I am having trouble with my recently installed points useing a Gaugemaster CDU.When first tested evry thing worked fine then for no apparent reason stopped working. On checking supply voltages I have an input of 18v and an output of 54v from the discharge unit .Is this correct or has something gone awry?
Do you get any response at all from the switch machine? Is it trying to throw, but seems like it's not getting enough power?
Check the wiring of the pushbutton or toggle used for the machine, and try a different machine to see if that's the problem.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Also, if you can get to the switch machine contacts, try to throw the machine directly with the ends of bare wire to the contacts. That will eliminate a burned out switch motor as the problem.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I believe the burst power is too high 54v is a lot for a 18v solenoid...I believe it should be around 24v. Your switch motor may be burnt out.
Take Care!
Frank
You won't get an accurate reading on the output of a CD supply with a typicel meter, you're feeding in to a much higher impedence than what a typical twin coil motor has.
It's pretty much impossible for the CD unit to become defective in a manner that generates 3x the input voltage. It should be aroubnd peak, square root of 2 times RMS, so if the input is 18V AC you should get about 25.5V DC out. A good clue would be the rating on the big capacitor. If it's 50 volts, you aren;t going to be getting 54V out, for long, anyway, the capacitor will go boom.
You do need reasonably adequate wiring, with a CD supply you have a strong high powr pulse but for only a short time. Something like telephone wire won't cut it.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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