powering DC point moters

[irishrailways52]

hello. I am in the middle of building a small layout which will be usesing PL-11 Side Mounted Turnout Motors from peco. I will be using simple switches to change the points and will not be going into the DCC side of things. i was wondering what sort of power supply could be used for this. someone suggested I buy an individual power supply for each moter however id rather not have 40 plugs to deal with .

thanks

[Mayner]

A single power unit should be suitable for a small layout.

Peco recommend 16V A/C at 2amp and SL26 Lever Switch for PL-11 motors https://www.maurienne-trains.com/images/Image/Peco/PL-11 Instructions.pdf

A CDU (capacitor discharge unit) improves reliability of operation especially if you want to throw two or more points at the one time. https://www.heathcote-electronics.co.uk/cdu.html

Edited July 7, 2023 by Mayner

[Tullygrainey]

I use this Gaugemaster power supply together with a Capacitor Discharge Unit from the same manufacturer to power the Peco solenoid turnout motors on my small (6ft x 2ft) layout. Together, they do the job well and turnouts can be switched in pairs without any problems.

https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/gaugemaster-gmc-m1-16v-ac-cased-transformer.html

https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/seep-gmc-cdu-capacitor-discharge-unit.html

Alan

Edited July 7, 2023 by Tullygrainey

[Noel]

1 hour ago, irishrailways52 said:

hello. I am in the middle of building a small layout which will be usesing PL-11 Side Mounted Turnout Motors from peco. I will be using simple switches to change the points and will not be going into the DCC side of things. i was wondering what sort of power supply could be used for this. someone suggested I buy an individual power supply for each moter however id rather not have 40 plugs to deal with .

thanks

A simple 15v AC power transformer is the norm. Old Triang power controllers had two outputs a 12v DC regulated and a separate 15v AC for point motors. Some folks like to use 15v AC combined with a capacitor discharge unit which is capable of more grunt when used with solenoids, especially when throwing say two points from a single switch. My old layout was done this way but the maze of wiring from each point back to a central switch panel was like a brilopad growth under the layout and a nightmare to diagnose when something went wrong. I know your not going DCC for the layout but there is no doubt one area where DCC excels in reducing wiring simplicity and reducing work load and that is point motors, even if trains are powered by 12v DC from track block sections and isolation sections. Having no wires running under the layout back to a central switch panel is a joy. Just a DCC bus wires only for point motors, not track means only one power supply for the lot including layout lighting signals, semaphore serves, etc, and only two wires back to a central decoder connected to say 15-20 switches of whatever kind you like, toggle switches, lever switches, push button switches. You can even have a portable virtual signal box containing a panel of switches that can be moved around the layout much like a portable cab controller (DC or DCC). DCC concepts sell a mix of components that can do this on a DC only layout (ie with only DCC accessory decoders or DCC addressed point motors, or solenoids the SEEP, Peco, etc. Worth reading up on as it literally reduces the work load by 85%. Another thing to consider is are you planing to use electrofrog points or insulfrog points, the former need a frog switch, PECO sell a switch that can go under the point or if using stall point motors such as Tortoise or Cobalt they have built in frog switches so you'll only need about 4-6 inches of local wiring under the point for frog switching. Electrofrog points aside from looking better, their main advantage is smooth low speed running over the entire point without stalling short wheelbase locos (eg 040, 060) due to wheel losing electrical conductivity passing over plastic frogs on insulfrog points or train set standard points (eg Hornby or Peco Setrack).

[Fiacra]

Apologies in advance for adding a very basic question to this thread. Am I correct to assume that a single 15v source can power multiple point motors (if they will only be thrown one at a time)? If this is the case, how should one go about connecting everything? Presumably it's not as simple as connecting all of the wiring directly to the power source. Is there such a thing as a breakout box that can receives the two wires from the power source, and can then relay this to multiple point motors?

[Mayner]

One single 15V source is adequate to power multiple point motors and capable of throwing two Peco point motors at a time such as in a crossover.

There are three wires to each Peco Pl-11 and other solenoid point motors, one common and one to each coil fed through the point switch https://www.maurienne-trains.com/images/Image/Peco/PL-11 Instructions.pdf

The common can be fed through a single bus wire to each motor, the switch wire have to be fed back to the point switches which can be located individually near the point or centrally in a control panel.

The Peco point switches can be mounted singly on the layout or grouped in a lever frame.

Although I had Peco switches, I ended up using old Tri-ang (Hornby) switches as I got them second hand for next to nothing and were fun to operate.

Bank of Tri-ang (Hornby) levers used to control solenoid point motors on an N gauge layout.

One wire from the power source ran to the lever frame, the second direct to the point motor.

Wiring Seep Point Motors  Black-Common White-Coil1 (Normal) Brown-Coil2 (reverse) on a portable N gauge layout

Wiring from the point motors and track feeds was routed through a soldered tag strip to a multi-way cable connector (old style Printer Cable) between the layout and control panel.

The layout was portable with three baseboards and two banks of Tri-ang point levers to control the points on two baseboards.

DCC Wiring of Peco point motors using Lenz Stationary Decoders using colour coded wiring and screw terminal blocks.

Points are fed through a separate 15V a/c supply (orange and brown)to the 15V a/c DCC track power/control bus (black and red)

DCC simplifies the wiring leaving each baseboard essentially self contained, eliminating the requirement to run wiring from each point motor back to a separate switch or a control panel.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by Mayner

[Fiacra]

Fantastic - thanks for all of this information Mayner!

[irishrailways52]

thank you for the advice. 

[irishthump]

I run a DCC layout but my points are still powered 24v AC supply through a CDU. I prefer to keep the train control and point control seperate.