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Thanks for your comment. The other possible advantage is that its easier to make a hole than a slot. However there seem to be numerous ideas on how to link servos to points.

Many thanks, pleased my explaination made sense.

Thank you for your comment. Although it is true that the Point Indicator could be fooled by a sticky point motor the problem is solved by making the point motor operation reliable, solenoid point motors are very reliable but need to be mounted without introducing a lot of friction, wired with sufficent gauge of wire and operated with sufficent voltage and current. A CDU will increase the current.

@@heathcote-electronics Completely agree. However, it's one reason I moved away from solenoid motors to servo, as it didn't seem to take much for a solenoid to become unreliable.

I@@delboy1727 I also prefer servos for point motors. Other advantages are realistic movement, you can use a 2 or 4 pole switch so you have 1 or 3 contacts spare. The servo is continually powered so pressing the point blade against the stock rail, handy for scratchbuilt points or if you have lost the spring out of the peco point and you can power it from 12 volts DC which is more easily obtained in a sealed unit. And an extra reason, if you give too much power to the solenoid point motor it will switch the point with so much force that the point will eventually be damaged by the impacts.

True, we have a tripod now.

I am sure that would work well with solenoid point motors. However I wanted the relays to be switched with a low current when used with my detectors for reverse loops. Also the bistable relays appeared to be a more expensive solution without terminal blocks or LED indication of which way the relay has switched. Actually if you take the negative from the CDU to the point switches and connect the negatives of both the 24 and 12 volt supplies you could use the same switch lines but considering there is only a very small price difference between the two types of switches I thought using a DPDT switch made the wiring simpler to understand and fault find,

That all makes perfect sense to me. I've been using the 24V bistables to overcome failures on old insulated frog points to provide the track switching. I locate the relay next the point so wiring is minimal (in length at least) and don't need the LED confirmation. @@heathcote-electronics

@@OOElectronics It sounds a good solution for what you want to do. With below baseboard point motors I had success by using the rod that fits in the tiebar (which extends below the point motor) to push against a micro switch mounted on a block of wood.

@@heathcote-electronics Peco do (or used to do?) plastic switches that got glued onto the bottom of their motors to do the same. I think there are still a few around on my layout. I've been using microswitches hidden on the surface to detect point position for my microprocessor controlled points and signals - a project that has grown way beyond where I thought it was going.....

Pleased you liked it.

@@heathcote-electronics rails point motors use green as the common return though. Good little motors. Really easy.

Thanks for the tip.

Sorry about that but it was one of our first videos and I think we have improved the sound on more recent ones. Also now use a tripod so we no longer induce seasickness on viewers.

Thank you for your kind comment. Perhaps You Tube needs a more advanced algorithm which ranks for prattling!

I hope to. Thanks for the comment.

We hope to make a video showing how easy it was to do this. The snowmen were modelling clay with a cocktail stick to make their heads rotate. Thanks for your comment and happy christmas.

If the LEDs are the standard type and not the 5 volt or 12 volt type then you can. But if you look at a supplier such as Rapid Electronics you should find nice mounting clips.

Many thanks for your kind comment.

Yes it is for the standard versions which have 22mm long infra red devices but you could use the EW versions eg IRDOT-1EW instead of IRDOT-1. These have the infra red sensor and emmitter on 18 inch wires.

@@heathcote-electronics is just 3mm a deal breaker? I would have thought with the beams pointing upwards and the trains having reflective tape underneath ( say aluminium) it wouldn’t be that crucial. Is the tolerance really very very small? Thanks Clive

You are correct 3mm in distance is not significant, the range is around 2 inches, However the problem is that if the infra red devices are not at the top of the hole you may get the infra red reflected off the sides of the hole or the underside of a sleeper partially over the hole. If requested I can make the infra red devices taller, up to 30mm. @@stevio7777

@@heathcote-electronics thanks for that Clive I’ll bear it in mind. The thing is I’m new to all this and I’m starting with Hornby TT120 running the engines with my iPad via Bluetooth. (DCC) But I would like to automate my layout as much as possible. I’m thinking of using JMRI. But being as the loco’s are controlled via Bluetooth it’s a challenge as how to go about it. Lol

Yes if you wire in the isolation section. In fact both the block needs to clear and the points switched before the signal goes to clear and the power switches onto the isolation section.

