I am in the process of wiring the turnouts on my layout. For the most part I am using manual throws - at least, I haven't installed any motors yet. I'm using dcc. On the first turnout I wired, a shinohara, I've isolated all six tracks. I've got a feeder wire to each of the stock rails directly from the bus wires. The point and closure rails and frog are all connected on a shinohara. I've got a small slide switch with six contact points. I'm using three of the contacts. The left and right contacts are attached to positive and negative feeds from the busses and the center contact is attached to the frog. (I've got a auto light bulb wired into the frog feeder.) When I slide the switch to the left, the frog in positive, to the riight, it's negative. I set the polarity of the frog depending on which way the turnout in thrown. Trouble is, each time I throw either the switch or the turnout, my digitrax command module starts beeping indicating a short. I thought the light bulb would alleviate this, but it doesn't light up. Once I've got the turnout in sync with the polarity, the beeping stops, but it's annoying and it stops all the trains. Is there a way to use the other three contacts on the switch to wire the turnout so I don't have this problem? Do the switch and turnout have to be thown simultaneously somehow- I've seen pictures of wires fed thru a hole in the slide switch and projecting up thru the throw bar of the turnout. Help would be appreciated. Thanks Tom
Tom: I am not in DCC, but I think that the switch and the turnout do have to be thrown at the same time. In DC, it is an annoyance if they are not, but in DCC, it would cause the short problem that you describe. I must say that I have never heard of a system such as you have. I have always seen the turnout thrown by a switch machine that handles polarity; or thrown by a slide switch that will change polarity simultaneously; or have an unpowered turnout that has power routed by the points themselves. I am sure more knowledgable persons on the forum can correct my ideas. A different system to operate your turnout is not really a big hurdle.
You may want to run a search for shinohara on this board, and the Atlas railroad forums. When I was researching what brand of turnout's to install in my future layout, shinoharas kept coming up as not being DCC friendly. --C. Alan
