Hello,
I`ve bought Walthers H0 933-2850 130` Motorized Turntable DCC some days later (in delivery now).
Mounting template turntable noted 10 degrees angles on each step of stop position.
I would like to install the roundhouse tracks at 5 degrees and 30 minutes, or 6 degrees angles.
Is it possible to turn bridge at 5 degrees and 30 minutes or 6 degrees angles on each step and what I must do for it?
My DCC system is NCE Power Pro 5 Amp set.
Sincerely,
Valeriy.
The stops can be programmed where you want them. There is a 'no stop' area that is dead for the reverser. The template is for aligning the stall tracks for the Walthers roundhouse kit.
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Thank you for your reply. It is a good information. I hope enclosed instructions describes this programming method, is not it?
Yes, there are programming instructions included. The turntable doesn't have fixed positions. ie you install your tracks and then programme the turntable to the track positions.
The instructions can be a little confusing. If you have any problem you could ask again on this forum.
Bill
It is very important to mark the 'no track' areas and then DON'T put any tracks in those areas. The reason being the electronic reversing (when the bridge tracks change direction after 180 degrees of rotation) has a dead spot when there is no power to the bridge and therefore if you had a track in that area you would not be able to run the engine/loco on or off the bridge. I marked those areas on the plywood with a sharpie when installing my approach and roundhouse tracks so I would be sure to stay clear of them. They are noted on the template. The best way I found to do this is layout all the tracks you want/plan to have around the tt and then rotate the template until you find a place where the 'no track' area is clear of any tracks and then position the tt pit for mounting.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
Thank you Bill and Bob. Your opinion is important for me.
farrellaa It is very important to mark the 'no track' areas and then DON'T put any tracks in those areas.
It is very important to mark the 'no track' areas and then DON'T put any tracks in those areas.
Rich
Alton Junction
Good idea, Rich. Thank you.
richhotrain farrellaa It is very important to mark the 'no track' areas and then DON'T put any tracks in those areas. While it is true that the 'no track' areas do not provide power, that did not stop me from laying track on either side of the no track area. For display purposes, I put a tender and crane car on one dead track and some ballast cars on the other dead track. Rich
While it is true that the 'no track' areas do not provide power, that did not stop me from laying track on either side of the no track area. For display purposes, I put a tender and crane car on one dead track and some ballast cars on the other dead track.
At the risk of drifting off the immediate topic, I once had a situation where I had installed approach tracks to the Walthers 130' turntable from both sides of a double ended freight yard. Although the split ring turntable assembly acts as an auto-reverser, I needed to install a separate auto-reverser on one of the approach tracks. Why? Because both approach tracks were on the same side of the no-track zone, so the turntable did not rotate sufficiently to enable the split ring to "detect" reverse polarity.
farrellaa richhotrain farrellaa It is very important to mark the 'no track' areas and then DON'T put any tracks in those areas. While it is true that the 'no track' areas do not provide power, that did not stop me from laying track on either side of the no track area. For display purposes, I put a tender and crane car on one dead track and some ballast cars on the other dead track. Rich Yes, that is a good idea Rich. One other point while we are talking about extra tracks, I added a couple of short (2") tracks opposite the main approach tracks in case one of my Big Boys or other articulated locos overruns the bridge; it won't go off the track. -Bob
Yes, that is a good idea Rich. One other point while we are talking about extra tracks, I added a couple of short (2") tracks opposite the main approach tracks in case one of my Big Boys or other articulated locos overruns the bridge; it won't go off the track.
Very prototypical, actually, to have tracks opposite one another like that. For the same reason, too.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Thank you for all messages. And one more question.
What is the better to operate turntable by Walthers control box or by DCC system cab (as my NCE Procab)?
Disclaimer: I don't have one, but I fully comprehend the instruction manual
It seems rather awkward to me to control the thing via the DCC throttle. But then, I'm not a big fan of controlling turnouts via the throttle either. It just seems much simpler to me to select the track i want on the control box rather than fiddle with switching to accessory control mode on the throttle and back.
