KingEdwardII

Regarding the MTB MP1 point motors. These have two completely separate sets of 3 connectors each. One set drives the motor itself to switch the point, with a left/right pair and a common, which in your case come from the DR4018 decoder. The other set relate to the 1 amp SPDT switch - which can be used to provide power to the point frog. In this case, one connector is for the wire to the frog, while the other pair are for feeds from the right and left rails, typically from the power bus in a DCC setup. The SPDT switch flips between right and left in conjunction with the motor moving the point. The picture attached shows the wiring related to one of my MP1s operating a PECO electrofrog point. The brown & blue wires are from the power bus and feed droppers to the rails at the toe end of the point on the right hand side, plus feeds to the SPDT switch of the MP1. The frog connection is made with the green wire connected via the terminal block on the left. The motor feeds from the DR4018 to the MP1 are the three wires passing horizontally from the left towards the top of the picture, with the green wire being the common. I power the DR4018 decoders using a separate accessory bus, independent of the power bus. I use terminal blocks a lot for the final connections to anything on the track to allow for removal of any piece of track with minimal disturbance to the wiring. Terminal blocks are dirt cheap and very reliable in my experience.

For Peco Electrofrog points in a crossover, put insulating joiners on both rails where the two points connect. Switch the polarity of each of the frogs independently, as shown on the web page linked in Sol's post. I use MTB MP1 point motors, switched via Digikeijs DR4018 DCC decoders, and for crossovers I use a single channel on the DR4018 to drive both motors, so that both points switch together. Each motor has a built-in switch used to set the polarity of the frog of the point it controls. With respect to frog switching, the setup is the same for all electrofrog points irrespective of whether they are part of a crossover.

I use mains 2.5mm FLEX for the main DCC power bus, rather than 2.5mm T&E cable, since the flex is multi-stranded and is much more flexible than the solid core present in the cable. Here is an example from Screwfix, which is a good price: https://www.screwfix.com/p/nexans-3183y-white-3-core-2-5mm-flexible-cable-10m-coil/7723t The flex has another advantage in that the earth wire is also sheathed, unlike in T&E cable, and can thus be used for other purposes when wiring up your layout. It is also available in a variety of lengths to suit your needs & budget. The only downside of flex is that you have to strip the outer sheathing before use - but this only takes a couple of minutes for a 10m length. I also use 1mm flex for the DCC accessory bus - this is available in a 5-core version with a wider variety of sheathing colours that can help distinguish between different uses under the board. For connections, I use Splice Connectors, which I source from RS Components, to avoid the need to have soldering under the layout. These connectors are available in 2 sizes, one good for the 2.5mm power bus and the smaller one good for the 1.0mm accessory bus. Each connection is a 5 second job with a pair of pliers and is extremely reliable. Yours, Mike.

I recently had to make this change for the Zimo MX638D 21-pin decoder I installed into my new Heljan 47xx 2-8-0. The default installation had the loco going in reverse when "forward" was selected on the controller. In my case, bit 0 of CV29 was initially "0" so I flipped it to a "1" by adding 1 to the original value of CV29. It is important to leave the value of the other bits of CV29 unchanged, since they affect other functions of the decoder. Now my 47xx goes the right way when I select "forward" on the controller! Mike

Steve, Yes, a single channel on the DR4018 can drive two MP1s. I have done this for several pairs of points on my layout that must be switched together, like crossovers. It works perfectly, well within the current draw of a single channel. Mike.

Yes, I am using MTB MP1 motors with Digikeijs DR4018 accessory controllers and I find the combination excellent. All my motors are mounted under the board and I very much appreciate their small size. They are fairly quiet in operation and have the advantage of locking the points in place once they reach their end positions. The MP1s are also a minimum of fuss to install - the one thing I have to do is to adjust the throw of the motor to 3mm to match the requirements of PECO 00 pointwork, which is a simple operation. The built in single electrical switch is excellent for dealing with the frog power of electrofrog points. If you ever had a need for switching more than one circuit in conjunction with the point, then the MTB MP5 provides that option at a slightly higher price point. I've not needed that so far. I have been able to drive pairs of MP1 motors with a single channel on the DR4018 - this is great for crossovers and similar configurations where the positions of two points need to both change at the same time. The loading of the MP1 motors is such that there is ample current available on a single channel of the DR4018. The DR4018 has 8 channels for controlling point motors and I find this handy since a relatively few of the controllers can deal with all the points on my layout. Mike.