Hi,
I got my turntable today and started to look at it. Now I have a few questions.
1) The place where you are supose to hook up the DC or AC input to the bridge control have to marks, U and V, does it matter which of them the positive or negative goes into? Could someone please explain this. I'm worthless at wiring and it's even worse when I'm not 100% of abbreviations used in English(possibly)
2) The bridge track itself. I was planning to just connect the wires from my normal DCC track wire on to the connection. One says B1 and the other B2. Anything special to keep in mind or is there no particular order they need to be placed in. I was planning to put the left side rails polarity into B1 and the right one in B2.
Magnus
Lillen wrote: Hi, I got my turntable today and started to look at it. Now I have a few questions. 1) The place where you are supose to hook up the DC or AC input to the bridge control have to marks, U and V, does it matter which of them the positive or negative goes into? Could someone please explain this. I'm worthless at wiring and it's even worse when I'm not 100% of abbreviations used in English(possibly)
No, Magnus, it doesn't matter. The internal split ring design will allow you to orient the bridge so that no shorts take place.
Lillen wrote:2) The bridge track itself. I was planning to just connect the wires from my normal DCC track wire on to the connection. One says B1 and the other B2. Anything special to keep in mind or is there no particular order they need to be placed in. I was planning to put the left side rails polarity into B1 and the right one in B2. Magnus
Again, it shouldn't matter. If you do happen to get a short when you let an engine run onto the bridge for the first time, you have two choices....swap ends on the bridge (I prefer the operator's hut to be on the receiving end, nearest the lead), or switch the two B1/B2 wire ends around. The other ends of those two wires come off your bus anywhere close by. Same for your bay tracks in the house, and keep the wire colours oriented the same as the lead. Let the bridge & split-ring design inside the TT hub do the "switching" for you.
Magnus, you will be mightily pleased with this device once you have it programmed and it has gained your appreciation and confidence. I can't imagine a steam layout without one. Walthers gets a definite A+ from Selector on this one.
-Crandell
Thanks for the advice Crandell. It was pretty much as I suspected then. It's great that it's so easy to wire. Makes it worth it for that alone. And the autoreverse function is also great for us electronically challenged people!
This is great news since this is the part of the hobby that I'm most afraid of and need to learn the most. It is a beauty! And it it's very large. You know how it is. You know how large it's suppose to be but when you see it, wow, it's huge!
I won't be able to fully use it for a while. I'm going to put in the inside roof on my layout room this weekend and hopefully some interior walls as well. I think I might be just a few weeks away from starting bench work!
We spoke of this a few weeks ago. The answer to the first question is it does not matter. it is only the power to the bridge motor, polarity is not an issue, nor AC or DC. By the way U and V have nothing to do with the split ring.
In answer to the second question, polarity matters. Flopping the bridge end for end will not resolve a shorting issue caused by a wrongly wired B1/B2. As per Walthers instructions
" Wiring : Connection points are marked on the underside as follows: B1 and B2 = connect to rail power supply; powers bridge rails. To match radial tracks, you can reverse polarity by interchanging the B1 and B2 ".
Up North, if swapping the bridge end for end would have no effect, of what functional purpose is its split ring design? Clearly, rotating the bridge alters the polarity from rail to rail necessarily as a result of wipers coming into contact with ring-halves that get power from the "other" side of the bus. This "other powering" means the rails swap polarity.
What am I not seeing?
You are correct, I agree, about the U and V terminals having nothing to do with the split ring. I had meant to edit that out, but forgot to when I posted. Sorry, Magnus.
the spilt ring pickup is one circle with two "dead zones" like this (), instead of a doughnut shape with one pickup inside of the other without gaps, where the red rail is always red, no matter orientation of the bridge.
looking down on it as if it were a clock, with the bridge pointing at 3 and 9, cab at 9 end, the 12 o'clock rail is say +, making the 6 o'clock rail -.
as the bridge rotates through the polarity point, say cab end at 12:30, and the other end at 6:30, both contacts enter a "dead zone" and there is no power on the bridge
(where there can be no stall track, either end) and then the pickup hit the other ring contacts, the bridge is again stopped at the 3/9 position, cab at 3, the rail that is now at 12 o'clock is still +, and 6 is -.
picking up the bridge and flipping it, would have the same effect as driving it there.
when hooking up stall tracks they all have to match that same polarity.
This is how I see it.
The brush contacts are fixed (B1/B2). The bridge/ring revolves and changes the polarity of it's rail. If you have wired the B1/B2 wrong you can get a condition were swapping end for end will not correct the issue.
Wire from rail A in Red, Rail B in Blue end at brush contact in table base. The ring rail is in black (sectioned circle) and is part of the bridge.
I got it!! I used your description, UpNorth, and then had to physically draw it myself using coloured markers. It became clear to me finally. So, thanks for being a good sport and being patient with me. I appreciate it.
It don't matter which position the bridge is in, it is the bay track orientation that counts. Got it. I think my mistake may have stemmed from my less than salutary experience trying to get the motorized $39 kit to work. It had two wipers stacked one above the other, and for some reason I assumed the ring design in the built-up followed suit. It seems so simple now.
Believe me, I was there late last night. I sort of half-read your reply and R.E's above, and said to meself, "Waaaay too late for you to try to figure this out...go to bed." I even attended to much of the afternoon before I felt I needed to get into this solidly and answer you one way or the other.
Thanks, again, for persisting with me. One less bone-headed notion for me to harbour.