon as it crosses the road on the inside loop but I may add one on the otherside. I will have to make another one. You right the one does seem to work to fast but I tried them both on the bench and the older one just needs more power to pull down.
Thanks though, I like it and I don't think those things will matter to the 3 year old grandson Jordan on Christmas eve.
Kevin thats going to be a smile from ear to ear and back again when you show him that :)
Glad it works for you.
I could never get one to operate that smooth, let alone two. Thanks for sharing.
fifedog I could never get one to operate that smooth, let alone two. Thanks for sharing.
Fife and RT, I am going to try putting this pre-war Lionel #95 rheostat in the power line for that one that works so fast to see if I can slow it down to match their operation up. Don't know if it will work but worth a try.
Looks good.
That ABA set of Midnight Chiefs - are those Lionel or K-line?
If you find that the rheostat doesn't have enough resistance for that small a load, you might try one of the anti-parallel-diode schemes. They reduce the voltage by an amount that doesn't depend on how much current the load draws:
o Make an anti-parallel pair by connecting two diodes (any of 1N4001-1N4007) in parallel, but with the anode of one connected to the cathode of the other. Then stack as many of these pairs in series as you need to get the desired voltage drop.
o Or make two pairs from one bridge-rectifier module by connecting its + and - terminals together.
Bob Nelson
8ntruck Looks good. That ABA set of Midnight Chiefs - are those Lionel or K-line?
8N they are Williams by Bachmann. 20-196 & 20-296
A great set, Run great and pull great.
Thanks Bob, I was going to try to pull down the power on all of the lights and the control tower as well as the one crossing gate with the same device.
The beauty of the diode trick is that you get the same voltage drop with a heavy load or with a light load. So you don't need to lump in other loads in order to get a sufficient voltage reduction.
I ordered another 252 that was newer and installed it on the layout, Got to drop the accessory voltage from 15 to 9.5 volts and both work the same now. Must be the older one needed more power than the newer ones. When I get a chance I will take another video and add it to this post.
How did you wire this?
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