So this is my first time making a model railroad and i have a fairly large layout consisting of about 10 turnouts. The power from my Bachman EZ command control center wasnt even putting out enough power to turn one of my switches. I took the wires off of the blue and black switch. I purchased an MRC SLO Motion turnout power supply to help power up the switch but i hooked up all of the wires to one switch (which ended up being 24 volts) and completely fried my turnout motor. It literally went up in flames and melted. You can tell im new at this cant you? Now i re-wired a new turnout (12 volts) and it will only get the motor to flick the switch one way. I have to manually push the switch back and press the button for it to flick back again. Anybody know whats going on???
FYI i am using an atlas code 100 turnout and the blue and black turnout switch provided in the package.
PLEASE HELP I DONT WANT TO BURN MY HOUSE DOWN but i do want all my turnouts to work
Pick up a Capacitor Discharge unit like Circuitrons Snapper. It will provide a surge that will be able to throw the switches. It hooks up to the AC accessory terminals on the power pack. It will also prevent the switch machines from burning out if a push button should stick closed.
You don;t want to run snap switches from the EZ-Command, you're just stealing track power, plus as you seen, it doesn;t work too well.
You need some other source of power, typically the switches are run from the AC output of your power pack, but you don't have one. Unless you had one before you got the EZ COmmand. What you want is a Circuitron Snapper which is made for solenoid switch machines like the Atlas snap switches, and a suitable power supply. You need something that puts out 14-18 volts AC, needs to be maybe 500ma minimum. This feed the Snapper, the Snapper goes to the side terminals ont he Atlas control box. What the Snapper does is send a short high power burst to the switch machine when you hit the button, but if you hold it down or it sticks, only low power is sent to it and it won;t burn up. The Snapper needs an AC power supply though - that MRC thing is DC, and low power - it's meant for Tortoise switch motors, not the Atlas ones - however, I can;t see how it would have fried the Atlas motors unless you completely wired it wrong. There should be three wires from the Atlas motor, going to the button. The order is important, the instructions show how to wire them. Your power supply connects on the left side of the first control box, you can connect each control box to the next one by slipping the tabs of one under the screws of the next in a long line, OR you can run individual power wires from the supply to each control box. If you need to make the wires between the control box and switch motor longer, you need to follow the color code. Either use 3 color wire, or very carefully label each end of your extension wires to make sure the right colors match up - the three wires are a common, and then a connection to the coil to move left, and a connection to the coil to move right. If you mix this up, you will either have power through one of the coils all the time, which WILL burn it up, or you will only get it to go one way, or not move at all.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
So this is all i need?
Any Control Boxes you would recomend instead of using all of the blue and white switches? I would need one that can operate at least 12 switches. Thanks
~Michael
Here you go, hook it up just like this to a 14-18 VAC source and it should work. The best way is with a minimum 3A supply or a CD unit.
Jim
That should work to power the Snapper. Obviously you have to cut the plug off the end to connect the wires to the IN terminals on the Snapper.
You connect the out terminals to the switch. Blue and yellow wires as shown.
A switch tutorial is like trying to find a man for all seasons. A well done work to cover all the ins and outs of all manner of switch work might easily occupy 40-60 pages with lots of diagrams and images. If there is one piece of track work that lays low many a new comer it is the switch in both its mechanical installation and its electrical wiring. The effort can range from a snap to a nightmare. There are many variations and many gotcha's for the remote, electrically operated switch.
There was a day when actually hand throwing a MR pike's switch was a sin. Today, a number of roads, especially shelf layouts and dogbone type layouts are taking a giant leap back to a manual "choke cable" type of throw from the facia. I haven't yet figured out why, but I bet it has to do with the wiring of a large number of switches and contacts that some folks just as soon not get involved with.
The modern two rail DCC switch that is bullet proof and which is electrically controlled and switched via DCC command with undertable wiring to its many parts through machine contacts is an interesting study in itself.
Fortunately, this thread's issues were easily dealt with.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
kmkaz96 I purchased an MRC SLO Motion turnout power supply to help power up the switch but i hooked up all of the wires to one switch (which ended up being 24 volts) and completely fried my turnout motor. It literally went up in flames and melted. You can tell im new at this cant you? Now i re-wired a new turnout (12 volts) and it will only get the motor to flick the switch one way. I have to manually push the switch back and press the button for it to flick back again. Anybody know whats going on??? FYI i am using an atlas code 100 turnout and the blue and black turnout switch provided in the package. PLEASE HELP I DONT WANT TO BURN MY HOUSE DOWN but i do want all my turnouts to work
I purchased an MRC SLO Motion turnout power supply to help power up the switch but i hooked up all of the wires to one switch (which ended up being 24 volts) and completely fried my turnout motor. It literally went up in flames and melted. You can tell im new at this cant you? Now i re-wired a new turnout (12 volts) and it will only get the motor to flick the switch one way. I have to manually push the switch back and press the button for it to flick back again. Anybody know whats going on???
You cannot power a snap switch with a power supply meant for slow motion switches. Slow motion switches are DC powered and the power is on continuously. Snap switches are powered by a short burst and are then unpowered. Continuous power will burn them out. The capacitive discharge units protect the switches by charging the capacitor then suddenly discharging it across the switch. It guarantees that the power is momentary and it allows a higher voltage to be applied to the switch giving you a good positive throw.
If the switch throws one way but not the other, it is wired wrong.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow