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Controller Wot Goes "Click!" in the Middle?


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The Morley has a built in CDU with an orange light which stays on for a while even when it's unplugged.  It really, really annoys me.

Ours has clicks on both controller and Hand held.     You  can buy centre click potentiometers, I bought some to repair an On Track controller, except the click is not quite in the centre.  On Track is the same essentially as the Morley except its a single unit while Morley seem to only do twin and four units.    Bot deliver from 0 to around 15 volts.   The old H&M variable transformers have a centre off feature but only deliver about 3 volts, some are 5 volts as a minimum.

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6 hours ago, DavidCBroad said:

The Morley has a built in CDU with an orange light which stays on for a while even when it's unplugged.  It really, really annoys me.

Ours has clicks on both controller and Hand held.     You  can buy centre click potentiometers, I bought some to repair an On Track controller, except the click is not quite in the centre.  On Track is the same essentially as the Morley except its a single unit while Morley seem to only do twin and four units.    Bot deliver from 0 to around 15 volts.   The old H&M variable transformers have a centre off feature but only deliver about 3 volts, some are 5 volts as a minimum.

I would have the thought the original controller with the central 'click' would have been calibrated during manufacture, as potentiometers have a tolerance in their resistance. Maybe recalibration is possible?

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26 minutes ago, ianLMS said:

Are any of these any good? Happy to send one if you cover postage costs.

 

 

20200702_103447.jpg

 Three Trix (TTR) controllers and a Trix transformer - open the latter and I bet you will find the insulation in very poor condition.

 

Had TTR as a boy!

 

Dave

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4 minutes ago, Danemouth said:

 Three Trix (TTR) controllers and a Trix transformer - open the latter and I bet you will find the insulation in very poor condition.

 

Had TTR as a boy!

Dave

Thats why i wouldnt want to sell any of them as i have no idea what condition they are in. 

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2 hours ago, ianLMS said:

Are any of these any good? Happy to send one if you cover postage costs.

 

 

 

 

Any Good?   The overload cut outs are a damn sight better than you can buy today. I have examples of most of those around and in use, and others cannibalised for spares.   I wouldn't plug any of them in without having the bottom off for a look see, Some  Hammant and Morgan had asbestos insulation on the Rheostat in that era and 1970s ones dodgy insulation on some internal wires (and a steel case)  but the Hornby Dublo controllers have ceramic insulation, not Asbestos. on the rheostat.

I reckon DCC types could save a lot of grief by taking the pop out overloads from those old controllers and putting them in some of their feeds. 

 I 

5 hours ago, wasdavetheroad said:

I would have the thought the original controller with the central 'click' would have been calibrated during manufacture, as potentiometers have a tolerance in their resistance. Maybe recalibration is possible?

 

Its the detent on the pot itself which is a tiny fraction off centre, Morley and OnTrack don't have an Off position as such there is an 0 volts position but its a fraction of a milimeter away from 0.0001 volts and not much farther from 1 volt.  Most other  controllers have a dead spot in the middle then go straight to 16 volts off load, at very few amps, like 0.05VA. when you start to twist the knob.     Morelys will light an LED at low power settings, the TriAng will pop one instantly the control knob moves from off, that's the difference.  Actually the Morley will power an old Triang loco around relentlessly up hill and down dale at reasonable speed on one setting while the Triang controller will let it stall up hill and hurtle downhill at stupid speed.   I  have a H/D transformer and diode based controller as my test track power unit relying on the bsensitive H/D verload cut out to avoid frying too many motors as I run in/ test my locos to destruction (delete as aplicable

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1 hour ago, DavidCBroad said:

 

Any Good?   The overload cut outs are a damn sight better than you can buy today. I have examples of most of those around and in use, and others cannibalised for spares.   I wouldn't plug any of them in without having the bottom off for a look see, Some  Hammant and Morgan had asbestos insulation on the Rheostat in that era and 1970s ones dodgy insulation on some internal wires (and a steel case)  but the Hornby Dublo controllers have ceramic insulation, not Asbestos. on the rheostat.

I reckon DCC types could save a lot of grief by taking the pop out overloads from those old controllers and putting them in some of their feeds. 

 I 

 

Its the detent on the pot itself which is a tiny fraction off centre, Morley and OnTrack don't have an Off position as such there is an 0 volts position but its a fraction of a milimeter away from 0.0001 volts and not much farther from 1 volt.  Most other  controllers have a dead spot in the middle then go straight to 16 volts off load, at very few amps, like 0.05VA. when you start to twist the knob.     Morelys will light an LED at low power settings, the TriAng will pop one instantly the control knob moves from off, that's the difference.  Actually the Morley will power an old Triang loco around relentlessly up hill and down dale at reasonable speed on one setting while the Triang controller will let it stall up hill and hurtle downhill at stupid speed.   I  have a H/D transformer and diode based controller as my test track power unit relying on the bsensitive H/D verload cut out to avoid frying too many motors as I run in/ test my locos to destruction (delete as aplicable

A suitable resistor in series with the LED, on the Triang one will prevent it from blowing. 

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18 hours ago, Ray Von said:

I'm hoping that the Fleischman one does too.....

It has an AC output (probably 15V) with a points icon above the terminals suggesting it's mainly for solenoids. Since that's intermittent use rather than continual I doubt you could cheat and pass it through a rectifier to run other stuff.

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15 minutes ago, AdamsRadial said:

It has an AC output (probably 15V) with a points icon above the terminals suggesting it's mainly for solenoids. Since that's intermittent use rather than continual I doubt you could cheat and pass it through a rectifier to run other stuff.

The only thing I have is a HF2 track cleaner, I guess that's not suitable? 

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