Call me a Luddite if you will (but consider all the electronics I have involved with my trains..), but my favorite turntable ont he club layout is the one that's right up front and controlled via a simple DC throttle, there is no indexing. You line tracks up by eye. The main turntable on my proposed layout will similarly be right up front, both to show off the locos while spinning then and to make it easy to see the track alignment without using any expensive or complicated indexing methods.
I have the older Walthers 130' non-DCC turntable. On that one, you operate the indexing feature and select the desired track through the use of the control box.
However, I no longer bother with the indexing feature. I manually find the desired track by holding down the button on the control box. It is actually faster and more accurate that way and, of course, more prototypical.
Valeriy What is the better to operate turntable by Walthers control box or by DCC system cab (as my NCE Procab)?
An observation. When we first installed our turntable the control box was under the layout so we had to use the DCC throttle (NCE also). Later we installed the box on the fascia so users can use either.
Most now seem to use the box.
We have had an issue with ours. Every now and then it loses programming and won't align to the correct track. It seems that this follows a short on the layout. A calibrate will put it right but occasionally I have to completely re-programme.
Sometimes I think manual operation with eyball alignment might be better.
bagal An observation. When we first installed our turntable the control box was under the layout so we had to use the DCC throttle (NCE also). Later we installed the box on the fascia so users can use either. Most now seem to use the box. We have had an issue with ours. Every now and then it loses programming and won't align to the correct track. It seems that this follows a short on the layout. A calibrate will put it right but occasionally I have to completely re-programme. Sometimes I think manual operation with eyball alignment might be better. Bill
bagal Valeriy What is the better to operate turntable by Walthers control box or by DCC system cab (as my NCE Procab)? An observation. When we first installed our turntable the control box was under the layout so we had to use the DCC throttle (NCE also). Later we installed the box on the fascia so users can use either. Most now seem to use the box. We have had an issue with ours. Every now and then it loses programming and won't align to the correct track. It seems that this follows a short on the layout. A calibrate will put it right but occasionally I have to completely re-programme. Sometimes I think manual operation with eyball alignment might be better. Bill
If the turntable being powered from your DCC bus, or do you have an independent power supply for it (not the bridge rails, the power feed for the electronics)? Noise and shorts on the DCC track power lines can cause the memory to be scrambled, this seems to also happen with some stationary decoders like the Digitrax DS64. When you use the DS64 with only the Loconet for commands and power them with a seperate power supply, the problems almost always go away. I suspect the same issue with the DCC turntable. In both cases, it might be fixable if there is room in the circuit to add additional filtering and bypass capacitors, but that means modifying the device and voiding the warranty.
rrinker If the turntable being powered from your DCC bus, or do you have an independent power supply for it (not the bridge rails, the power feed for the electronics)?
If the turntable being powered from your DCC bus, or do you have an independent power supply for it (not the bridge rails, the power feed for the electronics)?
It's all powered from the the DCC bus as per turntable instructions. I think (not 100% sure though) that if it was powered by an independent supply it would not be able to be controlled through the DCC throttle.
I see the new 110' turntable has quite a different control method.
rrinker bagal Valeriy What is the better to operate turntable by Walthers control box or by DCC system cab (as my NCE Procab)? An observation. When we first installed our turntable the control box was under the layout so we had to use the DCC throttle (NCE also). Later we installed the box on the fascia so users can use either. Most now seem to use the box. We have had an issue with ours. Every now and then it loses programming and won't align to the correct track. It seems that this follows a short on the layout. A calibrate will put it right but occasionally I have to completely re-programme. Sometimes I think manual operation with eyball alignment might be better. Bill If the turntable being powered from your DCC bus, or do you have an independent power supply for it (not the bridge rails, the power feed for the electronics)? Noise and shorts on the DCC track power lines can cause the memory to be scrambled, this seems to also happen with some stationary decoders like the Digitrax DS64. When you use the DS64 with only the Loconet for commands and power them with a seperate power supply, the problems almost always go away. I suspect the same issue with the DCC turntable. In both cases, it might be fixable if there is room in the circuit to add additional filtering and bypass capacitors, but that means modifying the device and voiding the warranty. --Randy
Randy is quite right. It's a fickle little rascal if using the DCC bus. My suggestion is use a separate power supply and use the included control box or just go by eye.
