Help needed with ESU Accessory decoder

[Earl Bathurst]

Hi

Not sure if the question i am going to ask is possible but here I go,

I am using Cobalt point motors and using the ESU accessory decoder to control them, When i first bought the decoder i only bought the main part when i later discovered i needed the add on part to control the cobalt motors which i have done. By using the add on section to control the points means on my first part of the decoder i am left with 4 ports available which are used for solenoid point motors does anyone know if i can use these ports for solenoid point motors and continue to use the add on part with the Cobalt.

 

(Sorry if this Is a bit confusing)

 

Thanks

[TWG]

I think that the answer to your question is No. The Switchpilot sends a pulse to power a solenoid point motor in response to a command from the digital control centre and at the same time switches the corresponding relay in the Extension. Each output of the Switchpilot has its digital address and you cannot separate the output from the relay in the Extension. You could use the solenoid output to switch something else (such as another relay or a signal ) in parallel with the point.

[Kal]

Hi

 

Yes you can use a Switchpilot with Cobalts. You do not need the extension.

 

Set the switch pilot to pulse 2500ms, create a potential divider across the three ports of each output, using 100 ohm half watt resistors. Because of the high gearing of the cobalt it does not need constant mainatainance voltage to stay locked in postion.

 

The added advantage of doing this, is it draws no current when locked. Keep the resistors away from anything that could melt, but they do not stay warm after the pulse has ended.

 

Regards

 

Kal

[Earl Bathurst]

Hi

Thanks for the info.

At present i have already wired up the point motors to the 51801 SwitchPilot Extension and this is attached to the 51800 Switchpilot.

 

So what you saying is because i have wired 4 points to the switch pilot extension then i cant connect a further 4 solenoid points to the switchpilot. The manual which comes with the accesory decoder is not very clear on this.

Thanks

[TWG]

You can attach solenoid points to the Switchpilot but you cannot control them separately. If you have 2 points that always must be changed together (such as a crossover) then you could power one with a solenoid motor and one with a Cobalt (or use Kal's scheme for using a Cobalt from the solenoid output). This however obviously has no advantage over simply connecting two Cobalts to the same Extension relay outputs.