Problem with RealTrax Switches

[Buckeye Riveter]

RRaddict

I had the same problem with these switches and never did figure it out. MTH makes great trains but their switches are terrible and of the lowest quality.  I switched back to tubular and then to fastrack and since I have had no issues.  I know a lot here will disagree with me but some will probably agree.  Save yourself the headaches and switch to something else if you can.

AMEN!!  I don't think there will be much disagreement.  The problems have been documented by several people on this forum for many years.   I believe last year there was an article in CTT on how to improve RealTrax.  I always wondered if the author had an affiliation with MTH. 

[RRaddict]

I had the same problem with these switches and never did figure it out. MTH makes great trains but their switches are terrible and of the lowest quality.  I switched back to tubular and then to fastrack and since I have had no issues.  I know a lot here will disagree with me but some will probably agree.  Save yourself the headaches and switch to something else if you can.

[Buckeye Riveter]

An oldie but goodie post of mine that told the story of the probems with my RealTrax switches.

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/144800/1607572.aspx#1607572

Incidently that the last time I saw the MTH layout at York, they made sure not to run their trains through any of their switches.

[DarkStar64]

Thanks!  I think you are to something there.  I was messing around with it last night and had backed in a large passenger car consist that went right up to the turn out, lo and behold, I could not reset the turn out with out removing the cars.  When I had prev tried it I only had a box car at the end of the siding so it was not on the track piece near the turn out.  I will try your idea this weekend! 

[ChiefEagles]

Try checking the gap on the guard rail.  The short one that trips the non-derailing.  They will slide and touch the straight section and the switch "thinks" there is a car or engine on that section entering the switch.  In fact I took a dremal tool and added extra gap on mine.  Take a small flat bladed screwdriver and force that short section of rail back insuring a nice gap.  Hope this works.  Going dead is protection to prevent switch motor from burning up.  As for me, I'm probably leaving Realtrax because of MTH's poor quality swtiches built in the last few years.

[DarkStar64]

Hi all, notice this thread is quite old, but I am having a similar problem with RealTrax O42 turnouts.  I just set up a new table top layout and have 3 RealTrax turnouts, two running an inner/outer curve section and one running into a dead end track siding with a lighted bumper at the end.  I had a 5" Real Trax section b/w two turnouts and the siding turnout would chatter and go dead, I could still move the turnout by turning the lantern manually.  I have it wired to track power currently and the other two worked perfectly fine.  I then moved the 5" section to the other side of the turn out and butted the two turnouts together, now it works perfect.  Why would having the 5" piece b/w the two turnouts cause the chatter?  The 5" piece works just fine on the other side of the turn out.  All track is brand new.  I don't really want the turnouts that close, would like to space them out but that does not seem to be an option... 

[Anonymous]

These knotty little problems are a lot like beating yourself on the head with a hammer--it feels really good when you stop.

On your switch problem: I would go to auxiliary power at fourteen volts. I realize that may not be an option, depending on which transformer you have, but sometimes low operating voltage causes the switch to move incompletely or slowly, and that can cause problems. You are not alone, elsewhere on this board I saw where someone recommended a flat car built out of clear plexiglass so you could watch what was happening as it passed over a switch. If you have good power (voltage) all the way through the switch, maybe the frog or some part of the switch mechanics is lifting the locomotive collector and breaking the circuit. I have one Lionel diesel locomotive that is extremely touchy in that regard, and if anything is slightly out of kilter, it activates the e-unit and the locomotive stops. It doesn't, however, make the switch chatter.

Sometimes, there is just no answer. I hope this is not one of those times. My brand new Madison passenger car set started releasing the last three cars every time it passed over a (non-activated) operating track. After hours of troubleshooting, I determined that the track operating lever was not slightly stuck, there was no residual magnetism that was pulling the coupler armature down, and most puzzling of all, it uncoupled in one direction, but not in the other. Only one coupler activated, and no matter how much abuse I put to it, it only activated passing over the operating track. That included pulling up a 3% grade on the same layout and four switches, also on the same layout. But pass over that operating track in the right direction, slow, fast, or intermediate, and it would drop those last three cars. Rebuilding the coupler and straightening out what may have been and imagined bow in the coupler armature didn't help, but turning the car around in the consist did. Why? I really don't know. Of course, the coupler is passing over the operating track in the opposite direction when the train is going in the offending direction. Also it only has to contend with the weight of two cars rather than three because it was the lead coupler when offending and is the trailing coupler now. But somehow I don't think the weight is the problem, the activation was too positive, and it never happened except passing the operating track. But at least I am no longer beating myself on the head with a hammer.

