How to wire a DIN plug on a Pentroller

[Captain Kernow]

Thanks to the good offices of a friend, I have acquired a hand-held Pentroller.

 

I now need to attach a DIN plug to it.

 

At the end of the lead there are 4 wires - brown, blue, red and white.

 

I don't want to risk frying the internals, so I'd be grateful if someone could tell me which two wires are for the A/C input, please.

 

Many thanks.
 

[Grovenor]

See https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=767

[DCB]

1 hour ago, Grovenor said:

See https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=767

Do you know I viewed the above, downloaded the pdf and I am none the wiser.    The smart play  would be to wire the  din to slave wires to establish which Power unit wires are AC  ( with Power ON) and to check which controller leads are DC  by waggling the controls and watching for changes in ohm meter readings,    You should get readings from four of the  DIN pins on the controller (Power OFF)  so if as per diagram its a 5 PIN that  should identify  the unused pin or whether the "Shell" is used as a contact.      Colour codes are sometimes misleading  sometimes the last bodger got them wrong, mirror image....   Like I did last week with a Trailer Socket.
 
If you  have a long wander lead it is worth arranging the plugs so they detach without damage  when stood on and yanked out, it might mean extra short leads with in line din plugs, or panel mount DIN Sockets but my experience is its well worth while spending a couple of hours leisurely setting up the sockets so you can yank a lead without damage rather than waste half a running session when the wires rip out and leave the connector in place.

[Captain Kernow]

2 hours ago, DCB said:

Do you know I viewed the above, downloaded the pdf and I am none the wiser.    The smart play  would be to wire the  din to slave wires to establish which Power unit wires are AC  ( with Power ON) and to check which controller leads are DC  by waggling the controls and watching for changes in ohm meter readings,    You should get readings from four of the  DIN pins on the controller (Power OFF)  so if as per diagram its a 5 PIN that  should identify  the unused pin or whether the "Shell" is used as a contact.      Colour codes are sometimes misleading  sometimes the last bodger got them wrong, mirror image....   Like I did last week with a Trailer Socket.
 
If you  have a long wander lead it is worth arranging the plugs so they detach without damage  when stood on and yanked out, it might mean extra short leads with in line din plugs, or panel mount DIN Sockets but my experience is its well worth while spending a couple of hours leisurely setting up the sockets so you can yank a lead without damage rather than waste half a running session when the wires rip out and leave the connector in place.

The key bit for me is the diagram, which shows that the 16V a/c input wires are the brown and blue ones, leaving the red and white ones as the 12v output to the track, so that answers the question that I posed.

 

Unfortunately I don't have any electrical measuring devices, so I can't measure my ohms, but I generally get by without one OK... 🙂

[RodneyS]

I have an instruction sheet for the Pentroller.

Track is red and white.  

12 - 16v AC is brown and blue.

 

I do not have a scanner but if you would like me to send a photocopy please PM me your address.

Rodney

[doilum]

The ECM compspeed controllers also had red/ white as the track feed. Two orange wires supply the ac input.

Edited February 4 by doilum

[Hibelroad]

Finally found the instructions - this should make all  clear Pentroller.pdf

[kevinlms]

4 minutes ago, doilum said:

The ECM compspeed controllers also had red/ white as the track feed. Two orange wires supply the ac input.

It is entirely logical for the AC input to have 2 wires of the same colour, since it is of no consequence which way around they are connected.

 

Although I can see that blue & brown are logical too, as long as people don't think that 240 Volts is OK!

[kevinlms]

2 minutes ago, Hibelroad said:

Finally found the instructions - this should make all  clear Pentroller.pdf

Which looks remarkably like the contents of the link posted by Grovener! although you do have to scroll down a little to find it.

[RodneyS]

My instruction sheet is exactly the same as the pdf posted by  Hibelroad.

