changing two points

[man4805star]

I am trying to change two points on a crossover .have the port on the decoder set to no 6 and both points to the same no .When i click on the track button only one point changes . and i cannot workout what to put in the box in the to get the points to

 

change together

[Fishmanoz]

It should just be a matter of putting the same settings into each point and wiring them to the same port, as you seem to have done. You haven't accidentally put the red wire from each into the opposite connection on the port have you?

[Fishmanoz]

And what happens if you disconnect the point motor that works? Will the other one work now? If not, if you disconnect the motor from the point, will it work?

[Graskie]

A couple of good points there, Fishy.

[Fishmanoz]

Thanks Graskie. One thing model railway has done for me is to have me remember basic fault finding logic.

[man4805star]

Fishmanoz said:

Thanks Graskie. One thing model railway has done for me is to have me remember basic fault finding logic.

[Graskie]

Fishmanoz said:

Thanks Graskie. One thing model railway has done for me is to have me remember basic fault finding logic.

What about advanced fault finding, though?

[man4805star]

I Both points when I disconect one or the other I think you have to tell each of the points which route they need to move by writing in the box . I have managed on the track plan to get the point arrows to move together so they form a crossover when clicking

 

one or the other point button. But I still have to connect it up to the points to see if they both move together

[Fishmanoz]

Let's go back to scratch here and leave the advanced to Graskie. You start by physically connecting both point motors to the same decoder port, with both red wires to one side, both greens to the other and both blacks in the middle, assuming we are talking

 

Hornby point motors (otherwise same colours to same side with commons in the middle).

 

Now you say you have the decoder programmed with that port as No 6. Next you put the crossover points into your schematic and snap point lights to each. Then you

 

right click on each, call each No 6 and make both have a starting position of either left or right, depending on which way they are in your layout and where you want to start them. The important thing is both directions are the same.

 

Now you test by

 

firing up your layout with the point motors wired up but not connected to points. Click on either set of point lights and both point motors should fire.

 

Does all of that work? If not, disconnect one and see if the other works, and then vice versa and

 

report back.

 

If so, now connect to the points. Do they still work together? If not, it is probably their alignment to the point, without the screws too tight and all on the flat, which will be the problem. The idea here is to first ensure it is all

 

programmed and wired correctly, then check the mechanical point operation.

 

Not sure if that is advanced to you Graskie, but basic to me?

[man4805star]

Thankyou

You have made it clearer for me yes both point work independently if each other what I did realise was I had to put the red/green point buttons in the route box. I have noticed there seems to be a delay before the second point throws 3/4 seconds

 

later

[Fishmanoz]

That sounds a bit strange. What sort of point motors are you using?

 

If you are using a standard solenoid point motor like Hornby, the decoder just sends a short pulse to throw it. It's a bit hard to understand how the second motor might throw after

 

the pulse?

[papajulietdelta]

I have noticed that my Elink seems to send two pulses. Is this normal?

 

Can I change it to one as I worried about burning the motors out?

[man4805star]

Fishmanoz

I have been playing with railmaster with your help i have it it sussed. In the point setting box i called one upline and the other downline then put red or green buttons so they match the crossover well it works on the track plan . I am unable

 

to connect it to the layout till the weekend. But hopefully it will throw the two piunts together

[Fishmanoz]

Just a couple of points, one for each of you:

 

PJD, had forgotten about 2 pulses - no that won't blow your motors, it is continuous power that has the potential to do that, not just a couple of pulses.

 

Manstar, you have mentioned route setting.

 

This is a feature to be able to throw points along the layout to a particular configuration so a train can go along a particular route from A to B. Setting this shouldn't be necessary for your crossover as effectively this is only one point. If you had your

 

crossover set up as 2 points connected to 2 ports, you could then put them in a simple route and select it to throw them one after the other and back again.

[man4805star]

Fishman orignaly i did that but could only get one point to throw

 

decoder port no 6 set of wires to point no 1 then Same two wires to point no2 both points set to no6

When clicking the point buttons only point no1would throw

[papajulietdelta]

Hi Fishman

 

So two pulses is normal? Can I switch it to one as the second buzz annoys me.

 

cheers

[Fishmanoz]

Don't think so.

[man4805star]

Ok i still cannot throw the two points together . I am now thinking there Is not enough power from the decoder Which Is a MERG acc4 throwing two seep pm1's. Which maybe take more power than the Decoder can provide

[Fishmanoz]

If you do a forum search on Seep, you'll find other threads where people have had the same sort of trouble with them. They clearly use more current then other motors.

 

You'll just have to operate them separately, which effectively makes them a more

 

expensive option to run as you need more decoders to operate all of them.

 

And if you have your layout configured to set all of your points to an initial position on startup, you may even have to adjust the point delay period in your Railmaster.ini

 

file so they all switch reliably. The manual covers how to do this. And again this is covered in other threads your search should find.

[man4805star]

Fishmanoz

 

I have been in contact with the person who designed the merg Decoder. He sugested i try increasing the voltage from 16v to 24v and see if that would throw the two points. The only way I can get 24v is by linking 2x12v output from a gaugemastwe

 

transformer . As in linking 2x12v batterys together making 24v is that possible

 

 

[idlemarvel]

How about using a CDU (capacitor discharge unit)? They are quite cheap (much cheaper than buying another transformer) and might give you the kick you need. Hornby decoders have a built in CDU but I don't know if the merg has one.

[man4805star]

The MERG decoders have a cdu built in apparently stronger cdu that the guagemaster one

 

[Deltic_Malc]

I got round this "problem", of switching two points together in opposite,or even the same throws, by using two decoders with the same address and not mixing wiring. It gives me a lot less hassle and is relatively cheap. I am using a well known Australian

 

8 way accessory decoder which cost £41. Hope this helps

 

[man4805star]

Hi Deltic

 

As the Merg decoders are cheap £12 for four way . And a little bit of time to build them that could be the other way to switch the Thanksints thanks