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153C used as SPDT for auto speed change/block control?

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  • Member since
    March 2009
  • 13 posts
153C used as SPDT for auto speed change/block control?
Posted by The--Captain on Saturday, April 11, 2009 4:00 AM

I've been browsing some posts about switching track voltage supplies from one transformer to another, and I was wondering if it was a good to bad idea to use a 153C for this kind of thing...

An example:  The train approaches an isolated (via insulating fiber pins on the center rail) block powered by transformer A - the approaching train is already running on a different isolated block powered by transformer B, but the power is delivered through a 153C located at the end of the block that will switch over to transformer A once the train reaches the 153C (and hence the end of the block normally powered by transformer B)

Is this sane or crazy?  Am I ignoring critical transformer phase concerns?

 Any and all suggestions are welcome...

Thanks,

-Jon


 


 

 


 

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Austin, TX
  • 10,096 posts
Posted by lionelsoni on Saturday, April 11, 2009 9:53 AM

I don't see why that wouldn't work.  Only two cautions come to my mind:  The 153C contacts may or may not be up to carrying that much current; but that could be solved with a relay, in which case you could use a control rail rather than the 153C if you wanted.  The other is that it would work properly only for a train going in one direction, which may be all you intend to use it for anyway.

With that arrangement, there would be no concern about phase, voltage, waveform, or frequency between the two transformers.

Bob Nelson

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