Hey, since going through all those long paragraphs of my obvious brain freeze over installing a manually worked engine wye, it's now in place and even using a DPDT toggle switch ( not mounted as yet but wired in with 6 alligator clipped colored jumper wires)..Wow, its really so simple with DCC using AC...Merely isolate (gap) the 2 track legs (4 stock rails at frog end) running from tail switch (T.O). Toggle sets AC phasing to allow loco to roll across/past gaps into or out of tail track, PERIOD.. Seperate track power to tail merely gets flipped/put in phase using the DPDT toggle switch (2 wires added diagonally to 4 corner posts of toggle forming a phase reversing switch) out to tail track rails behind points. Much thanks to all for all the input on this subject, Mark
I know a guy around here that set his wye switch up just like that, but it also controlled the tortoises on his turnouts, thus when the switch was thrown the polarity in the wye changed too. I had a similar setup on a seldom used reversing loop on my old layout. retsignalmtr, auto reversers are nice for continuously operating point to point layouts and frequently used loops, but for wyes, its simpler and cheaper to used DPDT's, crews have to be there to throw turnouts and reverse the engine anywheys, so adding a toggle for them to throw isn't going to change anything. If you can find DPDT's without center off, the sound on most sound engines won't even die when you flip the switch.
With the AR1 no matter what end of the wye you enter the polarity will always be right. No flipping toggles or forgetting to.
And there's the PSX-AR. Hook up two wires and forget about it. You'll never know its there. Electronic magic!
Let's not forget to cut the gaps at both ends of the reversing loop so we don't have a permanent short
Good call. I cut mine in place using my Dremel tool. I was gonna fill the gaps with styrene but never did.
Jim, If you ever fill the gaps, do not fill them to the top as the wheels need to touch both sections at the same time to cause the momentary short that will trigger the AR to reverse the polarity.
All my locomotives have multi-wheel pickups, so one wheel filling the gap is not necessary for me. Bob
RT Coker, Most locomotives today are multi-wheel pick-up. Not sure what you meant by, "So one wheel filling the gap is not necessary for me" you originally wrote. How have you set up your reversing loops? Are you using an AR1 auto reversing unit? Seems to me a picture of your layout shows a reversing loop.
RickH, Not sure what you are looking at. Are you looking at my post in the thread and reading the complete post? If you are just looking at the “Activity Stream” you are not getting the correct context! Bob
Bob, I can see what you mean. Since multiple wheels on each side are picking up the current the short will still occur even if the gap was a half inch of styrene rail.
I think you have something worth sharing here with regard to how you wired in your reversing unit. Curious as to what type of automated reversing unit you used OR did you hard wire to a reversing DPDT? Your answer to an above thread left me curious as it was a bit vague. You originally responded to Paul Beinert's post: "All my locomotives have multi-wheel pickups, so one wheel filling the gap is not necessary for me, Bob". My question is how do you accomplish such? All my reversing efforts, two reverse loops and one wye are wired to reversing DPDT's. They will even handle my DCC equipment. It's all manual but doesn't depend on anything being shorted out to make it work. Wondering if you did the same?
RickH, My post about “All my locomotives have multi-wheel pickups, so one wheel filling the gap is not necessary for me.” Was just stating my experience with reverse loop gaps is different from “If you ever fill the gaps, do not fill them to the top”. My reverse loops are still a work in progress because my (non-powered) metal wheeled rolling stock is occasionally triggering the auto-reverse units (just wearing the relays out). (I reverse trains that are a lot longer than the isolated reversing district.) I plan on working on my reverse loop gaps so that these wheels will not be triggering the units (longer non-conducting gaps). Other than this there is nothing notable about the installation, except that I started with the Bachman units and had lots of problems (as posted in another thread here). I have had to replace one with an AR1. I was (and am) trying to keep the layout as much “plug and play” as possible to encourage kids and others to get their feet wet in the hobby. Bob
Bob, That is an interesting approach to resolving the issues associated with running trains longer than the reversing loop (from a wiring perspective).
Bob, Now I have a better understanding. Thanks for the explanation. I do admire what you've done with your layout in particular with the kids in mind. Anything kid friendly promotes the hobby and guarantees it's future. I found a picture of your train layout in one of your albums and I was impressed. Track plan be what it is and I've already thrown my two cents in. Upside, and I think I said this already. I do like the kid friendly approach. Know that my first starter layout brought me hours of fun as a kid. A good teaching layout as it taught me what I didn't want to do in the future. Still, it gave my friends and I hours of fun. No one worried about us being down town and into mischief.
Everyone's posts are relevent but I believe they miss the point ' Geep-Fan ' makes in 3rd post of thread above .. The fact that a crew member must walk over to ground throw(s) in the 1:1 scale world of wyes we might as well keep our wye cheap as posible and walk over to wye tail track switch and manually throw points while at same time throwing the toggle mounted near by..That was always my vision of the process too.. But auto reversers are nifty if you have long trains constantly getting reversed on a wye outside of a stub ended passenger terminal like L.A. Union Station..On a small branch/short line wye is a manual job in real so why not keep it this way...
Mark, My wye is wired in similarly. I have ground throw's to throw the switch...err...or... align the points on the switch. Reversing toggles to handle current to each leg of the wye. Didn't miss the point. Nothing wasted on me.
I've got a foot in both worlds. I use an auto reverse unit but my turnouts are manually thrown. Less wiring.