[GWayneG]

Doug, Loved talking to you on the phone the other night. It was GREAT. I still have the proublem, I am going to work on it some more as I get time. Still did not get your number though. My e-mail is [e-mail] Thanks Wayne Gilbert In VA.

[GWayneG]

Iam using track power and one of MTH 500 Brick

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: -cleaned the center rail on the switches and adjacent track with Scotch-Brite heavy duty scouring pads to remove all the black paint

I am a floor runner just transitioning to a table, and a nice gentleman at "Ready to Roll" looked at my locomotive pick up and suggested that I do this because of the pitting he saw there. It literally cleared up 90% of the problems that I was having with track connectivity. He cleared up the other 10% by telling me about the early edition of RealTrax has a clamp from the contacts to the rail that needs to be soldered or tightened frequently. Look for the "spot weld" dimple on the copper connector; if you have it, you have later track that doesn't have the problem. If you don't have it, the connection to the third rail is through a copper colored clamp that is connected mechanically and is prone to loosen and lose its connection.

[Anonymous]

I have 16 MTH remote switches and had problems till I:
-removed my insulated pins, just connected as I received them
-cleaned the center rail on the switches and adjacent track with Scotch-Brite heavy duty scouring pads to remove all the black paint
-used auxillary power, 15 volts
Good Luck

[Anonymous]

Hi again Wayne - how are you powering the switches? Through track power or an auxilliary power port on your transformer? And what transformer are you using?

[GWayneG]

Thanks for your alls help, Am still working on it. This thing happens with all of my switches. When i say I have the track insulated from from the switch I mean that I have a piece of clear plastic between the two rail ends.

[Anonymous]

STB brings in an issue which is the flip side of what I was talking about. I was using rail connectivity to solve a problem with the copper connectors, she(?) points out that while that is well and good for the "hot" rail, the outside rails must be isolated from each other. Either scenario could cause an interruption of power that would activate the "E" unit, which is what it sounds like you are having.

Another issue that I saw about a month ago was a small wire connector fell down into the working part of the switch, and every time the switch was activated to the turnout position, the debris intermittently shorted out the third rail. Thank goodness I saw it sparking, because I would have never thought to look for it from the symptoms (chatter) that I was having.[:I]

[Anonymous]

Wayne - chattering is sometimes caused by triggering the non-derailing feature of the switches. This is why the switch has no copper connectors on one of the outside rails underneath the switch; a locomotive wheel's bridge the outside rails, supplies track common to the other outside rail, and this triggers the switch.

The rail itself from the adjacent piece of track might be touching the outside rail, supplying track common, and thereby triggering the switch. This is especially a problem if you are on carpet, as the weight of the loco bends the joint down and may cause the rails to make contact.

Try pulling the track apart a little and see if this fixes it. I know you said you insulated the track from the switch, but I'm not sure what this means.

STB

[Anonymous]

There is a one and a half inch section of the third rail on the common (single entry) side that is isolated from the switch common and gets its juice from the rail to which it is connected. I am running four of the O-31 switches, and have only had this problem with one. The switch section does not connect to the inbound track and I had to jumper it. I took a piece of 18 guage copper wire, doubled it, and pushed it down into the gap between the inbound "hot" rail and the switch "hot" rail. Not real pretty, but it works.

Having the switch designed this way is real convenient for isolating a turnout from the main line. All you have to do is connect the power, the isolation is already there. If you are using the same power on both sides of the switch, you would never know that section is isolated, except of course, when it doesn't connect and causes an "E" unit fault.

[GWayneG]

I am using RealTrax and 031 Switches. Train will not run all the way around track after it passes switch it loses current and switch chatters. I inscleted the track from switch but makes no driffents, What is wrong or draw me a plan to make it work show all wires and jumpers.
Thanks Mr. G. Wayne Gilbert at [e-mail]