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Offline river6109  
#1 Posted : 18 May 2013 06:17:08(UTC)
river6109

Australia   
Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 14,636
Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
Hi,

I'm now in the process and this will take several month to change over the solenoid motors to new slow motion motors from ESU.(switch pilot servos)

the application is somewhat complicated to work out what and what is not compatible. (motorola digital system)

The switch pilot servo can be connected to a switch pilot (explain this later) the connection itself is by connecting 2 wires to the rail connection and 2 wires to the transformer, the latter being handy iof you don't want to draw too much current from the existing digital system otherwise you can connect all 4 wires to the track connection (1+3 and 2 + 4).
To install the motors under the board is like any other positioning, drilling holes etc. but when it comes to the programming it is quite easy and even easier when you read the instructions.
with 2 buttons you can determine the length of the movement and secondly the motion of the motor (speed). each switch pilot servo has the capability to connect 4 motors to the unit.
I haven't connected it to the ECoS as yet nor have I activated the Railcom functions.

The reason behind the changeover was or is, the unreliability of the motor solenoids and the whole mechanism. Having bought the under board kit I than realized the board itself was too thick and I had to add an extension for the lever to be in contact, also there was quite a bit of movement within the mechanism the turnout tongues did not always turn to the end and resulting in accidents.
having had about 200 turnouts and double slips (since than we've reduced the amount considerable by changing the track configuration) but it still a fair amount of turnouts.
the new motor and mechanism is pretty straight forward and sturdy and the steel wire goes straight into the hole of the turnout lever and as you can adjust the length of the movement there is no excuse now for it not to work.

I have to get further assistance how to connect my Märklin own build signal modules and I have many of them as well and I hope I can integrate them with the switch pilot servos and the switch pilots. the switch pilots them selves, I haven't read much about them and have to go into a bit deeper and see what functions they can perform and of them I read was the switch over period for signal lights with the current Märklin signal module, this is done with out delay, so this would be another nice option to have.

One has also to include, the layout will be one day computer controlled and I don't want to buy stuff now which I may not need later on when the computer program is implemented.

the switch pilot servo modules have an 18 Volt maximum capacity and testing the digital transformer (220 Volts + a transformer from 240 volts to 220 Volts didn't bring down the voltage below 18 volts AC so I connected an other stabilizing voltage transformer to the 240V-220V and than the 220 Volts digital transformer it came down to 16 Volt AC, I think this is just perfect.
Although, originally I connected the module to the digital transformer the led's went out when I connected it and i thought was overloading the module but found out later this was just a starting process letting me know the unit has voltage, anyhow I'm happier with 16 volts.

Here is a short video of my latest adventure with a temporary setup.



regards.,

John
river6109 attached the following image(s):
switch pilot servo 5.JPG
switch pilot servo 4.JPG
switch pilot servo 3.JPG
switch pilot servo.JPG
switch pilot servo 1.JPG
switch pilot servo 2.JPG
https://www.youtube.com/river6109
https://www.youtube.com/6109river
5 years in Destruction mode
50 years in Repairing mode
thanks 2 users liked this useful post by river6109
Offline clapcott  
#2 Posted : 18 May 2013 11:11:11(UTC)
clapcott

New Zealand   
Joined: 12/12/2005(UTC)
Posts: 2,433
Location: Wellington, New_Zealand
John,

Can you comment on any "power up jerking" that the SwitchPilot causes?
And confirm that after power up (before any buttons are pushed) that the points are firmly in the same state as when the power was last removed?
Peter
Offline river6109  
#3 Posted : 18 May 2013 12:08:53(UTC)
river6109

Australia   
Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 14,636
Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
Peter,
So far I haven't experienced any jerking although one has to consider the turnout tongues are not rigid and the mechanism within the turnout allows the tongues to move freely sideways.
My turnouts are more than 30 years old and still operate reasonable.
the power switch off and switch on, the movement is always the same and doesn't change but I have to power it up to the digital system and program it on the ECoS, I haven't got that far, tonight I've mounted one servo under the board and 1 switch pilot module and will also try to program it. results tomorrow.

I've changed the lever from teh servo the other way around because I had this big hole I dind't calculate the movement restrictions it has when you only got a 10mm hole so I've turned it upside down, made the steel rod longer and the lever is no longer within the hole itself

I've managed to program the switch pilot servo and came across a little problem, the icon showed the wrong direction compared with the turnout itself, I tried different options but with out any luck, the only thing I could do is reset the motor position and this was easy to do. having reset the position it is now showing both positions in the right directions.
It is important, for me anyhow to program the motor first as I've noticed the factory set motor position could be anywhere and may break the motor or the turnout lever.

I also turned the ECoS off and on again and the motor started in its right position without any jerking
tomorrow I will connect more of them and what I've seen from the first turnout, I'm quite pleased

regards.,

John

Edited by user 18 May 2013 17:46:50(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

https://www.youtube.com/river6109
https://www.youtube.com/6109river
5 years in Destruction mode
50 years in Repairing mode
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