Just wondering if I should leave the detents in the Peco switch tracks or not. I am installing Tortise's. I know this could be a matter of prefference. But some input from those of you that may have already tried it both ways would help me decide. Thanks, Truck.
it depends whether it is live or insulated frog, and also if a live frog point, how you have it electrically isolated?? IF you have the point wired as 'DCC friendly' so the switch rails are bonded to the running rail they close to and the only way the frog gets power is through an electrical switch ( the one on the tortoise will do ) then the little detent spring wont bother you ( except the 'snapping' motion ), but you may need to increase the gauge of the wire operating the point depending on how stiff / tight the tiebar is. what you need to avoid is using a live frog point where the switch rails are left bonded to the frog and the the frog switching is done by the tortoise. what can happen sometimes ( i know ) is that you get the tortoise to move the point enough for the detent spring to finish flipping it one way, this direction change can see the frog polarity get changed by the tortoise BEFORE the switch rail is removed from it's running rail causing a short!! this is rare and if it does happen then you have not got the tortoise alligned properly, but it will still work the point mechanically!! best option is loose the detent spring and wire the point DCC friendly as it gets rid of the 'snapping'.
It's my understanding and I got my information from Peco that the spring definitely needs to be removed when using a Tortoise switch machine. The Tortoise is a stall motor switch machine where as it has enough pressure do to the way it's constructed to keep the switch in place where as Peco uses a twin coil type switch machine and does not have the positive pressure like a Tortoise. move the switch on a Peco turnout with your finger and think about if the Tortoise is strong enough to make that click it isn't. I only have three curved Pecos that I am re-using from the old layout and have removed the spring on all of them and they work like a champ.
TruckJust wondering if I should leave the detents in the Peco switch tracks or not. I am installing Tortise's.
There was a similar question a day or two ago in the Layout portion of this forum. The issue there was that the poster was having trouble getting his Torti to throw some Peco turnouts. He reported back that removal of the spring solved his problem. In case you want to take a look, here is the link: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/161201.aspx
To each his own, but I always remove the Peco spring if I'm going to power the turnout with a Tortoise or SwitchMaster stall motor.
my springs are still in on parts of the layout, but i did have to up the size of the actuating wire to get the tiebar past the detent springs pressure. the original wire just flexed and didn't switch the point.
I am using electrofrog turnouts. And I have a DCC system. The tortise's are being operated by two Digitrax DS54's. All the tortise's are doing is switching track. Only the motor wires at terminals #1 & #8 are being used. I guess the reson I asked about the detent is that I took it out of the first one I put a tortise on and it didn't put enough pressure on the switch rail to make electricl contact. After fiddleingwith it igot it to work. But I think I am going to leave the detents out and go with a thicker guage wire as you mentioned. And I do not want to hear them snap when they switch. Thanks again , Truck.
relying on blade contact for electrical continuity is asking for grief down the line. it is fine when things are new and shiny, but usual track cleaning methods only clean the top of the rails. getting between the switch rail and the running rail to get rid of oxidisation/dust/muck in 6 months will be a real pain. and if you paint and ballast the track it adds to the grief. far better to utilise one set of contacts on the tortoise to switch power to the frog as your points aren't sectioned/wired 'DCC friendly' and backfeed the switch rails from the frog. this way if it does get a bit scruffy in the little gap the electric still gets supplied.