You are correct. However if the train is running slowly you cannot discern a difference between a sudden and gradual stop. If you want gradual stops with DC then we have the SA7-SB controls. For DCC there are 2 methods you can use. Brake on DC (all chips should conform to this but some Hornby do not) or ABC braking (mostly Lenz chips). The isolation relay on the IRDASC-3 could switch in either of these although you also need the IRDOT-3D for brake on DC to avoid a short circuit on the track.

The sensors normally fit in a hole between the sleepers. They are positioned where you want the signal to return to danger when the front of the train is detected.

Thank you - I just wondered if they needed programming for either 2,3, or 4-aspect colour signals... @@heathcote-electronics

@@MaboPete We have different circuit boards for 2,3 and 4 aspect.

Thank you - I'll get a bit further with the layout and see just what I want.@@heathcote-electronics

As the circuit board is hidden away it is suitable for any scale including TT120.

@@heathcote-electronics Awesome, So what would I need to get this installed? I'm currently analog but will be going DCC in the future.

@@LetsMakeTracks2023 You need our welder board and a 12 volts DC or 16 volts AC power supply and a tiny blue LED all of which can be bought on our website www.heathcote-electronics.co.uk. The welding figures are from Langley Models I do not know if they have your scale.

Thanks for your comments. You are correct that you would need 10 Single Servo Motor Controllers but you would only need 5 Dual Servo Motor Controllers.

The existing MAS Sequencer RI can control 2 feathers. A SPDT contact operated by the second point motor can route power to the correct feather. The contact on the first point motor connects to the OI terminal as normal.

@@heathcote-electronics oh didn’t realise lol I get it now

What a nice surprise. If you want a catchup my email is cah@heathcote-electronics.co.uk

Thanks for your interest. Our products are only sold by mail order. You can order them from our website www.heathcote-electronics.co.uk. The circuit board is a Single servo Controller, we also sell servo motors brackets etc but most servo motors are compatible with the Single and Dual Servo motor controllers.

It would give more levarage but servo motors have so much torque its not necessary and it would raise the height of the connecting wire.

The circuit board could be modified so a dcc block detection would trigger it. However I deliberately kept my signalling system isolated from the dcc system for simplicity in wiring.

​@@heathcote-electronics This automatic signal board is perfectly suited to my requirements if it had a DCC Block Detection input. I am looking at integrating DCC ABC braking circuits that are controlled by the signal DANGER output to control the previous block (thus slowing DCC Controlled trains to STOP before the signal at DANGER) This is not as reliable with IR detection.

@@sydneyanonymous5660 What output have you got from the dcc block system? I have not encountered any problems with the reliability of infra red detection. My email is cah@heathcote-electronics.co.uk.

One of our customers built this gantry. I think it's based on kits. Seven of the sigal arms are operated by servos controlled by our Bouncing Semaphore Sequencer boards.

@@heathcote-electronics It was the bouncing signals that first got me to watch, I will have a few that will need doing in the not too distant future. I also have need of a couple of gantries hence the comment. Thanks for the reply

Hi, like the other contributor I stumbled across you tutorial in my research into bouncing semaphores. Very fascinated by the ingenuity of your product; looking forward to future instalments.

Hello here is the link to a video with more information about our servo controllers. ua-cam.com/video/9XBgrMqG7zc/v-deo.html The segment about the controller starts at 1.33 min. Information and wiring diagrams are on this page of our website - link below www.heathcote-electronics.co.uk/servo.html