I've been looking at accessory decoders for the points on Latton Fields and these seem very good value for money.

Just wondering if anyone has tried using them for frog switching as well as the solenoid control.

I have read reports on other forums about the ADS-8fx forgetting which  way the point is set at power up, which could be a bit nasty if the  frogs are not the right polarity, but it seems throwing all the  connected points after powering up solves the problem.

Think I'll be alright power wise as my DCS51 Zephyr is a 3 amp system  and I doubt any trains would be moving while throwing points as the  layout isn't big enough, so basically I wouldn't need an additional  power supply.

The alternative I quite fancy is the Digitrax DS64, but that only  controls four point motors so I'd need two which works out more  expensive, and frog switching would have to be handled by the point  motor.

Either way, as I have 10 points I'll need at least one other accessory  decoder for the other 2. But that could be a Digitrax DS52, a DCC  Concepts AD-S2sx, or any one of various other manufactures NMRA  compliant decoders.

 

Ed

Hi Ed
I have an ADS 8fx on Granby………I use it to replace failed peco switches on solenoid motors in the storage yard Installed before I switched to Tortoises…….it's also good for surface mounted motors installed during my many relays.

The downside is that when you turn off the power at the end of a session…..or have a short……the frog polarity returns to the default setting ……regardless of the actual turnout setting:roll:. It's not so much it forgets the setting it just reverts to the default. So you can (and I have) adjust the wiring so the default is the normal or most used position and then train yourself (or in my case the computor) to set the turnout back to normal after the train has passed over it

There are some additional work arounds…..I have a switch on my RR&Co switchboard which returns all the points connected to the ads8fx to normal…..I try to remember to click on the switch every time I start a session or restart after a short….sadly I don't remember every time:oops:…….if I didn't have computor control I would definitely try and set up some form of master switch.

My unit is 3 or 4 years old and other than this quirk has performed impeccably…….there was some talk about a later model correcting the problem…..I guess that hasn't happened.

If I need to replace any more failed peco switches I will buy another unit

HTH

Cheers

John

Interesting John.

I've just had a couple of replies on another forum, where people have had two or more of the outputs fail in a fairly short space of time.

Maybe they were just unlucky.

There is another version I discovered, AD-S8sx with power off memory and protective case for about £12 more.



Ed

I guess that must be the improved version…….worth the extra money I think just for the power memory
You do have to be careful when wiring up.I assume that is why they have added protective.  Casing

That power problem is one reason I use Hex Frog juicers ( DCC only) for my side mounted motors to switch frogs.
Well before DCCconcepts went into Decoders, etc, they had Masterswitch which also had power problems in that if a layout had 20-30 solenoids with Masterswitch, on switching layout power on, the power supply would overload as the Masterswitches were charging up.

Thanks Ron, hadn't thought about that.

A lot of the accessory decoder manufacturers tell you about an on-board CDU that won't drain power from the bus when the points are thrown, but nobody seems to mention the power drain to charge the capacitors at initial start up  :thumbs



Ed

Just wondering if it's better to go with more accessory decoders with  less outputs, so that if you get a failure it doesn't affect as many  points.


Ed
 

[user=1338]Ed[/user] wrote:

Just wondering if it's better to go with more accessory decoders with  less outputs, so that if you get a failure it doesn't affect as many  points.


Ed
 

Don't think so. Each of the 8 units are virtually separate units from a wiring point of view. I daisy chained the DCC bus input on mine but if you were concerned about an individual unit failing you could wire from a choc  bloc so a failed unit could be quickly isolated.

Personally I think if you are very careful when wiring up the risk of failure is very small……..my first unit was a 2x and one unit failed…….guess why:roll:."…….couldn't find the RTFM emoticon

i have had one for 4 years now, works perfectly, every time. I did have a faulty 2 point one, which was replaced foc. john