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DCC Electrical Fun - LED Position Indicator for Manually Thrown Peco ElectrofrogTurnouts

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NOTE: This model railroad video is not intended for anyone under 14 years of age due to the use of small parts, dangerous tools, electrical items, glues, and paints.
I had some fun this morning in that I was able to get a circuit to work that will allow me to see the position of my Peco electrofrog turnouts that are thrown by finger or ground throws. After getting the passenger and now the freight yards completed in Union Station, I was having problems seeing the position of the turnout so after a bit of internet research I found the circuit described in this video and decided to share it since it works.
Note: Based upon a comment on my MRH blog (model-railroad-..., the circuit has been revised which deletes the diodes and it works the same way, just with two less parts. The revised diagram is also located at my MRH blog.

Опубликовано:

20 фев 2016

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Комментарии : 35

@davidmuse7004 8 лет назад

Thank you John for this video. I was trying to come up with an indicator for my Peco turnouts that will be "finger throw" and Caboose Hobbies ground throws. This is a great idea, I'm not a fan of spending a bunch of money on switch machines when I have a perfectly good finger to use!!!!!! Will be watching more of your videos.

@tanzj 8 лет назад

+David Muse David, I have tried to limit where I use the electronic controlled turnouts to only those that I cannot reach by hand. I have recently realized that in two locations on the layout, I kind of boxed myself into a corner as I was unable to use any kind of under table control because I could not physically get under the turnout (to include two tortoises that I had already installed before screwing down the sections). Because of this, I have gone to using the above table Peco PL-11 turnout snap controller with a couple of NCE Q-snap stationary decoders. They were easily installed/programmed and work great. For everything else, my finger does just fine....John

@paulday505 5 лет назад

Spot on just what I needed thanks

@tanzj 5 лет назад

paul, Thanks for watching and your comments.....John

@dacuzzz 8 лет назад

hi John... very cool set up thanks for sharing.. vinny

@tanzj 8 лет назад

+bnsf6951 Vinny, Thanks. Have you gotten your Steam engine fixed & running??

@dacuzzz 8 лет назад

+John Tanzillo... it's at Bachmann as we speak.. they've had it for 2 weeks.. hope i'll get it back early March

@hvsc6159 6 лет назад

Nice job here 1 question tho do you think this circuit would work with Insulfrogs ??? I got a walthers insulfrog 3-way switch I`ve managed to get an athearns snap switch an relay hooked up an working on the front set of points.. but I just cant get the second set of points set up to work the same way. So I put a caboose manual throw back onto it... don't really want to do install the undertable thing...

@tanzj 6 лет назад

I don't think that it would work with an insulfrog because the circuit uses the frog as the power feed for one leg of the LED. A 3-way is a bit more complicated since it really is two superimposed LH/RH turnouts. You can use a DPDT type slide switch (2 of them) to change the position of the two insulfrogs while using the DPDT switch's contacts to change the LEDs to show the position of the two turnouts. There are several examples on RU-vid on how to hook up the circuit using DPDT slide switches. Hope that helps.....John

@hvsc6159 6 лет назад

Thank you.. I`ll try looking those up an see if I can get it done that way ..I`ve gotten the front set of points hooked up to an Atlas snap switch an relay an it works perfect...the problem I`m having is the second set ...the slide bar on the points is to short so when I attach the snap switch the alinement is way off an will not pull the points far enough to close them.. Thought about just making a new slide bar but not too sure just where to find the tools to do it

@tanzj 6 лет назад

You can use a small piece of piano wire to go from a slide switch to the slide bar as long as there is enough room to attach it to the side of the slide bar. Or you can go under the turnout to the middle of the slide bar. Some turnouts already have a hole in the middle or you can drill one to match the diameter of the piano wire. If you are concerned that you might short out the track with the uninsulated piano wire, then you can use a piece of styrene pipe just a little bit bigger than the wire. Or you can even try to use some RC control line to connect to the turnout throw bar. Another option, if the 3-way is still in production at Walthers, would be to call their parts department to see if they might have some replacement parts....John

@jacko9759 7 лет назад

Great idea, thanks for the good work,

@tanzj 7 лет назад

Thanks for watching & I appreciate the comment. If you go to Model Railroad Hobbyist, there were a lot of alternative ideas on how to do this circuit. This works for me....John

@jacko9759 7 лет назад

John Tanzillo thanks for the tip, will do...

