Model train control panel

[@eddiejoe5928]

Great video I'm building my retirement layout now and all my switches are Atlas snap switches and I came up with the same latching relay circuit. I like the idea of the bi color LED 's. I was just going to use a single LED to show which track was energized but the dual color LED is a much better idea. I found some latching relays on ebay that were about the same size and much less expensive. I got 10 for about $20.

[@YMXMD]

Glad it helped, let me know if you build a better mouse trap 🙂

[@denniswilson2690]

Great Video! Would you need a latch relay when using a Tortoise switch machine?

[@mikeV2848]

I would use shrink tube on the exposed wire

[@markdebsauzzietravels]

Hi Mate great video I'm looking at doing the exact same thing with the Bi-colour LEDs but I'm going to use a NE555 time to move a servo for the points but I'm a little stuck on the lighting side, the latching relay seems to be a bit on the pricey side so I'm thinking of using a momentary switch for the lights only cost a couple of cents and you could run it off your solenoid switch to change your lights ? Anyway just some food for thought as I'm working on a budget and time I have plenty of Cheers Mark

[@YMXMD]

Potentially a very nice solution - please post a comment if it works with pictures if possible. The cost is a real pain and can be a show stopper. I do hope that one day a company will make small packages that encompass all of this and is just "plug your LED here" kind of thing. One of the folks in a previous comment mentioned that he had found latching relays that were much cheaper.

[@markdebsauzzietravels]

@@YMXMD Hi Mate this is what I'm hoping to use, this way you just have to mount your micro switch off the solenoid movement some how and you can still use your switches and the lights will work off the micro switch on the solenoid hope this helps and saves you some money :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5TZhZSApMiqn6s Cheers Mark

[@russcole5685]

​@@YMXMDTam Valley Singlets. They have push button control of servo, with Bi colour LED indication, and are DCC encoded so can be switched vai your controller

[@YMXMD]

You know, that is a terrific question, there are so many people who use tortoise switch machine. And it would likely help a lot of folks. I will look into what powers a tortoise. if it has continuous dc to see if it can be done this way. If you do find out please let me know.

[@peetywondr3256]

Your Tortoise switch machines don't need all this . . . they come equipped with auxiliary contacts (2 sets) that can be used for frog polarity or to use for LED indication. The voltage supplied to those contacts can be totally independent of the voltage for the Tortoise machine. IF you go this route and use 12VDC for your LED's, you need 450 Ohm resistors. Formula for finding out resistor value for use with LED's is: Vs (supply voltage) minus the Forward voltage of the LED (usually about 2-3 v) divided by the current draw of the LED (usually for RED LED's , about 20 Ma. 12Vdc - 3 Vdc divided by the amperage draw (0.020) equals 450 Ohms. If the LED's are too bright, try 1000 Ohms to start. I'm using RED / GREEN LED's (3mm) and have 470 Ohm on the RED lead, 8000 Ohms on the green, it was still way too bright with 1000 Ohms . . . I'm also using a logic gate chip to hold my LED's on after switching the turnout with a momentary toggle.