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Peco Turnout Motors
Art asks you for help:
“Does anyone else have issues with Peco coil turnout motors not functioning, only working to one side after awhile. And/or does anyone have any better set up so they switch and operate more efficient on Peco turnouts , N scale. Respects. Art”
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Gidday Art
I have used Peco motors for many years. I have had little trouble I did not understand. There are some things I have learnt:
Shorter poles (thin baseboard) work much better. The motor should not be the full length away from the turnouts. The most reliable are the motors I mounted directly to the turnouts, although this is hard to hide with scenery.
Switches can sometimes (most of the time) be the culprit. Sometimes the turnout can be tacked down too tigthly or lopsided. This can create too much resistance in either or both directions.
15VAC and more is better. DC is not usually enough power.
Short cables are better than long ones. Good size cable is better than thin. There can be large loss of power on poor quality or excessively long cabling.
Separate power supply for points is better. Not shared with locos, etc.
I haven’t had a burnout for many years. I am using cheap momentary action push button switches from Jaycar. Two per turnout. One for normal. One for curved.
Hope this helps.
David
To really make turnout motors that use coils like the Peco turnout motors it is best to use a capacitance discharge power unit (CDU) Sometimes called a Capacitor Discharge Unit. . Peco sells one but there are a number of companies, both in the United States and Britain, that sell them. They have two advantages. One they charge up and really send a momentary surge of power to the turnout motor that really zaps the turnout over. Second as they discharge and then recharge and they will save the motor from burnout if you keep your finger on the button or switch too long. One capacitance discharge power unit should throw 2-4 turnout motors at the same time, such as the two motors on a crossover. These CD power units are fairly cheap, about the cost of 2-3 turnout motors and you’ll only need one for most layouts (Unless you have a big layout with many turnouts) (ebay has them for $10.00-21.00)
They can only be used on twin coil turnout motors like Peco or Atlas motors, not the motors that have small DC motors like the Tortoise or Cobalt motors, or servos.