John ks

I agree with the previous posters A layout this size should be fine without CB's To help with fault finding i would divide the layout into sub-districts & bring each sub-district to a terminal block or switch Here is a suggestion For the cost of few switches & some extra wiring it will be worth it if/when you have to locate a short The cassettes could be through a terminal strip, switch or as Dave suggests a CB John

Assuming you have connected the volt meter as shown I would thing that it would read ok The linked voltmeter is a 2 wire device & relies on the measured voltage to also supply the power to feed the voltmeter This may be the reason for a fluctuating reading The spec indicates it needs at least 3Volts to work. any voltage less than 3V & you get no reading a 3 wire meter may be a better choice IE one wire to + to power the meter, one wire to - & the third wire to the voltage to be measured If you are going to go to a 3 wire voltmeter then you might think of getting a volt & amp meter From about £6.00 & available in UK If my understanding of the circuit is correct adding a capacitor (as added to circuit) 35V 470uf or greater should be ok And a link if it works Dual LED Digital DC 100V 10A Voltmeter Ammeter Voltage Amps Power Meter | eBay John

Here's an Aristo 0903 Made in Germany that i used in class when I was an electrical apprentice (late sixties) & a set of French curves or maybe they're isometric curves And a calculation done with a slide rule Line the 1 on the slide with 2.102 on the body, move the Cursor (clear bit) until the hairline lines up with 1.3 on the slide & the number on the Body is the result Calculator result is 2.7326 . out by 0.0034 The accuracy depends on how accurately you line up the slide & the cursor John

If I understand you correctly then this is what I would do If I counted correctly I have set up 11 extra blocks Each requiring a DPDT Centre Off switch I have only shown 2 of the 11 blocks connected to switches The red lines are IRRJ's in both rails EDIT Seems i had a seniors moment, Drawing corrected Thanks to bartram108(next post)for showing my mistake John

It baffled me to Here is the original image from Railway Modeller June 2018 I have added the green lines to indicate where the frog connects & extended the rails to complete the point Option 2A the frog(red) is connected to the same red rail via the switch as it should be (follow the green line) Option 2B the frog (now blue) is connected to the RH blue rail when it should be connected to the LH blue rail (dotted line shows where it should go) Each time a loco goes though that route there will be a short as the wheels cross from the rail to the frog because the frog is connecter to the RH rail & not the LH rail as it should be To me this is wrong John Edit to remove duplicated image

It took me a while to realise that that example was wrong I have rehashed the Option 2 drawings & they should be correct now The rail colours have been changed so that the left rail is blue & the right rail is red I suspect that the original poster of this drawing made the mistake of having both rails of each route the same colour rather then having rails of the same polarity(phase) the same colour John

Assuming your layout is something simple like this & you only want to run one train at a time then the following drawing should work If you use unmodified Insulfrog or electrofrog points you will be able to park a second loco in one of the sidings if the point is set against it For a more detailed connection more information is needed regarding the track plan(photo or drawing) ,how many locos will be on the layout,& anything you think relevant john

If these locos have sound then the racket would become annoying I have from 3 to 10 sound locos idling in the background & when I switch off the layout the silence is bliss A couple of thoughts regarding the sector plate & ball catches When you move the sector plate the force required to overcome the catches could result in a bit of a jerk & there will be a jerk when the catches engage I don't know If this will be enough to topple trains If you are going to use ball catches or barrel bolts to provide the electrical connection, then because the approach tracks are from a triangle, you could get away with 3 connections on the fixed side The 2 legs of the triangle to the sector plate should be from the same Booster or power district or sub-district The drawing shows the electrical connections & i have colour coded the rails the top track has no power the second top track has power to one rail The 3rd top track has power to both rails & the phasing is correct The 3 bottom tracks are a mirror image of the top 3 tracks The RH drawing shows the sector plate all the way across John

This might do what you want In the red box is the electrical equivalent of the seep switch I coloured in the relevant parts of the seep switch In the position shown the green washer joins F to D When the point motor changes the green washer slides along the yellow track, off the brown track & onto the dark brown track joining F to E When the point is set straight no power can get to the feather(contacts D & F are open) IF the 3 way switch controlling the signal is in the green or yellow positions power can go through one of the diodes & to the common terminal (F) of the seep & if the point is set to curved then power will get to the Feather This circuit is for a (-) common signal If the signal has a common (+) then the connections to the power supply need to be reversed & the diodes also need to be reversed If you are using a 2 aspect signal then delete any wiring associated with it (yellow led, 1 resistor & 1 diode) John

I used the same (similar) decoder in a Triang DMU(R157?) & is sits at an odd angle mostly due to the large yellow box(capacitor) The 21 pin board it's plugged into is a ESU board similar to the LIAS board WIMorrison links to a couple of posts back John

Challenge accepted Layout your full size plan on the baseboard With a nail at the rotation pivot point X Tie a loop in a string place the loop over the nail & tie a pencil at the radius X-c Draw the arc from c to g Mark your exits on the arc c-g Draw a straight line c to X ( a chalk line would work) Draw a straight line from a to f these lines will cross at b when laying track follow the centre line from c to e then a gentle curve to d & follow the centre line to a Repeat for the other tracks The drawing is a little rough but i hope it gives the general idea I have only did the top few lines & they are the black overlay John