Rodney

[kevinlms]

21 hours ago, DCB said:

Do you know I viewed the above, downloaded the pdf and I am none the wiser.    The smart play  would be to wire the  din to slave wires to establish which Power unit wires are AC  ( with Power ON) and to check which controller leads are DC  by waggling the controls and watching for changes in ohm meter readings,    You should get readings from four of the  DIN pins on the controller (Power OFF)  so if as per diagram its a 5 PIN that  should identify  the unused pin or whether the "Shell" is used as a contact.      Colour codes are sometimes misleading  sometimes the last bodger got them wrong, mirror image....   Like I did last week with a Trailer Socket.
 
If you  have a long wander lead it is worth arranging the plugs so they detach without damage  when stood on and yanked out, it might mean extra short leads with in line din plugs, or panel mount DIN Sockets but my experience is its well worth while spending a couple of hours leisurely setting up the sockets so you can yank a lead without damage rather than waste half a running session when the wires rip out and leave the connector in place.

Or you could just follow the diagram - it provides the information required.

[Captain Kernow]

On 04/02/2024 at 10:31, RodneyS said:

I have an instruction sheet for the Pentroller.

Track is red and white.  

12 - 16v AC is brown and blue.

 

I do not have a scanner but if you would like me to send a photocopy please PM me your address.

Rodney

Thanks for the offer and also to Hibelroad for posting the .pdf link, but by then, I had already followed the link provided by Keith and confirmed the correct wiring.

 

However, despite knowing that the blue and brown wires were for the a/c and despite checking the corresponding correct pins on the 'female' part of the plug more than once, I still managed to commit a schoolboy error and wired the pins on the 'male' plug (ie. the one attached to the controller's lead) the wrong way round, so that when I came to test the Pentroller, I achieved exactly what I was trying to avoid all along - namely sending 16v a/c into the controller via the DC output wires.

The controller buzzed angrily each time I tried to apply power, the red light came on, but of course, there was no movement on the test track. That prompted me to check once more, when I discovered my mistake. I then re-wired the 'male' plug correctly and the controller seemed to work.

Hopefully I haven't done it any lasting damage? The 16v a/c was only wrongly connected for a short time...

[doilum]

Probably not. Seventies electronics were pretty indestructible. Dry joints or worn out contacts are the usual suspects if they fail to perform. My current favourite is a Kentroller hand held, due to its tiny size.

[Barclay]

Nice thing to have - I have the panel mount one fitted into a box for hand holding and it's still the best controller I have.

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Thanks for the offer and also to Hibelroad for posting the .pdf link, but by then, I had already followed the link provided by Keith and confirmed the correct wiring.

 

However, despite knowing that the blue and brown wires were for the a/c and despite checking the corresponding correct pins on the 'female' part of the plug more than once, I still managed to commit a schoolboy error and wired the pins on the 'male' plug (ie. the one attached to the controller's lead) the wrong way round, so that when I came to test the Pentroller, I achieved exactly what I was trying to avoid all along - namely sending 16v a/c into the controller via the DC output wires.

The controller buzzed angrily each time I tried to apply power, the red light came on, but of course, there was no movement on the test track. That prompted me to check once more, when I discovered my mistake. I then re-wired the 'male' plug correctly and the controller seemed to work.

Hopefully I haven't done it any lasting damage? The 16v a/c was only wrongly connected for a short time...

A late club member had wired his layout on his own and had made a confusing error. For his plug and sockets, he had clipped the wiring diagrams appropriate to a baseboard join, under each join. Sounds great, but the problem was that he had 4 diagrams for each one. Looking at each plug/socket from either way, meaning there was 4 diagrams for each plug/socket pair.

This was highlighted by his death and since he had donated the layout in his will, we were obligated to to show it at our exhibition. We scratched our heads for a while - since he hadn't allowed anyone else to touch his wiring while he was still around, until we decided that the simplest way was to ditch some of the drawings! Well we didn't ditch them, but put them elsewhere, just in case!

 

Not a bad effort though, from someone with no electrical experience. The biggest mistake though, was putting mains wiring, through the same plugs/sockets as switched blocks. We didn't realise this until, we'd fiddled with the plugs/sockets, with power on and actually poked around with screwdrivers for some time! We then noticed that the turntable had an industrial type motor, with a mains voltage on the label, then wondered how it received that power!