Which Point motors should i go for?

[Danemouth]

Hi Thanks for all the different info. Cobalt are sounding very tempting. I have used peco code 75 electrofrog points. In total the maximum ill have on the layout is 17 point maybe less aint worked how the fiddle yard yet. What accessory decoder is best to use with these cobalt points and roughly how many points can i run off 1 decoder.

Thanks

Scott

 

Scott,

 

I am using Cobalt decoders with Cobalt motors. Crossovers wired to one decoder without any problems. The whole lot runs via a Powercab showing current consumption. Even with a macro changing 5 or 6 points the consumption doesn't go above 0.25 amps

 

Dave

[Ravenser]

On balance Cobalt Blues seem a little better than Tortoises , though they are a little more expensive, and nobody knows their long term reliability because they are new...

 

The advantages are that they are physically rather smaller, the connections are by crimp clamps not soldering (so if you wire it the wrong way it's easy to adjust ) and the operating wire is that bit stiffer. But Tortoises are still very good motors with a justifiably high reputation

 

In terms of decoders, I've used MERG decoder kits, NCE Switch-Its and a Digitraz DS64 with Tortoises (and the DS64 with a Cobalt Blue- in practice the motors are interchangeable) . All work fine. I have a preference for accessory decoders with an independant power supply, because I've a PowerCab and use the supplied NCE transformer , whose data panel says it delivers just 1.1 amps. As sound locos are said to consume up to 1 amp, and I have plenty of DMUs on the layout, draining current for the point motors seems a bad idea. I've also heard it suggested that a seperate power supply keeps the data signals on the main DCC bus cleaner

 

The DS64 is perhaps a sledgehammer to crack a nut here. It's about £10 per output, and it's a big white box . It requires a 12V DC auxilary supply (apparently auxilary 16V AC blows them up) though it will draw from the track via the data connections in the absence of one . It can be set to work either solenoid or stall motors (but not both at the same time) and can deliver clever effects for lighting accessories like flashing crossing gate signs .It has route setting capability but this is limited to within the decoder itself unless you have it linked to other DS64s via Loconet, and to be honest the NCE route macros are probably a more flexible way of doing it

 

The MERG kit decoder is fine - it's perfectly capable of working a pair of motors for a crossover off one output. Obviously you have to build the thing, and it does have one weakness - it's very vulnerable to any programming signals , and gets its CVs scrambled. This is why I didn't use one on the board with the programming track , but the installation of a proper isolating switch has probably sidestepped that. It needs building of course , but it can be configured to work LEDs by adding diodes, and can be set as 8 single outputs as well as 4 pairs. If you think ahead when building it may be possible to use up any spare output to work a signal . It needs a 16 V AC supply

 

The NCE Switch It is a decent bit of kit, compact and effective with a sensible price per output . It draws from the track , it can handle 2 Tortoises from one output and it isn't vulnerable to programming signals . That said, I did manage to knacker one output of a Switchit, and I still don't know how

 

One slight reservation on the Switch-8 : if you don't need 8 outputs, the effective price per output rises (An issue with any large multiple output accessory decoder) . I suspect NCE are covering their back against someone wiring 7 crossovers to a Switch-8 and throwing the lot at once with a macro. I have seen an old long obsolete and recycled US point motor design that could draw frightening amounts of current (probably because they were old and knackered) and where 4-5 motors thrown together could actually overload a 2.75A Lenz transformer.... Tortoises and Cobalt Blues are nothing like that, thankfully

[Will Vale]

The main DCC bus is fed through a PSX circuit breaker, but the accessory bus bypasses it.

That's my setup too, I didn't suggest it because a switch is cheaper I'm almost certain I still had this issue after installing the PSX-1, but before selecting an invalid output, so YMMV.

 

Will