After redrawing the circuit i decided to build a version on a breadboard to prove that the circuit works & the following pics are the results The first pic shows the quirk that results when the frog is not connected to either rail The last pic shows how the breadboard connects to the switch on the point motor John

Adding to previous posts, I find images easier to understand Below are 3 versions of the red wire All are electrical the same, you could even mix the versions Hope this helps John

Many years ago(might have been the 90's) I went (limped into) to my doctor with a painful big toe Not my regular doctor She looked at me & my foot & said you got Gout After me denying it & her saying it was Gout I finally gave in to her greater knowledge IIRC I was given 2 choices a drug or an injection which she said would make the pain go away in a day or so & it did I've had a few relapses over the years & the injection usually works Reading from a prescription I got in 2014 Kenacort-A 10 10mg/mL Injection This has worked for me with no adverse side affects Consult your doctor to see if it is suitable for you John

Looking at your current drawing I see nothing wrong One thing i would considering changing is the way you feed the DCC from the tracks to the cobalt Instead you could feed the cobalts directly from the DCC bus The top drawing is yours with the modifications The lower drawing shows a simplified DCC bus wiring The Optional IRJ's. the gaps(X) in the DCC bus & the switches etc in the shaded area are optional & are there to make fault finding easier The switches could be replaced with a terminal strip If there is a fault on the layout then disconnecting ( or switching off) part of the layout will help narrow down a short to part of the layout If you get a DCP-SPS-12 you should be able to power your servos from it (IF DCC concepts reads this then please confirm that this is OK) Ensuring the total load drawn from the DCP-SPS-12 is less than its rating If you already have the power supply then this is an unnecessary expense. John

Opps Thanks for showing my mistake, it should be Version 1. Its fixed now John

From your description i think this is what you are asking for Version 1 As shown the green LED at the top will light up indicating the straight route is clear D1 & D2 & the diodes in Version 2 & Version 3 are to protect the LEDs from reverse voltage Versions 2 & 3 are for bi colour LEDs, common Anode or Cathode should work As shown the Green top LED & Red bottom LED will light, indicating that straight is clear & diverging route is not clear One Quirk with this circuit is that when the point changes & the common of the point switch is between contacts all the LEDs will light up With a solenoid point motor all LEDs will flash for a very short time John Second Edit With the resistors in versions 2 & 3 in their original position there was a circuit from rail A Via a diode & LED to rail B. This would Blow the diode &/or LED instantly Adding extra resistors & moving the existing resistor to the new location should solve this problem

Is it possible to move the reverse loop so that C- B in no longer inside the reverse loop I am assuming the circles on the black DCC feed represent the Detectors If the length A-C is required to fit a complete train then move the other end of the return loop to D the section D-A can have it own detection & be inside the return loop OR If the loop(B-A) is long enough then the section D-A will be outside the loop John

Regarding the large ad I am using microsoft Edge & a few days ago i did the following I went to Edge settings click on ... in the top right corner scroll down to & click on Settings in settings click on Privacy, search, and services set the tracking setting to Strict I also Cleared browsing data Since then i haven't seen ads except a BRM ad John

If I understand you correctly then your circuit looks something like this. The RH circuit shows the current path for a load connected between A1 & B2.(pink being the positive half cycle & green being the negative half of the cycle) A load will work when connected between A1-B1, A1-B2, A2-B2, or A2-B1 If You are using 2 transformers or a transformer with 2 separate secondary windings then your circuit will look more like the next drawing Without the Orange link between A2 & B2 then connecting a load between A1-B2 or A2-B1 will not work With the link you have got a common return The RH drawing shows the current paths for the 2 loads Hope this helps John

I have changed the plan to reflect RSJ's suggestion I have also altered the access to the terminus with a crossing X1 By moving 11,12,13,9 & X1 to the right you get a much smoother access to the terminus but you lose most of the siding from 12 to its end & getting settrack points of the correct geometry might be difficult Regarding the reverse loop If you require the RL section to be longer than from 5 to 8 You could extend the loop to point 1 It would require a relay controlled by point 8 or a switch mechanically linked to point8 that switches the feed to the section between the orange dots (point 8 to 1) from the main bus to the reverse loop. in this case you could reduce the reverse loop section to the section between 6 & 8 (Red & orange dots. Dots represent IRJ's in both rails) Some more food for thought John

WIMorrison Good to see you found a solution The output of the Switch It was something i had not considered (hence the warnings) John

First the warning I have never used these point motors I was curious how they were wired Went searching & found MP1/ MP5 Application Note Here is an extract from page 4 of that document, the part in the red box is my addition showing how I think it could work The switch in the diagram looks to be wired as a reversing switch IE the input is + - & the output is + - or - + The output of the Switch It goes from + - to - + when it feeds a Tortise etc I would be happy to try this for myself & suffer the consequences if it failed You should only do this if you are happy it will work Another possibility would be to use a Switch It to control a relay & use the relay C/O contact to replace the SPST switch The relay coil would need a diode in series with the coil so that the coil is only energised when the output of the Switch It is + - & not - + A flyback diode across the relay coil would be recommended John

I have the same problem I'm using Edge & tried Google incognito, both are affected I like some of those affected are outside the UK, could our location be part of the problem One small mercy is that once muted the add stays muted I really hope there is some way to get rid of it John

Thanks for correcting my mistake John