Make a control rail by insulating a section of outside rail in each track leg attached to the slipswitch. Connect one control rail to one of the non-common terminals of one switch machine. Connect that same terminal to the corresponding terminal of the other switch machine. Connect that to the control rail diagonally opposite the first one. Then do the same with the two control rails and switch-machine terminals that you have not already connected to anything.
Bob, I think I understand it all except this part. Are all the control rails wired together eventually? All wired back to the non common ( middle ) post on the switches? Jake
The control rails are not all wired together. Do you know which is the common terminal of the switch machine? Each switch machine has one common terminal and two terminals that are not common ("non-common").
"The first thing is to verify which one is the common. (I'm betting it is the one in the middle.) If the slipswitch is already on the layout, make a temporary connection to the center rail and one outside rail near the slipswitch to each of two wires. Turn up the track voltage to sixteen volts or thereabouts and briefly touch the two wires to each possible pair of terminals on one switch machine. There are only three ways to do this. Two of the ways will make the points move. The one terminal that is in both of those pairs is the common. For example, if touching the two outside terminals with the wires does not make the points move, but touching the center terminal and either of the outside terminals does make them move, then the common is the center terminal."
Have you done this yet? What was the result? If you can tell me which one is the common terminal, we can proceed from there.
Bob Nelson
" border="0" />I'm experimenting with a single switch that's not in the layout, thought this might be the easiest way to work on things, as the slip switch requires me to crawl across the layout.
The switch machines are the same for any Atlas switch, this I know for a fact. Here is what I did. I hooked the middle post of the switch to the U post on the transformer. If I touch either outside post on the switch with the hot wire, it will jump the switch back and forth. Is this what you need to know about the switch? Next I wired up the Diode, Resistor and capacitor as shown. Where I'm getting lost thre is what outside rails on the switch, or insulated track piece gets wired and what wire goes on these insulated rails or outside rails? If I hook ONE wire from the ( - ) side of the capacitor to the outside rail of the insulated track piece and run a car over that piece onto the switch, it will work just fine, every time. I cannot figure out how to wire this up so the next time a car approaches, it will throw the switch back the other direction. Bob if I knew this was going to be this much trouble I would have bought a wind up Marx with a single loop of track! Shucks, I would have somehow made that complicated too!. Thanks again, Bob, Jake
I think we're making progress. We know that the middle terminal of the switch machine is the common and therefore that the other two terminals are not common. All the remaining problems are in the negative end of the capacitor, the U terminal of the transformer, and the outside rails, in general and the insulated control rails.
First, the transformer's U terminal connects to the negative end of the capacitor and to the outside rails in general, but not to the insulated control rails.
Next, there are two other groups of things that are connected together. One group comprises two control rails and one of the non-common (not in the middle) terminals on each switch machine. The control rails in this group of four are the two at the ends of one of the diagonal paths across the slipswitch. The switch-machine terminals are the same one on each switch machine. If you use the terminal closer to the track on one machine, use the one closer to the track on the other.
The other group comprises the other two control rails and the other terminals on both switch machines.
If, when you wire this up, the slipswitch throws to the wrong path as a train approaches, just swap the connections to the non-common terminals of each switch machine.
The diagram you posted is a good idea. Can you update it and do it again, so that I can check this next step?
In the future, if a capacitor is not marked, one end will be connected to the outside of the case, that is the negative side, the other side which is + will be insulated, not the wire, but the end of the capacitor.
I made the switch work either way finally by hooking the wires from the outside two posts to the insulated rails, one each. Now however a train will not activite the switch as they both being activated at the same time. So...I need to go to the double slip switch and fool with both switches, but I think I have the tiger by the tail now. Maybe . Jake
Here is a picture of Radio Shack's 4700 microfarad capacitor. The negative lead is on the right, where the arrows with the minus sign on them are pointing.
You wrote, "I made the switch work either way finally by hooking the wires from the outside two posts to the insulated rails, one each. Now however a train will not activite the switch as they both being activated at the same time." If the control rails are in the two separate paths leading to the turnout in the trailing-point direction, I don't see how they can both be activated at the same time unless there are two trains trying to get through the turnout at the same time.
Bob, I was talking about wiring on the one experimental switch that is not in the layout and not the double slip switch. I placed a wire from one insulated rail to one outside post on the switch, and a wire from the other insulated rail to the other outside post on the switch. When I did that, it would not work at all, but if I removed on of them, it would work fine. It would work if I placed a metal strip across either rail, but a train car was trying to activate both together. I understand that this is not a proper wiring deal, and that I need to deal with the two switch machines on the double slip switch. I'll fool with that tomorrow.
I did not see the arrows with the minus sign! I guess I looked too hard! Jake
Jake, I understood that you were working with a simple turnout. But what happened shouldn't have. Some questions: If the switch were the letter Y, are the control rails located in the tracks that connect to the two top legs of the Y, not the bottom? Is there one control rail in each of those two tracks? Are the control rails completely insulated? Is one control rail connected only to one of the outer switch-machine terminals? Is the other control rail connected only to the other outer switch-machine terminal? Is the U terminal of the transformer connected both to the negative lead of the capacitor and to the outside rails generally, but not to the control rails?
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