Good railroading.
Mark
WP Lives
Mine is power by a separate regulated power supply and have had no problems with the programming in the 4-5 years I have owned it. I am very pleased with the overall design and operation. I have it located close to the layout edge (about 24") but it is getting a little difficult for me to see that well for manual alignment. About once or twice a year I have to run the zero/home sequence if one of the tracks is 'off' when using the automatic search.
I'm beginning to see a pattern here with model railroad electronics. A model railroad is a rather noisy electricla environment, with wheels making and braking contact, and DC brushed motors generating all sorts of noise, and common use of fluorescent lighting for the layout room, etc. But putting good isolation in something to keep the noiosy transients out costs money, and seems to in many case just not be done, or done poorly. Feed the device with a nice clean power source that doesn;t see any of those spikes and transients and it works pefectly fine. Use with with ie track power and the device loses its mind every so often.
rrinkerFeed the device with a nice clean power source that doesn;t see any of those spikes and transients and it works pefectly fine. Use with with ie track power and the device loses its mind every so often. --Randy
I have to agree here. The power supply I use is a surplus aircraft industry regulated one I picked up on Ebay several years ago ($9.00).
Well, If I connect separate power supply to the turntable control box it works like DC not DCC (I don`t operate turntable witn NCE Procab) and I can use only Walthers control box?
What brands of separate power supply you recommended for turntable?
Bob, is your power supply works well? Walthers installation instructions noted: "The drive operates best at 16 Volts AC, 500 mA", your power supply has 3A, is not it?
Valeriy
The power supply you use must supply at least as much amperage as the load (the turntable) draws, or more. Devices using the power use current (measured in amps or milliamps, .001 amp), the power supply does not 'push' current into a load. You could use a 100 amp power supply to drive the 500ma turntable, however that would be a bad idea not because it would instantly fry the turntable, but because if something did short out, there would be 100 amps, at 15 volts that would be 1500 watts - a space heater's worth of power, which would a) melt things very quickly and b) probably set it all on fire.
If you wanted a dedicated power supply for the turntable, ie not powering anything else ont he layout, you would want one that produces around 700-800 ma, that means it can supply enough current to satisfy the 500ma requirement of the turntable and still have a little room left over - it's generally not a good idea to run a power supply at 100% continuously.
In the case of a 3A power supply like Bob's, I wouldn't run that directly to the turntable, I'd put a 750ma or so fuse in line with the turntable's power wires, and then also an approriately sized fuse between the power supply and whatever else it is powering. This will help protect both the device being powered and the power supply itself in the event of a fault in the device being powered.
I have several 3 to 5 amps supplies to use for structure lighting and accessory power, and I am building small panels with fuses or circuit breakers in them to divide the output into multiple lines. Think of the power supply as the main power feed coming to your house. First it goes to the breaker box to divide that incoming power into multiple lower power circuits, mostly for safety reasons. Assuming your wiring is good, shorting out a wall outlet in your house will trip the breaker for that circuit, leaving the rest of the house still powered, and hopefully kill the power to the short before anything gets hot enough to burn your house down. Same principle applies to small power supplies on a model railroad, although with low current power supplies it's not terribly likely that anything would catch on fire.
rrinker In the case of a 3A power supply like Bob's, I wouldn't run that directly to the turntable, I'd put a 750ma or so fuse in line with the turntable's power wires, and then also an approriately sized fuse between the power supply and whatever else it is powering. This will help protect both the device being powered and the power supply itself in the event of a fault in the device being powered.
Good idea Randy, hadn't thought of a fuse to protect the TT. I do have the power supply plugged into a power strip with a circuit breaker. I will install the fuse now though. Thanks for pointing it out.
Thank you for your information, Randy. I begin to search power supply with output: 16 Volts AC, 800mA for my turntable. I`ll add the fuse 500mA between power supply and turntable.