Emmo

Anyone had any experience with these? I have acquired one which is in working order but doesn't run very well. As far as I can tell the gears are slipping, yet when I try and spin the wheels with my fingers, I cannot for the life of me get any slippage between the worms and the gear wheels. If I run it as it is, eventually it will settle down and run perfectly and quite quietly too, but as soon as it's had a rest for a couple of minutes, off we go again back to square one. Any help greatly appreciated, but please don't reply if all you can do is tell me that they are useless units and I should replace it with something else. Many thanks Martin

Well, many thanks indeed guys for solving a problem so quickly on something that was baffling me, not being a wiring expert. There is actually a baseboard join on the passing loop near the TT, where I have placed connectors (this section is removable so I can get into the room). So, what I have done to try things out is to pull out the baseboard connectors and placed a piece of paper between the tracks and voila! Everything works as it should. I said it would be a simple solution to ones who know about these things (not me alas). As I have gone through all the trouble to introduce connectors at the baseboard join, and there is a tendency for the rails to touch anyway at this point, I have decided just to place rail breaks further along. Many thanks indeed once again, much obliged. Martin

Further...I can't get into siding with power feed No.2 or 3 now either! Martin

...Please look at the diagram in landscape format to understand my indications. Thanks Martin

When I built this layout as an end to end, I got invaluable help on this forum on how to wire it up, where the rail breaks should be etc. It all worked rather well, and now we are in indefinite lockdown I thought what better way to spend it and proceeded to extend the layout into a tail chaser. I can run trains round now, as well as the long passing loop that runs past the turntable, but I am getting shorts when trying to get into sidings such as the one leading to the TT (bear in mind this was a dead end originally and caused no short getting into it), the siding spur bottom right leading east, and the four dead ends top left - the three roads with power feeds 1, 2 & 3 are fine, as is the dead end with power feed 4 and the one directly below it. Please bear in mind the turntable has not yet been installed or wired, the road leading to it for all intents and purposes is presently a dead end. The existing layout is shown above the red line and the extension below it. Something is wrong, but I know there are some knowledgable people on this forum who will know at an instant what the problem is and all help will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance of the solution! Martin

I have a spare controller actually which I could wire up to the TT motor, in fact it's a very small unit from China on a PCB about 25mm square and works very well, and, as you say, as long as I don't turn it round to it's full movement, should be ok. I didn't want to use the main controller for the layout as I want to have trains running as I'm operating the TT. I agree, a slower TT speed would be more realistic anyway and probably achieved at just 3v. The reason I wanted to step down from 12v to 6v was purely to use a totally separate PSU to control the TT and I only have a 12v one. Basically I'll use that one now as originally planned with my spare controller to operate the TT. The motor by the way is an Expo, specifically designed to run TT's. It comes with a polarity reverser switch for rotating the TT clockwise or anticlockwise, and it's either on or off and a bit of a hit and miss affair to line up the tracks. Using a spare controller does give me facility to slow the TT bridge right down to line the rails up. Reading through what I am planning now, do you think it will be ok? Thanks Martin

Hi John. If I used one of these units, do I need a meter to determine 6v output with the potentiometer or are there calibrations on the board to tell me where to put it? Thanks Martin

I did think of that, but the controller is outputting 12v, which would fry the TT motor surely? If I'm barking up the wrong tree, could you show me how with a diagram please? Martin

I want to power my Peco turntable using an Expo Turntable Motorisation Kit, and do not really want the bother of using batteries as supplied. I have a 12v PSU which will be fine, but the Expo motor only runs on 6v. I learn there's something called a resistor bridge where two resistors in line are soldered across the PSU output and one output is taken from between the two resistors and the other can be taken from either side of the bridge. Can someone tell me what value resistors I need to do this, and if possible the colour coding of them. I have a box of hundreds of resistors, and if also possible, I would like alternative values I could use if I don't have the exact ones required to do the job. Many thanks in advance.