@modelrailer 8 лет назад

good idea John and its was cheaper too. keep up the great work!

@tanzj 8 лет назад

+model railer John...Yup, I like cheap...JT

@smithkf51 6 лет назад

@johntavish8750 11 месяцев назад

Hi, would this work for dcc controlled points?

@tanzj 11 месяцев назад

Hi John, Thanks for watching and your question. Yes it would work. I have a total of 98 turnouts (Peco electrofrogs on the main level and insulfrogs on the staging level) on my layout and I made a decision that I would only automate those turnouts that I could not reach. The cost of using Tortoise or other brand of controls for turnouts plus the associated accessory decoders and wiring was deemed by me to exceed what I wanted to spend on that aspect of my layout. There are 8 turnouts on the east end of the Union Station yard that I do control via DCC (Peco tabletop snap switches) but all of the rest are manually thrown……John

@johntavish8750 11 месяцев назад

@@tanzj I plan on having motors on all my turnouts, some controlled by dcc others by a small switch for shunting operations. I'm amazed how simple your system is, how is it that everybody else does it in a more complicated way?

@tanzj 11 месяцев назад

@@johntavish8750 Thanks again for your comments. I guess that probably due to the number of turnouts on their layouts that they decided to spring for the cost of automation of every turnout. As a retired person it just was not affordable to me…..John

@chrissaf100 7 лет назад

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the advice given on the other web site regarding the additional diode is not correct. I am a professional electronics engineer. The DCC voltage is about 30 volts peak to peak. An LED is sensitive to being damaged by excessive reverse bias voltages. The diode on the other hand, is far more robust with regard to reverse bias. The diodes as shown in the diagram above protect the LEDs against excess 'reverse bias'. OK I acknowledge that to the untrained eye the LED (without the diode) appears to function perfectly OK. But, it is being unduly stressed. Leaving the diode out of the circuit isn't going to kill the LED instantly and straight away, but it is very likely to reduce its overall lifespan. Personally, I would re-instate the diodes. This comment is not aimed at the original author as the video is more than a year old. It is aimed at new viewers who may be considering implementing this LED design today or in the future.

@tanzj 7 лет назад

Thanks for watching & I do appreciate your comments. The subject was beaten to death on Model Railroad Hobbyist by a number of people with opinions in both directions.

@chrissaf100 7 лет назад

Yes John, this type of debate regularly generates opposing opinions. Many take the view, "It works, so my opinion must be correct". Whereas, the better more reflective view to make is "just because it works, doesn't necessarily mean that it is best engineering practice". The additional diodes are a minimal cost and provides an insurance policy. PS - rather than in series, the diodes can also go in parallel with the LED (opposite way round). The diode is then forward biased when the supply 'half cycle' is reversed with regard to the LED. The forward bias (0.6v on a silicon diode) then clamps the LED reverse bias to a maximum 0.6 volts.

@tanzj 7 лет назад

Thanks again. Would you be willing to message me with a diagram??

@chrissaf100 7 лет назад

Don't know if this will work (adding an image) but will try.

@chrissaf100 7 лет назад

Obviously, adding an image to the reply didn't work as it is not showing in my previous comment. The e-mail RU-vid sends me with your message hides your mail address and is a 'no-reply@.......' mail address. Therefore unless you know a different method. This message system doesn't seem to support sending images. Sorry.

@hvsc6159 6 лет назад

opps that atlas snap machins an realays my bad

@tanzj 6 лет назад

No problem.