LED switch indicator lights

[miniwyo]

Ok so earlier this evening,we finished the swith panel for the yard control, we now have to find a way to make our led Indicator light on the panel to work, we have a red light to show the switch as thrown to the yard, and green to show it thrown as straight with the ladder. without using those atlas indicator light module switches, how else would we get those lights to light up? The switches are momentary contact switches that spring back when flipped, but the turnout will stay switched when set until set a different direction.

Hope fully this is a clear description(clear as mud right?)

any ideas?

[NZRMac]

What kind of turnout switch have you used, tortoise or twin coil?

I've used twin coil turnouts and DPDT switches and a pushbutton for the CDI unit
The DPDT can light the LED's as well as set the turnout direction.

Ken.

[Fergmiester]

If your using Peco Twin Coil (solenoid) motors you will have to buy an attachment switch that fits on them. These are fed with a seperate power feed but will work your LED's. If your using Tortoise a diagram comes with the motor giving instructions on how to wire LED's.

Fergie

[MisterBeasley]

Since your pushbuttons are momentary, I assume you're using twin-coil switch machines (Atlas, PECO, etc.) and not Tortoise motors.

I went to Demar Electronics and bought a half-dozen cheap DC latching relays for about 6 bucks apiece. I wire the relay coils in parallel with the switch machines, so they throw at the same time. These are "latching" relays, so they hold their state even if you power down the system. The output side of the relay selects the lights you want to turn on and off. I use them for signals, but you can also use them for control panels. The ones I got are double-pole, double-throw, so you could even use one side for control panel leds and the other for incandescent signals if you'd like.

Note that these are DC relays. If you are running your switch machines on AC, the relays won't work. For me, the solution was to use a capacitive discharge circuit. Not only does it power the relays reliably, but it also handles the switch machines much better, and protects the switch machine coils, too. The parts for the CD circuit were about 10 bucks at Radio Shack. Google for the circuit diagram.

You might also find circuits around to do this solid-state with transistor switching. If you're comfortable building the circuits, give it a try. You do have to watch the current load on transistor switching, and be aware that they will not necessarily come back up in the right position when you power the system down.

[emdgp92]

I did mine a bit differently. With my Tortoise machines, I use a DPDT switch...but I cut the LEDs (12V LEDs with the resistors included) into one side of the power wire for the Tortoise. That way, when the machine changes directions, so do the lights.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by emdgp92

I did mine a bit differently. With my Tortoise machines, I use a DPDT switch...but I cut the LEDs (12V LEDs with the resistors included) into one side of the power wire for the Tortoise. That way, when the machine changes directions, so do the lights.

I use a bi-polor LED and the color tells you the way the doubleslip is set.

[SpaceMouse]

I did what you are talking about. I used a dpdt switch to determine direction and light the proper LED, then a MOM to throw the turnout.

[miniwyo]

The switches are all Atlas, as are the switch motors, the reason we dont want ot use the LED mdule, is that we have limited space and basically have nowhere to put them. We are just looking for a way to wire them inot the circut to light up when the switch is flipped.