Wiring Point Motors to Signals for Automatic Red / Green Signal Changing

[@Onthemainline]

Nice one George! Good to see you've gone with the point motors! They're a great addition you will love! The only issue they have is sometimes when you change them back to going straight on (If that's the correct term), you can change the switch or lever for it but the actual points don't move and then the train goes where you don't want it to and then you've got a possible disaster on your hands. Another issue is because of the current going through the points sometimes drift and then when your train travels over them it derails. Or maybe that's just mine that do that because of my "lower end" electricity skills.. Either way just keep and eye out because it would be interesting to see if it's all motorised points that do that or just mine. Stay safe mate :)

[@highbrookendmodelrailway]

Thanks mate, and hopefully I will - the investment best be worth it! It should be so much easier instead of careering round the loft all the time and racing to reach the back of the boards before the train goes over the points! 😬 I'm using 16V AC feeding into a Capacitor Discharge Unit (CDU) which should give the motors a really strong whack of power to help them shift across. I've been able to have some really thick 16 Gauge wire from my Grandad which will ensure there's no loss in OOMPH between the power supply, switches and motors. I've also sprayed some WD40 into the point motor mechanisms to lubricate them and remove any gunk or PVA from ballasting - this will ensure they move nice and freely. At least with my point motors (I know you can get ones that can be powered constantly, I don't know which ones you have) there should only be current passing through them for no longer than a second, this is both so power isn't lost as the coils would heat up if powered for long durations, and also so the motors don't burn out! This why I'm using momentary toggle switches to ensure there's only a brief pulse of power through them. However, I'll make sure all my points switch and stay switched, though, as I can see how that would be a big problem! Haha! 🤣 By no means am I a master electrician though......thanks for the compliment nevertheless! We shall have to wait and see, shouldn't be more than a few weeks now! Take care :)

[@tonyhill6296]

Just to draw your attention to a paper by Mr Brian Lambert on the topic of CDU design and construction. If the CDU is wired in as described with his circuit design you can use two position toggle switches to change the points and only a very tiny residual current flows through the selected solenoid coil thus preventing the possibility of the burn out you describe. Thus when the switches are panel mounted on a ‘mimic’ diagram of the track plan you get visual indication of the route set, by the toggle direction. Also I have found with ‘Seep’ point motors the c/o switch does not always make contact in both directions. To minimise the impact - I slightly offset the motor below the baseboard to ensure that the switch always makes circuit, when set for the curved route (known as Reverse set). Two wires only to the switch trigger the operation of a sub-miniature 12v DC relay the two sets of c/o contacts of which a) select the frog polarity on ‘electro frog’ points and b) the other set of contacts switch the LED’s in the signal. 100% operation every time! NB Increasing the size (rating) of the capacitor enables several point motors to be switched in unison. On ‘insula frog’ points I use the two sets of relay contacts to connect each switch blade to its associated frog rail and a second relay to drive the signal LED’s. Please note I have no commercial connection to the work of Brian Lambert, just an admirer of his excellent papers and colour coded wiring diagrams. Happy Modelling T 🚂

[@Onthemainline]

Thanks for the amazing info and advice! I will give it a look!@@tonyhill6296

[@plantfoot6672]

What is the height of the light ?

[@highbrookendmodelrailway]

Hi, from the base to the top of the signal, it's about 6.4cm / 2.5in, here's the listing on eBay if you are interested: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373737324347?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=THJ_7RrqTam&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=_nabt7q6swe&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY (Not sponsored, just happy with the product!) :)

[@delboy1727]

As this video is now a year old, I have no doubt that you will have made considerably more progress on your layout, but there is a problem with the method of wiring your signals to the points in the way you have shown here. One of the routes through your points will always have a red signal, rendering it unavailable if you intend to run your trains whilst taking heed of the signal aspect.

[@highbrookendmodelrailway]

Rather amusingly I actually haven't done that much, but hoping to change that very soon! :) I am running on DC only so although one of the lights will be at danger I can only run one train on any two given lines when crossing between them - as otherwise there would be a bit of a crash!