New to electrics - point motors?

[Gwiwer]

The Hornby "passing contact" lever switch - the black one - is quite basic but also quite robust. It has two positions and mine are set "Normal" with the lever away from the operator and "reverse" when pulled toward the operator. The actual change occurs about mid-pull with a slight buzz and a pronounced click from the motor.

[Grovenor]

I'm confused then, as grovenor/keith has said above, if Hornby motors are used as designed - with a 16v AC supply, then there should be no need for a CDU as Hornby do not sell one.

So if I use it with the HM2000, where's the problem?

To much conflicting or irrelevant advice

 

To go back to the beginning.

Just wired my first point motor last night and tested it, works perfectly.

If I read your original post correctly, your only problem was joining lots of black (ie common return) wires together.

For that just use terminal blocks as needed, if you have to many wires to fit in one just link to another, there are not normally more than two or three points close together.

These work fine and you can cut off as many as you need from the strip.

 

Keith

[ash39]

Yeah Keith that's what I've been using for the rest of the wiring, I've managed to get all 5 working now and there doesn't seem to be any excess buzzing and I've checked the motors for heat after a few switches and they don't even get mildly warm.

 

Just got another problem now, one of the motors will only switch one way. When I try move it back the other way it just buzzes quietly. I've checked all the connections and even replaced the wire and still doesn't work. Getting really fed up now, to the point of thinking of giving up on it all.

[Gwiwer]

I recgonise that problem. Try reversing the polarity of the wires. You have two wires from the motor back to your control panel (not counting the power bus which doesn't need to be touched) so try swapping over which wire leads from which terminal. That usually solved the problem for me.

[ash39]

You mean swap the wires going into the passing contact switch? Just tried , no luck. Thanks for the tip though

[Ron Solly]

Are the motors, the small surface mounted R8243 or the bigger ones R8014 ? both need to be mounted so the operating arms are straight and level in relationship to the tiebar.

Does it workboth ways if not connected to the tiebar ?

[ash39]

I'm using the ones that can go in a housing or underslung, not sure of code. It's definitely a wiring or motor problem, if I manually push it onto the 'red' side, it will go back to the green side when I flick the switch. It just refuses to go to the red aide under power

[Ron Solly]

If it just buzzes but not moving, it tends to indicate a mechanical alignment problem but if no noise, then it could be an open circuit coil which can be proved using the ohms part of a multimeter or a globe & battery in series to prove continuity.

[ash39]

There is buzzing yeah but no movement. In layman's terms, is it knackered?

[Ron Solly]

Not until you have proved it is not mechanical - disconnect it from the point & try it electrically - it may need some lubrication on the actual metal solenoid.

[Ron Solly]

Also does the point move freely without a motor attached?

[Gwiwer]

It is perfectly possible that a point may move more easily one way than the other. So as Ron says this needs to be investigated before writing anything off as "knackered" and before writing off the hobby altogether. Point motors need to be very precisely aligned. The "pull" needs to be in a dead-straight line not a couple of degrees off and - if you are using surface motors - the tie-bar also needs to be precisely horizontal not connected to the points at an angle up or down.

 

It is one of the trials of our hobby life that sometimes an annoying problem seems impossible to isolate and cure and grows in our minds to become the insuperable hurdle upon which we fall and lose interest totally. Don't despair. Keep trying every little thing in turn until you find the cause and what works to fix it.

[ash39]

You guys were right, wasn't alligned properly. Another one has now developed the same problem despite being securely screwed in, and I can't cut the extension pole for the undermounted motor (which probably won't allign either) and now I've got so many holes in my baseboard I can't really reposition them. I've also somehow ruined a point totally, the blades becoming detached from the rest of it.

 

I've totally lost interest and patience, I'm so annoyed at spending so much getting this far. I should have just stuck all my old trains in a display cabinet and been happy with that.