[user=434]John Dew[/user] wrote:

Your comment about circuit protection was very timely. My main power bus is well protected as I all too frequently notice! However I have a separate power bus for points and that is unprotected……..so I should address that ASAP……..I dont think I need anything as sophisticated as the DCC Supplies Breakers that I use but some form of re settable breaker immediately downstream of the transformer……..have you any suggestions.

Have you looked at this one:-

https://clarahost.clar…ants={EOL}&categoryId=110

It is not expensive and has a variable trip setting allowing you to set it low if it is just in the bus to the points. Do you use this to power the points, or just to provide a DCC signal to the decoders? Set it to the minimum current trip for the latter, and to a suitable value depending on how many motors you have runnning at once if the former.

 I Did all this about 5.30 last night after my abortive testing and went upstairs to email you……..about 7pm when we were having dinner my wife said there is a funny noise downstairs and it isnt the washing machine……….downstairs I go……and the TT is merrily turning round and I suspect it had done so since 5.30!. It is at the other end of the room by the door and has an independent 12v DC supply (once finalised I was going to fit a switch and light as a reminder) Either it physically stuck and became unstuck or this is further confirmation of the sticking relay!

I reckon that is almost certainly a sympton of a stuck latch coming off when all was quiet. Either that or there is someone or thing else in the basement that wants to play trains

Cracked it!!!!!!! ……..well the first part.

Tried another of my antique mechanical relays and had similar problems. Said "Oh dear"  or similar and drove 5 miles to the electronic store…..Lots of DPDT relays……. but latching:…….."no demand"……"can order one in $80 (50 UK Pounds:twisted:) …… "better to design and make your own electronic flip flop switch " (I thought flip flops were footwear :roll:)

Not good. Drove home fuming…….while driving and fuming I decided, when I got home, to do work in another area where I am laying a load of points…….made mental note to be sure I checked polarity was ok on Point#45………………….about $100 in pennies dropped from a great height (probably heaven).

    Firstly witching Polarity is not rocket science and does not require fancy relays……I do it every time I lay a point.

    Secondly RR&Co actually telling me to set up two dummy point addresses was a pretty big clue that I had managed to ignore:oops::oops:

I now  have two Peco point motors wired up side by side…..one has a DPDT switch mounted to change polarity and the other a SPDT switch with only one connection as an on off switch (I know I whine a lot about the latter but it is in a very accessible position) 

Enter Point #88  in the Lenz Controller click + and the TT starts  …………click - and it stops

Enter Point #87 click + and when I click  #88 it starts Clockwise……click - on  #87 and it will start anti clockwise

Go to the Computor and Murphys Law kicks in big time…….. click on start Clockwise …..NOTHING…..

Click stop and it starts……swap # 88 point wires in decoder…….click start Clockwise and it starts…..great…… but anti clockwise……..

Swap #87 point wires and all is sweetness and light……:thumbs   Make mental note not to back any horses in the near future

Dog and SWMBO are thrilled……I am quite pleased

Next challenge is to get it to stop at the designated track :roll::roll::roll:

To be continued…….but I have checked that a reed and magnet will fire a contact indicator

Have you looked at this one:-

https://clarahost.clara.net/www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/pd1213346381.htm?defaultVariants={EOL}&categoryId=110

It is not expensive and has a variable trip setting allowing you to set it low if it is just in the bus to the points. Do you use this to power the points, or just to provide a DCC signal to the decoders? Set it to the minimum current trip for the latter, and to a suitable value depending on how many motors you have runnning at once if the former.

Thats about the same price as the ones from Tonys Trains that I use on the Power Bus…….so I will get another next time I put an order in

The DCC signal comes from the Power Bus but the power to throw the points comes from a separate 16v AC power bus and I use this to power other ancillary functions LB 101

 Either that or there is someone or thing else in the basement that wants to play trains

Kind Regards from Vancouver where a huge storm is imminent

Well done John  :doublethumb

I always think you learn less if it works first time

Chris

Glad to read that you have got things working, John. After all, a Peco point motor is just a two coil latching mechanism itself. I have actually used a couple in the past out of their normal environment. It was one of the earlier incarnations of my grandson's layout when I wanted to replicate in a simple control box the position of a thrown point, and the simplest seemed to be just to use a second point motor and switch. They can be quite useful devices, and are generally much cheaper than $80 a time!!!

I will now be very interested to see how you get on with indexing.