Greetings fellow railroaders!
This is my first post since joining the fourm. My question to the group is, does anyone use the NCE switch 8 accessory decoders for their Tortoise switch machines? I will have between 18 - 21 Tortoise machines on my layout when all is said and done and would like to throw them from my handheld Pro Cab rather than walking around the layout and have to trow toggle switches. From an money stand point, it is better to buy the NCE Switch 8 that runs 8 machines rather than the ones that run only two. So, anyone with experience with these and willing to share their thoughts about them, please share.
I have the NCE SwitchIt turnout decoders on my home layout, and I use the NCE Power Pro Wireless system. I encountered a problem with some of the Switch It decoders losing their address and failing to work properly, and wound up going back around the layout fascia and installing momentary toggle switches to control them instead of trying to do it through the hand held controller. I only have eight Tortoise-controlled turnouts, so adding toggles was not that difficult.
The Switch It decoders can be controlled either through the hand-held controller or a toggle switch, and I'm sure the Switch 8 will have the same options so you can go back and add toggle switches if the need arises.
In the long run, adding the toggle switches was much less effort than having to crawl around under the layout reprogramming SwitchIt decoders.
Whether you choose the Switch It or Switch 8, the main thing to keep in mind is that two wires have to be ran from the decoder to each Tortoise, and if your turnouts are far apart using the Switch 8 could involve a significant amount of wiring.
I have the Switch-Its, and I've never had a problem with them forgetting their address. I don't even see how this is possible if the jumper you need to program them has been removed. But then I suppose that electronic items can do their own thing occasionally.
Concerning the push button thing, looking at the Switch-8 manual at the NCEDCC site I don't see that there is a provision for the addition of push buttons. That's not to say that you can't find a workaround, but there do not appear to be any connection points on the Switch-8 to make this easy.
Mr. Cacole is correct in his comment about the wiring run if the turnouts are separated, but if the turnouts are all congregated in one spot, the Switch-8 appears viable.
My own objection to the Switch-8 was the fact that you end up with all your turnout control in one basket. So if the Switch-8 gets zapped for some reason you're sort of shafted.
I researched this and the Lenz control and I remember the Switch 8 did not have provisions for push button control. Kind of defeats the purpose of using decoder controlled turnouts if you have to hard wire a secondary control system.
Lenz has push button option and capacitor discharge, but is made for twin coil machines. They advertise that they will work with stall style machines.http://www.tonystrains.com/productcompare/sta_dec_comparison_ls150.htm
Thanks for the input. I plan on wiring the switch machines to a "66 telephone block" in one spot and then wire the Switch 8 into the other side of the "block." I realize this would put my turnouts all "all in one basket," but I think since I am modeling N scale and basicly have a small oval layout, I will be able to manage it.
Again, thanks to all for the input,
PRRnscaler
PRRNSCALER wrote: Thanks for the input. I plan on wiring the switch machines to a "66 telephone block" in one spot and then wire the Switch 8 into the other side of the "block." I realize this would put my turnouts all "all in one basket," but I think since I am modeling N scale and basicly have a small oval layout, I will be able to manage it. Again, thanks to all for the input,PRRnscaler
I think I see what you are doing. So long as you realize that if the switch-8 has a major failure nothing will work, no matter how you connect it to the Tortoises. The only other thing that you might want to consider is how you are going to power the Switch-8, or rather, where you will connect it to the track power.
If you randomly make the connection to the track, any short circuit on the track will make the Switch-8 inoperable if the command station breaker trips. What I did was run a separate buss around the railroad in parallel to the track buss. Coming out of the command station the wire tees, with one end of the tee going to the turnout decoders. The other end of the tee went to one of those Tony's Trains circuit breakers, and then to the track power connections. That way when you run your train into the turnouit the wrong way and trip the Tony's breaker, you will still have power from the command station available to change the turnout position and correct the problem.
davidmbedard wrote: loathar wrote: I researched this and the Lenz control and I remember the Switch 8 did not have provisions for push button control. Kind of defeats the purpose of using decoder controlled turnouts if you have to hard wire a secondary control system.Actually, having both meothods of controlling the turnouts is a huge benifit. Think about it, you can use routing via a computer system as well as the ability of throwing the turnout manually if need be (and typically the need does arise).David B
loathar wrote: I researched this and the Lenz control and I remember the Switch 8 did not have provisions for push button control. Kind of defeats the purpose of using decoder controlled turnouts if you have to hard wire a secondary control system.
Actually, having both meothods of controlling the turnouts is a huge benifit. Think about it, you can use routing via a computer system as well as the ability of throwing the turnout manually if need be (and typically the need does arise).
David B
Some stationary controllers, like the Digitrax DS64s, have support for local routes, cascaded routes, pushbutton control and can support crossing flashers and other things. You could even use them to light buildings, if you have a couple of extra outputs. Obviously they cost a bit more. There are also things like the Hare controllers.
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
Yep, Loathar is right. For some strange reason, the Switch8 cannot be controlled through toggle switches or push buttons; only through your throttle, but the SwitchIt has push button capability.
I use DS64's and Switch-its on my NTrak modules. Switch-its when I need two or less outputs on a module. DS64's when I need more than two outputs. I thought of connecting unused extra outputs to adjoining modules but IMHO,the extra wiring wasn't worth the cost of another decoder.
These two are my preference because they will alow local pushbutton/toggle control as well as throttle control. I tend to use the buttons over the throttle for operation. (and I know the address' without looking)
Martin Myers
I have about 20 SwitchIts controlling about 35 Tortoise machines. Work great and easy to install. I did install a separate booster for these to keep them off the track power. It will be used for signals also. I use push buttons on the fascia (along with LEDs for route indication) since we use NCE Cab04s for operations and they have no provision for controlling accessories. Some of the SwitchIts are programmed into Macros which make multiple route selection a snap, even from the Cab04.
Larry
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Well, I took the plunge and purchased the NCE Switch 8s and love them. I hooked up several of my Tortoises over the past few weekends. I must say, I love the decoders! It is so nice to be able to set up macros for several switche machines, such as crossovers, and be able to throw them all at once without having to run additional wiring. Best thing since the invention of sliced bread.
I recently purchased a Switch-8 and just got to installing it today. I had a problem with the addressing (and have sent an email to NCE about it) but was wondering if anyone else heard of this...
When first installed, I tested all the outputs using the factory addressing (1 to 8). All worked fine. Then I tried to change the addresses (to 31 to 38). I set the rotary switch to what I believed was "0" as the tiny red triangle on the switch was pointing to it. No matter what I did, when I removed the jumper, the output still only responded to changes at address 1.
At some point, I tested the other outputs again and found that the fifth output was not responding to address 5. Instead, it was responding to address 31 - the address I thought I had assigned to the first output. I noticed that when the rotary switch was set to what I thought was "0", each end of the small slot on the shaft was pointing to "4" and "C". I figured that the "4" end was really the indicator of the setting.
Pointing it to "5", "6", and "7", I was able to set the addresses for outputs 6, 7, and 8. However, I could not find a position on the switch that allowed me to set one of the first four outputs. They remain at addresses 1 through 4.
Any thoughts on this?