Rotate Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 Good afternoon Members. Have an OO gauge layout under DCC conditions with a Hornby Select controller. I have 12 Hornby points connected to R8243 point motors controlled via R8247 Accessory decoders which work perfectly. I also have a couple of (Hornby) high speed points and have added these to the layout, but didn't want to go to the expense of more of the same point motors and decoders so obtained 2 Peco PL-10e point motors along with PL-26 passing contact switches, and a Gaugemaster CDU. In my box of spare parts I found a Hornby R044 passing contact switch (Yellow) and connected it up, but in the process of wiring the new points managed to burn out 1 motor already as I forgot it wasn't connected via the CDU. Trying to wire them up via the differing manufacturers diagrams (and via the CDU) are proving slightly tricky, therefore I'm asking for some assistance. The diagrams from Peco and GM are attached. Do they make sense to members, because at the moment my only spare point is not working. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 (edited) The Hornby yellow switch is not a passing contact switch, it is an On - On (changeover) switch and is therefore not suitable for solenoid point motors such as those from Peco, Hornby and Seep Edited October 12, 2019 by smokebox 1 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotate Posted October 12, 2019 Author Share Posted October 12, 2019 Aah yes. Is it black in colour (the R044) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sol Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 Yes according to Hornby website - the black one is the correct one to use. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 Hi, You may find the Hornby passing contact switch does not work very well with a CDU. It is described accurately: a switch which passes the contact. When you switch it, you will first throw the motor the same way it is already facing. If you continue with switching the point, you will attempt to throw it in the required direction...except that the CDU will have had little chance to re-charge, so will not be very effective. If instead you hesitate for a second at the mid-point before continuing to throw the point, you will give the CDU a chance to re-charge & will therefore see a massive improvement when the point throws. The Peco 'passing contact' switch is more sophisticated than its name suggests. It avoids contact with the existing connection, instead throwing a spring-loaded connection which prevents the CDU discharging in the wrong direction first, allowing the full amount of stored energy to operate the point motor in the required direction. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sol Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 For a photo of the insides of the Peco passing contact switch as described by Pete http://www.talkingelectronics.com/projects/CDU - overview/CDU - Overview.html 2/3rds of the way down the page to Pl-26 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotate Posted October 13, 2019 Author Share Posted October 13, 2019 Thanks to all who replied. All advice is appreciated ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotate Posted October 13, 2019 Author Share Posted October 13, 2019 Breaking news. . .The issue was that I had wired the CDU incorrectly as to the polarity. The particular CDU I have does not show + and - only In/Out so a 50% chance made it fail. Correcting the polarity made it work ! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold john new Posted October 21, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 21, 2019 (edited) On 12/10/2019 at 23:46, Pete the Elaner said: Hi, You may find the Hornby passing contact switch does not work very well with a CDU. It is described accurately: a switch which passes the contact. When you switch it, you will first throw the motor the same way it is already facing. If you continue with switching the point, you will attempt to throw it in the required direction...except that the CDU will have had little chance to re-charge, so will not be very effective. If instead you hesitate for a second at the mid-point before continuing to throw the point, you will give the CDU a chance to re-charge & will therefore see a massive improvement when the point throws. The Peco 'passing contact' switch is more sophisticated than its name suggests. It avoids contact with the existing connection, instead throwing a spring-loaded connection which prevents the CDU discharging in the wrong direction first, allowing the full amount of stored energy to operate the point motor in the required direction. Very useful tip, I was given a block of these Hornby type ages ago but haven’t yet tried or fitted them. Looks like the current project may well be stud and probe control after all (like my previous layouts) rather than trying out a levers option. Edited March 10, 2020 by john new Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggzuk Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 I can recommend the Peco point lever switch. Once you fit them into the 6x holder you end up with a nice looking lever frame. Note that with a crossover ladder (two points) between two tracks, you only need to use one point lever to throw both points. The CDU will have enough grunt to fire both point motors at the same time. My lever frame (which now controls over 20 points). and The fact you can get different colours of point levers means you can group them for different sections of the layout, like main line, goods yard, enginehsed etc How is the layout build comming along? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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