Despatcher Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 I am moving from my BR Steam/Diesel era to modern image. I have Dapol semaphore signals that work with my Z21 controller. I would like to replace them with colour lights with "feather" indicators. As I do not understand electrics in the slightest, what I want is colour lights, similar to the Dapol semaphores that I can wire to a decoder. Two wires to the track bus for power and "x" wires to a decoder that will work with my Z21. Which lights do I buy and which decoder? I need as simple as possible please. Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Colour lights can be easily connected via a suitable decoder. The Signalist SC1 works with all LED signals and has quite a lot of feather options too. It is probably the simplest decoder to wire, just two wires to the track feed from your Z21 and wires to the signal LEDs. Absolute Aspects and CR Signals have suitable signals with feathers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RFS Posted February 17, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 17, 2016 I also have some Traintronics signals, but I'm not happy with them. The wires from the LEDs are so thin it makes connecting up a real pain. Furthermore, there is a lot of light bleed: if you look at the signal from a driver's point of view then it looks OK, but from a normal viewing point from the side of the layout they look poor giving the appearance that all aspects are showing red. I have a couple of Eckon/Berko signals too and they do not suffer these problems. Looking to replace my Traintronics ones in the near future. Organizing feathers can be quite easy. I switch from red to green + feather, with the feed form the feather going via the second built-in switch of my Tortoise point motors. In this way, the feather only comes on if both the signal is green and the relevant point is switched for the diverging route. Hence no extra switching needed for the feather, and DCC does not know of the feather's existence. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Despatcher Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 Many thanks I will have a look at the various options and suggestions. Thanks for the information about traintronics, I will avoid those. They always look good at shows but obviously not in reality ie on a layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Whilst disappointing that products have side-bleed of light, it is often easily fixed with a bit of paint. RFS' method of linking the feather to the status of turnouts, whilst also showing "proceed" is a smart bit of wiring. Similar wiring can be used to determine yellow/green by linking to the next signal along the line, thus reducing signal switches to "stop/proceed" and the display of yellow or feather is done automatically. - Nigel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.