# turnout switch help



## Tlauden (Sep 16, 2010)

i was thinking about getting these for my layout

http://www.dccinstalled.com/product_p/atlas-2700.htm

my question to you is how do i go about wiring these? i planned on making a panel with each turnout having a on-off-on momentary switch controling it, how do i go about getting power to these switches? i figured i can go to radio shack and get a converter there to go from AC power to the specified DC power these take to run. will this idea work or am i completly on the wrong track here? any suggestions are greatl appreciated, thanks


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

these turnouts are coil actuated. they can be energized with momentary buttons but IMHO this is not reliable enough solution. use of CDU - Capacitor Discharge Unit is highly advised to prevent stuck buttons and fried coils.

look at my control panel thread to see how i approached this.


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## Tlauden (Sep 16, 2010)

ok thank you tankist, i appreciate it


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## Tlauden (Sep 16, 2010)

tankist, i read the thread on your panel and let me start by saying great work! my problem though is all the capacitors and stuff like that to me is jibberish. i can handle wiring the switch's and soldering to the LED's but after that im lost when it comes to a circuit board. i am great when it comes to automotive wiring but thats a diffrent ball game. looking at your pics though i seem to recall our local radio shack having alot of the items it seems you used though like the resistors and the circuit boards, the only down fall is the folks at radio shack sell the items, and thats it, when it comes to explaining they seem useless (no offense to anyone who works there lol) 

if you could help i would greatly appreciate it, so far this is what i think i know and please correct me if im wrong

-A capacitor stores X amount of energy and when its "told" to it releases that energy in a single shot

-resistors "control" the amount of voltage to the led??

-the bi-color LED's you used switch color when the polarity is reversed and if so how do you go about reversing the polarity


i know this is a crash course on all this but anything to help me get started on this task is appreciated, thanks in advance to anyone who can also chime in and help


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

Tlauden said:


> -A capacitor stores X amount of energy and when its "told" to it releases that energy in a single shot
> 
> -resistors "control" the amount of voltage to the led??
> 
> ...


sure , i'll be happy to help.

1. correct. with that there can be a discharge limiting resistor then the energy release is not instant but spreads a bit overtime

2. partially correct. resistores control amount of current through LED (remember, led is a "current based "device).

3. i'm reversing the polarity with pair of under-track micro-switches connected into DPDT switch, and wired to reverse polarity.




























BTW,
ebay is preferred source to buy electronic components . i purchased 10,000 resistor pack (about 20 values) for 20$ shipped from china. in radio shack this much will buy you only couple of 5 packs. and for the more expensive parts there are online suppliers such as digikey or newark (i preffer the latter)


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## FireAce (Oct 19, 2009)

Jameco is great for misc electronic components, Futerelec is by far the cheapest if you need relays. Relays are great for changing polarity if you wish to use momentary push buttons to control operation. Just a bit of advice and links


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## Tlauden (Sep 16, 2010)

thanks folks, and thanks for the pics, i guess its true pics are worth a thousand words, well next pay day i think ill have a little shopping spree and get some parts. although the resistors are still a little confusing what wattage/ohms should i get? i found tons on ebay i just dont know what ones to go for


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

LED resistor calculator:
http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz

according to it for 12V supply you will need 470ohm 1/2W resistor. since the bulk pack of resistors i got is 1/4W i'm doubling up - using pair of 1Kohm in parallel.
if you going to use 5V for the leds(cellphone charger brick) then 220ohm 1/4 is plenty. 
and sometimes LEDs from ebay come with resistors.


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## FireAce (Oct 19, 2009)

If your new to circuitry, download and install Yenka, which is a free circuit build and test program. Its free if you use it at home, and easy to use. It will help you put electronics together and show you misc voltage, amps, etc.

Also, one of the best power supplies for anything is one from a PC. Gives you 3v, 5v and 12v and plenty of power behind it.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

oh wow, they now have free household-grade circuit simulator! awesome. thanks!

until now i had to use the expensive commercial grade product which i , err, found laying unattended on the street


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## FireAce (Oct 19, 2009)

Rofl!


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## Tlauden (Sep 16, 2010)

FireAce said:


> If your new to circuitry, download and install Yenka, which is a free circuit build and test program.
> 
> Also, one of the best power supplies for anything is one from a PC. Gives you 3v, 5v and 12v and plenty of power behind it.


Thanks FireAce. ill have to download that when i get home and see how it works! and thanks for the hint of using the PC power supply, just so happends i got one of those laying at home somewhere


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## FireAce (Oct 19, 2009)

Great, to start the PC power supply, put a switch between the green wire and any of the black (ground) wires.

Yellow wires are 12v
Red wires are 5v
Orange wires are 3v

Then there's some other misc that you wont need.


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## Tlauden (Sep 16, 2010)

ok thank you. what kind of fuses do you guys recommend? if any


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## FireAce (Oct 19, 2009)

Actually, if ur gonna use the PC power supply, you wont need any fuses. I have one on my work bench for testing and etc, and I have shorted it out hundreds of times. It has internal protection. All you do is turn it off and then back on again.


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