All except the 3mm layouts it would appear?

I have two Gaugemester electronic uncouplers which are basically a solenoid with a white metal ramp that does the work above the track. I have wired them both up to the instructions and one of them pops up and stays up when I press the button (push to make, spring loaded to break when you let go) - it doesn't do anything else when I press the button again, and another pops up then drops immediately down unless I hold the button down in which case it stays up but the solenoid is obviously still on. Is it a matter of adjustment perhaps of the ramp pin that goes inside the solenoid, or have I worked them up wrong? I was on the assumption that when you press the button once, the ramp would stay up and a second press to release it. Any help would be appreciated. Does anyone know how these things are supposed to work?

My thanks go out to reigate Models for these photographs. That was all I wanted in the first place! Unfortunately they are too late as I have now given the unit away being fed up with all the 'Post Drifts' as it is called. Incidentally I am not a moderator under a different guise, so the deleted posts were not done by me! These units are perfectly safe I have been told, I even saw one in use at an exhibition recently who mostly insist on PAT testing.

Whatever!!

Jeez, all I asked for was a photograph! So far I have had people telling me what I should use instead, how dangerous H & M units are, how great and safe H & M units are, and now, a physics lesson and a case report on a 21 year old student!! But alas, still no photo of the damn thing! You will all be pleased to know I have given it to a friend to use the case for something else. This topic is now closed.

I have a picture of the inside of the Duette thanks, it is slightly different to the Clipper unfortunately. Thanks for the offer anyway.

The link you sent goes to a page about New Zealand!

Ah, I can see the extra terminal as well as the four usual ones - where does that connect with?

Please, no more replies of what you would or wouldn't do with them, or what you consider I should use with my layout, that's not what I asked for. Nor did I want an opinion on whether they are safe or not. I asked if someone could open one up and send me a photo of the internal wiring. You are entitled to your opinion but if you are not able to take a picture of one for me to answer my problem, then please, no more replies.

I purchased it the other week to use the transformer to put into my power supply box, then decided not to having found another suitable one. The reason I want to put it back together is to use for test tracks as we mostly have one set up when we have our 3mm Society group meetings.. I use Gaugemaster controllers on my layouts. That said, they do still fetch a fair price at swap meets, exhibitions and the ubiquitous Ebay.

I have an H & M Clipper unit and pulled out the transformer and rectifier to use in another application, however, I have now decided not to use them and want to put them back, but I clipped the wires in haste and have no idea where they all go. I'm clear where the transformer wires went to but the rectifier has several tags. Could I ask someone on the forum if they own one to take off the cover and take a photograph of the wires on the rectifier please? It would be a great help, thanks. Martin

...also, any danger by not using any at all? Thanks

I am making up a new power pack for my exhibition layout, featuring three transformers all delivering power to the layout for one item only, i.e.. 1)15v AC to feed the track controller, 2) 15v AC to feed the point motors and c) 12v DC to operate layout lights (station, buildings etc). I would like to incorporate thermal cut outs in each of the low voltage circuits. I have used 1amp in my old power pack which tended to cut out after a few hours and required a rest before it would power up again. Has anyone else used these things and if so, what rating and what sort did you use? Gaugemaster do them but at about £6 each they are pretty steep as I want three and possibly a spare or two. Martin

Just checking rail joints on my layout ready for exhibition at the end of the month and noticed that 3 of the 8 rails coming from my double slip make connection with ongoing track. I was on the understanding that double slips had to be isolated completely on all 8 rails from the rest of the track, and have their own power feeds independently from the rest of the layout? Can't find my wiring diagram to check unfortunately.

Ignore my last - just found the problem. I have mounted the connector plugs for the fiddle yard board on one piece of double sided PCB board, with copper on both sides!! Duh....!

Hi David I have opted for option two (your second solution above), which now works. However, I am still getting a short at feed 8 for some reason, with and without the fiddle yard connected (its on a different board). Any ideas please? Regards, Martin.