Back to Back Points wiring the Wiring / Operating motors together?

[wapples]

Silly one but lets say you have a back to back points for crossing two main lines. Do some simply wire both motors together i mean switching individually seems a little pointless as soon as one point is thrown the other one needs to match?

I was mostly thinking in respect to wiring a point motor that I would wire it too two signals that way as its changed and the light goes green or red I wire the other signal on the other line in reverse to get the result but then thought if I do that with signals why not wire a pair of back to back point motors together they are either in the straight position or you have them set to cross over over? I will indeed wire up individually just curious if this is a practice others use?

Cheers

OP

[Jupiter 1707822591]

Yes it can be wired that way . get yourself a quality capacitor discharge unit (CDU).

[96RAF]

Depending upon the point motor type and how/where it is mounted (surface or under-board) may mean you have to cross connect the pairs of wires to get the actual points to throw the same way but essentially yes you can fire such a pair from one switch.

[Flashbang]

Hi

You can connect two solenoid motors to one lever or switch and they both move together.

Ideally wire each motor back to the operating switch or lever rather than link from one motor to the next. As linking them can lead to the first motor "grabbing" all the power and the second one not receiving sufficient to allow it to move. Taking the wires (Ideally 16/0.2mm equipment wire) back to the switch allows both motors to receive a share of the current available.

A CDU will help and they are a great asset where solenoid motors are used. But it is not recommended to be used with the Hornby R044 Black point lever, due to the levers very old internal switching design. But a CDU is fine with virtually every other switch or lever and Stud & Probe. Normally only one CDU is needed for the whole layout.

You cannot feed signals from the power going to the point motor that's used to move the motor! You will need a separate power supply (ideally DC and a Regulated one) and feed that either via some type of point operated change-over switch - Micro switch or PL13. Or use a twin coil Latching Relay connected to the point motors operating wires and via the relays contacts feed the signal aspects from the separate power source. Latching relays are sold ready to use from Gaugemaster part GM500 or Brimal part MR204.

[ColinB]

I found the CDU that I first had wasn't "man enough" to fire two together, but recently I upgraded to a DC Concepts one. I cannot praise this unit enough ( I don't have any involvement with them at all ). I am so used to buying model railway stuff that doesn't work very well, that I was incredibly surprised how good this unit was. I tried lots of different ways to switch my points, I found the Hornby ones difficult to connect to reliably (the connectors kept falling out), the Peco slider switch ones weren't that great either.The DCC concepts ones were good but too big ( I have over 60 points). In the end I just used a centre off biased micro toggle switch, which works really well. You can even buy ones on a PCB which makes life so much easier.

[Brew Man]

I have the Gaugemaster CDU which is around £13-£14 and I've never had a problem with it

[ModelerXYZ]

I switch my crossovers together. I have a CDU attached in the circuit and do the not reccomended thing of using hornby switches with it-so it is possible. I think the motors need to be red to green together- yes I do connect them together as well. It works for me.

XYZ

[Potterton]

As I have said previously on a different thread, I did experience occasional problems using Hornby lever switches with a CDU until the late, great Chrissaf advised to pause the throw of the switch half way across for half to one second to allow the CDU to recharge. Since following his advice I have found the combination of a CDU with Hornby switches infallible.