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These PL 13 Thingis

Yelrow

By Yelrow
in Hornby DCC

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Yelrow Grand Master

Yelrow

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Ok, so i took poliss, advice and bought one of these, as could not keep the cocktail sticks upright enough, to watch the points change. Now i want a Gizmo, with this switch , and red/ green lights, or similar, so i can move it from point to point to check, they are firing. All my points are Hornby, but it says on tne net this will do the job. So, wiring diagram, please guys. I can then locate it with long wires, point by point, and  be entertained. john

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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Just to get things straight John before I suggest a wiring diagram to you.

 

1. You want the 'lights' to be on long leads so you can have them near where you are switching your points from. Such lights to indicate if a point is either left or right as it were. My lights for instance show green for the way the point is moved to and red for the way that it is turned against. i.e. 2 leds each capable of showing red or green.

 

2. For now you want the switch to be portable to move from point to point in order to prove the point you are changing is a) moving and b) moving the right way, upon command.

 

3. In some future time you will want to make these arrangements permanent at each point location so you will need one switch per point and the number of leds in x 2 qty to match as well as a panel to mount the leds on.

 

Rob

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Yelrow Grand Master

Yelrow

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RAF,You are confusing me with Rothchild, i am the poor one. There will be no  no (3.) 20x price  of switches, plus postage = no chance, This is purely a one off, simply to set up points in fiddle yard. When i have established, which fires what, as they now bear no resemblance to my schematic, i will then re do  schematic, to include fiddle yard. Points then numbered 1-15..  Wires need this gizmo to be near Laptop/ Elite, so i can see what , if anything happens.. Hope that helps. john

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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Ok John try this one.

 

As the point throws the DCC current 'polarity' is diverted to show one led as green (i.e. the way the point is thrown) and the other red (i.e. the way the point is set against). Flip the point the other way and the colours swap over.

 

You wire it up with crock clips on the leads rather than solder to the rails as shown and you can move it point to point as your testing progresses.

 

A simpler way could be to just have a 12V car bulb and 2 wires. Clip one wire to the left rail and one to the right rail after the point and when ever the point is set that way the bulb will light.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/gallery/album_1326/gallery_7193_1326_113.gif

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Flashbang Experienced

Flashbang

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Two methods

1) use the DCC rail power to illuminate the LEDs or 2) Use a separate DC power supply like for example 12volts DC.

 

For 1) ... Take two wires from the rails or the DCC bus pair to the PL13 closer together terminals.  Then one wire to the LEDs from the off set PL13 terminal..  Add a series resistor of 1K (1000 Ohm) into this wire before the LEDs.  Connect at one end only the two LEDs together in inverse parellel. Anode of one to the Cathode of the other. Connect this end pair of LED wires to the other end of the resistor. Connect each lead of the LEDs other wires indivually to the DCC power. One LED lead to one DCC feed.  Then when the point switch  is in one position one LED will light and the other will light in the points other position.

 

For 2) .... Take the positive of the DC supply to the off set tag on the PL13.  Connect two wires to the closer together pair of  terminals.the other end of these two wires connect to each LED Anode lead (longer lead).  Connect together the two LEDs shorter Cathode leads and to this joint add one end of a series resistor 1K for 12 volt DC. The other end of the resistor connects to the DC supplies Negative.

 

note the series resistor can be connected either way around as its not polarity concious

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Guest Chrissaf

Chrissaf

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You may need to hold the PL-13 in place on the point motor with bits of sticky tape or Blu-Tack. It would normally be glued on, but this is not going to be practicable if you want to move the same PL-13 from one point to another as a purely temporary measure tester.

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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John

Heres a picture of the switch clipped onto a Hornby point motor that would have been mounted topside in the little Hornby House thing. For permanent use I glue them on and for use directly under a point mechanism, such as when using those little surface mounted motors, I trim off the little lugs at each end and glue to the underside of the point using a track pin to link the tie bar to the switch..

 

Grrr- for some reason its uploaded sideyways...

/media/tinymce_upload/4f54847691e7b2a8dc9c980a472614a4.jpg

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Yelrow Grand Master

Yelrow

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RAF, many thanks. All my Hornby point motors are surface mounted, due to the preservation of TT Table. I will produce these leads, when domestic duties diminish.   Fishy, gooday, no overdraft, permitted for bank managers, so got out of that habit, in 1990. French system, even better. It is an offence to write a cheque without supporting funds. If only that applied in the uk. john

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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OK John, but the wiring you need with the switch is this one. Make those 3 wires from the switch as long as you need to reach the furthest point from the viewing area.

 

I think you will find the switch should clip on securly enough for the test.

In lieu of the +/ 15VDC from the back of the Elite, you could use a 9V battery.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/1294780820/gallery_7193_1326_1962.gif

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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@John

You need to distract the dog with a treat and walk upstairs with your feet near the outer edges of the treads.

 

PS ignore that first wiring diagram I posted above the picture of the switch as its no use to you.

Rob

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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@John

 

Unfortunately the resistor is essential unless you can rig up a supply from an AA battery, which will keep the voltage below burn out level.

 

In that case you could use this simplified method with/without them depending upon supply voltage.

 

If you don't want to use bi-colour leds (or haven't got any) then you can just use single colour leds instead - say green for straight and red for diverted. Or you could just use coloured bulbs.

 &Save

Modify the diagram like this:

Take the top green wire from the switch to an led and the top red wire to an led. These wires go to the anode side of the leds. 

 

Put a 1K resistor in each of the other legs - cathodes, join those together and thats your negative. You could even get away with just one resistor as only one led will be lit at a time.

 

The bottom red wire from the switch is your positive.

 

Rob

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96RAF Grand Master

96RAF

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@Rog

I've been searching for a diagram I saw posted somewhere, which I think was lighting a signal from an R8247 accessory decoder.

Although this is not the one in mind it shows the general 2 wire 2 colour led principle with DCC as the handy power source. You need diodes as well as resistors from memory to preclude the back current going where it shouldn't  when you reverse the current.

From Brian Lamberts site (thanks FB - hope he don't mind me linking to it)

http://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/DCC%202.html#Point

 

I can work out a diagram for DC using a DPDT switch but not using the simple PL-13 type.

 

I will keep searching.

Rob

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