My new layout will have a wye and I know it´ll requiring some special wiring to avoid shortening out, as to be seen in the following diagram:
The layout will be straight forward DC, switches are Peco Electrofrogs, manually operated. How can I solve the issue?
When I installed a couple wyes on my layout back when I was using DC, I wired a DPDT switch to the throwbar of the turnout. The inbound track power from both legs goes to the outer terminals of the DPDT switch. The two middle terminals go to the insulated tail track.
This way, whichever way the turnout is thrown, it automatically corrects the polarity for that inbound / outbound leg. The nice this about this is that it required no modification when I converted to DCC ! ....
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Ulrich,
Beyond the usual gaps and feeders, nothing too special to wiring what you have there. I'd make the simple leg coming straight off the bottom of the rest of the track the reversing section.
Did I miss anything not readily apparent?
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Sir MadogThe layout will be straight forward DC, switches are Peco Electrofrogs, manually operated. How can I solve the issue?
Though, one has to like Mark's solution.
The turnout itself should be in the reversing section as it in itself will cause a short, especially when using the electrofrog variety.
Even though the wye is an Electrofrog, the gaps shown by Mark to isolate the wye are the same gap locations that would be required on an Electrofrog outside of a reversing section. Since the tail of the wye leads to a stub end spur track, the tail of the wye need not be gapped. You are good to go. Just add feeders to the tail of the wye and watch where you connect the other end of those feeder wires on the DPDT switch.
Rich
Alton Junction
Sir MadogMy new layout will have a wye and I know it´ll requiring some special wiring to avoid shortening out, as to be seen in the following diagram:
Track wiring for control and operation of D.C. layouts provides a little more detail and explanation
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
gregc Sir Madog My new layout will have a wye and I know it´ll requiring some special wiring to avoid shortening out, as to be seen in the following diagram: Track wiring for control and operation of D.C. layouts provides a little more detail and explanation
Sir Madog My new layout will have a wye and I know it´ll requiring some special wiring to avoid shortening out, as to be seen in the following diagram:
Looks like twice the work for the same result that use ....
Mark R.Looks like twice the work for the same result that use ....
? is it really that much different from what you suggested?
Sure - twice as many DPDT contacts, twice as much wiring them and twice as many mechanical connections to turnouts. And from what it appears, if those are independant DPDT switches you have to manually align by hand, it's infinitely more, because my design is automatically thrown with the turnout, completely hands-off.
I didn't realize Peco Electrofrogs have switch contacts. That would certainly avoid needing to make sure the DPDT switch was in the correct position.
And if you weren't using DCC, wouldn't you need a reversing switch for direction on the mainline?
They don;t, but they can be added.
You can switch either/or with DCC, it doesn;t matter which side you flip. A Wye in DC was one of the places you flip the track the loco is on, instea dof the main - because you have to change direction of the loco anyway. A normal reverse loop in DC, you change the main when the train is in the loop. In DCC it is usually just the opposite, mainly because that means you are only switching the load of one train, not every other train on the layout, but it really doesn't matter, since the phase of the DCC signal does not determine direction of travel.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
See, with the method I proposed on DC, you don't even have to touch the direction switch !
Enter the wye on one leg and proceed into the tail track. When you throw the turnout, it automatically changes the polarity on the tail track to match the other leg of the wye - which also changes the direction of the engine.
Run in - throw the turnout - run out. No toggle switches or direction switch required. Really don't see how much simpler you could get.
Thanks, folks, for all that information. I have to digest it carefully, as I am not a wizard in electrics. I may change to DCC at a later stage - would that have any influence on what I should be doing for DC operation? I know that Lenz (and others) offer automatic reversing circuits triggered by fault currents. Would they also operate on DC?
The DCC autoreversers generally do not work in DC. With mark's method though, you don't need anything exta, just the contacts operated by the switch machine, of ig you are using hand throws, there's a nice post in the main section on attaching a microswitch to the points and ground throw so that you cna have electrical contacts that work even with hand-thrown turnouts. And it will keep working should you switch to DCC.
I wouldn't be so hung up on wiring for DC so that it all works without modification if you switch to DCC.
If you someday convert to DCC, just add an auto-reverser and re-do the wiring to the reversing section.
No big deal. The gap locations will remain the same.
The solution with using the turnout itself to handle the polarity will work, and will guarantee that you don't have a short if you forget to manually flip a direction switch, but I see a human-factors issue with it. Normally, you would have a control panel where the position of the direction toggle determines the direction the trains go. For example, if the toggle is up, the trains go left to right, and if it's down, the trains go right to left. With the proposed wiring through the turnout, train direction would depend on the position of the turnout in addition to any toggle.
It's a personal decision, in this case, as much as an electrical one.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.