Passing contact switches - alternatives to Peco PL26 and Hornby R044 ?

[Wheatley]

I'm slowly wiring up Newton Stewart and have a steady requirement for passing contact switches. Up to now I've been using Peco PL26s because they were relatively cheap (compared to anything from DCC Concepts), they were smaller and slightly cheaper than the Hornby equivalent and they looked like a lever frame (as an ex-signalman a row of levers which can be set normal or reverse is almost as important as what's going on on the rest of the layout).

 

But they're now pushing  a tenner each RRP and I'm only halfway through, I still need about 4 dozen. I'm wiring up one lever frame at time (there are 8 in total) and whilst consistency within each frame is important, consistency between different frames isn't so I don't mind different levers in different frames. 

 

So my question is, is there a toggle switch type alternative which behaves like the Peco and Hornby versions ? I'm aware of centre-off 'burst' type switches but that's not what I'm looking for - I don't want a row of levers standing half cocked with no indication which way anything is lying - they must stand normal or reversed. Likewise diode matrices and probe and stud are out - it has to behave like a lever frame even if it doesn't look exactly like one. 

 

If all else fails I can make levers and sliding contact switches from bar and copperclad sheet but that's not a production line I want to start if I can help it. 

 

I'm aware I may be looking for something which doesn't exist !

 

 

Edited January 6 by Wheatley

[Jeremy Cumberland]

I have never come across passing contact switches used anywhere other than model railways, and I have not found them in an ordinary electrical catalogue.

 

Outside of model railways, if you don't want to continuously energise a coil, use a capacitor. You can then use whatever on-off switch you like. Solenoid point motors are rather odd things, and I wouldn't feel confident in recommending what size capacitor to use or how exactly to connect it in a circuit, but the wonderfully helpful Brian Lambert has already done the clever bit. Scroll down to One Wire operating method on this page: https://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/Electrical-Page-2.html. As you can see, the switch is an ordinary SPDT.

[Neil]

Some time ago I looked into this and couldn't find an alternative to the Peco and Hornby items. I ended up using the Hornby passing contact switches as they're readily available second hand at a keen price if you shop around. They also look a bit more like a lever frame than the Peco switches. 

[Wheatley]

Thank you both, that seems fairly conclusive and confirms that I wasn't just typing the wrong terms into the RS and Farnells catalogues ! 

 

I shall probably concentrate the existing PL26s on the largest lever frame (it's a bit limited for space so needs small levers and the PL26 is ideal) while I investigate Brian's One Wire system and round up second hand R044s. 

[Free At Last]

I would avoid the Hornby product as it does not operate in the same way the Peco switch does.
The Hornby one switches both outputs on each throw of the lever whereas the Peco only switches one and will work better if using a cdu.

 

Edited January 6 by Free At Last

[Wheatley]

Thank you. Yes that warning is on Brian Lambert's page and the same would apply if I made my own levers with a home made sliding finger switch on a bit of PCB. The workaround (according to Mr Lambert) is to pause at the midpoint to allow thd CDU to recharge, if necessary  I can live with that I think. 

 

The design of the PL26 is actually really cool,  I took one to bits once :-) (when they weren't a tenner each !)

Edited January 6 by Wheatley

[Free At Last]

34 minutes ago, Wheatley said:

 the same would apply if I made my own levers with a home made sliding finger switch on a bit of PCB.

A home made lever could use a push button or micro switch at the end of each throw, you just push the lever fully one way or the other then release, letting the spring action of the switch break the contact.

[Wheatley]

Now that is an idea, thank you ! 

[Butler Henderson]

SPDT centre off biased both way toggle switch such as

https://www.cricklewoodelectronics.com/Miniature-SPDT-Centre-Off-Biased-Both-Ways-Toggle-Switch-Springs-to-Centre-Off-on-Release.html

[WIMorrison]

7 hours ago, Wheatley said:

But they're now pushing  a tenner each

 

You can get them for a couple of quid on eBay - cheapest I have seen in the past few month is 99p! most seem to be around £2.50 - clearly all used, but does that matter?

[Free At Last]

15 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

SPDT centre off biased both way toggle switch such as

https://www.cricklewoodelectronics.com/Miniature-SPDT-Centre-Off-Biased-Both-Ways-Toggle-Switch-Springs-to-Centre-Off-on-Release.html

 

21 hours ago, Wheatley said:

I'm aware of centre-off 'burst' type switches but that's not what I'm looking for - I don't want a row of levers standing half cocked with no indication which way anything is lying - they must stand normal or reversed.

 

[stewartingram]

As a retiree from the electronics industry I wouldn't use any of these Peco?Hornby/etc switches. Absolute rubbish for the job.

I've settled mainly on Seep motors (fairly cheap, tricky to install as supplied, and rubbish switches for the frogs). I fit them to a plasticard base, which includes a proper electronics microswitch for the frog. Installation is now much simpler, even from underneath the baseboard and the frog is reliably switched. To operate I use the stud contact (screw heads and electric pencil) method we all used 50 years ago, but has largely been forgotten nowadays. Simple, reliable, and effective.

Edited January 7 by stewartingram

[Free At Last]

12 minutes ago, stewartingram said:

To operate I use the stud contact (screw heads and electric pencil) method we all used 50 years ago, but has largely been forgotten nowadays. Simple, reliable, and effective.

But fails to operate like a lever frame which was the op's requirement.
I also like to operate my points in a 'normal' and 'reversed' manner, not just left and right or leaving them random in their last state of use.

[Wheatley]

By far the easiest way to operate this would be using push buttons and diode matrices, I can just about get my head around them and if I get stuck I know a man to ask. But I never worked an NX panel, only lever frames, so my layout must have levers and they must stand normal or reversed otherwise I'll be twitching all day. 

 

One day they might even get interlocking (ironically the PL26s were a stop gap until I could build my own interlocked frame but that was ten years ago when they were 3 quid each and I'm not getting any younger) but I can just about cope without it. 

 

Thank you to everyone who's replied :-)

Edited January 7 by Wheatley

[stewartingram]

Don't forget that Peco etc type 'motors' (which they are not, as they are solenoids) take a very large current when (briefly) operating. This gives excess sparking across switch contacts, so demands switches capable of carrying the current. 

Edited January 8 by stewartingram

[cliff park]

The best way to avoid burning switches out with arcing is to use a CDU. Virtually no arcing occurs when a switch makes, it is when the switch breaks, especially with an inductive load like a point motor, that the arcing happens. If, however, you use a CDU there will be little or no current flowing at the end, hence no arcing