I have a Zephyr talking to a "Switch-8" stationary decoder. I have 8 tortoises connected to it and some turnouts are out of easy sight. Therefore I rely on the Zephyr ot tell me weather the turnout is closed or thrown.
I had a derailing situation on one of the hidden turnouts and I found that even though the Zephyr indicated closed, it was actually thrown.
I had to cycle the turnout several times to get it back in sync.
Should I cycle all of them before each operating session or is something else: other than wiring them up to the contacts and use lamps for position indication?
73
Bruce in the Peg
Bruce,
Do not blame the DCC system. The 'position' information is stored in the 'Switch 8' stationary decoder. The system just polls the 'Switch 8' and tells you what it was told. There are only the two wires from the decoder to the Tortoise(motor control), and there is no positive feedback in this case. You could run a bi-color LED in series with each Tortoise to verify which direction the motor current is flowing, but other than using the aux contacts on the Tortoise, you are at the mercy of the Switch 8 decoder. It is supposed to 'remember' what it did last, even after a power outage!
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Was this a one time thing or does it happen all the time?
Don't blame the DCC system for something the stationary decoder is supposed to do. The decoder has no way to determine if the switch actually threw or not, just that it (the decoder) executed the command. As far as it knows the switch did what it's supposed to do. Sounds there may be a wiring problem between the decoder and the switch machine. Do you use suitcase connectors? I found those to be a constant source of irritation when I used them. There's nothing like a good solid soldered connection.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
jrbernier...The 'position' information is stored in the 'Switch 8' stationary decoder. The system just polls the 'Switch 8' and tells you what it was told....
The Zephyr does not poll the Switch-8 decoder, in fact, it can't because the Switch-8 does not have any kind of feedback. The Zephyr does remember the last command sent, although it has no way of knowing whether or not the decoder recieved and executed the command. If track power is off or there is a short when you send a command to the decoder, the Zephyr will change the status to match whatever command is issued.