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Powering the rails

Started by vidguy069, October 12, 2011, 11:05:24 AM

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vidguy069

The bridge pictured (supposedly) here is a Walther swing bridge.  http://www.diversionsonline.org/DSCN1603.jpg
It's almost complete.  I'm just not sure if there is a special way of wiring so it will work with my DCC system.  Dealing with polarity and whatnot is not my forte. I have a relative doing the actual soldering, and he asked the question.  Basically he wants to know what to wire to where so the train doesn't reverse position halfway across the bridge.

As always and and all help is greatly appreciated.

VidGuy069


Len

The Walthers swing bridge only rotates 90deg, then back to the through position. So there shouldn't be any polarity issues like you might have with a turntable that can rotate 180deg, or more.

The drive motor is DC, and can be controlled with a basic motor decoder or a momentary contact, center off, DPDT switch.

Len
If at first you don't succeed, throw it in the spare parts box.

vidguy069

QuoteThe drive motor is DC, and can be controlled with a basic motor decoder or a momentary contact, center off, DPDT switch.
So that that mean the switch that came with the turntable (Bachmann HO Motorized) will work? I dropped a DCC (loco) into the turntable.  Now my '#3' loco just goes around in circles.  ;D 

But I digress.

So to power the rails solder appropriate gauge wires to each of the 4 rails It's a dual track bridge. connect those wires to the switch that cam withthe turntable, then the switch to a power supply of course, and I'm good to go?

VidGuy069

Len

Yes, the track power connections are soldered to the rails and run down through the central base. There should have been two micro switches included with the swing bridge, which are the Open/Close limit switches that connect to the motor.

There should have been a wiring diagram included with the bridge showing how to connect everything. If it's missing you may have to contact Walthers for a replacement because, so far at least, I haven't been able to find it on line anywhere.

Len
If at first you don't succeed, throw it in the spare parts box.