I wanted to share my experience with Tam Valley Depot’s Quad-Pic stationary decoders.
Background: I have a medium size N-Scale layout I have been working on in my garage for a couple of years. It is all Atlas C55 track. I have been using Atlas HO twin coil switch motors to control the turnouts. I came up with an interesting linkage that worked pretty well allowing them to be used under the sub roadbed.
http://www.nscale.net/forums/blog.php?b=126 The nice part was I could use used motors for about $2.50 each on my 100 or so turnouts. I recently decided it might be advantageous to use routes and some DCC control, plus I wanted to use some custom turnouts and using twincoils on them seems like a quick way to destroy them. This is how I came across Tam Valley. I contacted Duncan McRee about what would be needed for my situation and landed on the Quad-Pic, Accessory Boosters and bi color fascia controllers. I purchased the servos and 3 wire RC cables directly from China. This is a complete system that will allow servo control from DCC and a control panel with no soldering. All components use RC servo extension cables that plug in. Based on the number of turnouts and boards I ordered, the cost per turnout including servos, controller board and cables was in the $14 range. This is not much over what would be the cost for a Tortoise alone.
The installation is fairly straight forward although there are some lessons learned.
I am also an RC pilot, so servos were familiar territory. They have a rotational output and it needs to be translated to linier for the throwbar control. This is can be accomplished with several types of linkage. The one I use is a simple fulcrum. I drill a hole under the hole in the throwbar, CA the plastic to cover the hole from below then drill down through the hole in the throwbar and plastic with a pin vise. . I use .015” music wire and bend the smallest L in the top of the music wire and drop it through the throwbar and hole in the fulcrum and let it hang on the bend from the throwbar. This wire iis thin and springy enough that I can use the full throw of the servo without worry about binding the servo or damaging the turnout and I don’t have to bend it into a spring shape to accomplish this. Using full throw is important because there are times when powering up that the servos may go to their full throw position.
I mount my servos upside down with foam double sided tape with the music wire through the outside hole in the servo’s control arm. In my case, I can accomplish all of this with out getting down under the layout. This is a real plus for me now that I am older. The tape holds plenty well and I have used it in the past in model planes and it holds for years with vibration, so it is fine for use on a stable layout.
Each Quad handles 4 servos. Servos can be connected with a Y harness to work two servos for a crossover as well. Some of my cables to servos are rather long (6’-8’) with no problems. What I did discover is it can be problematic to use long fascia controller cable bundled together. You can get cross talk between the cables and cause unintended change signals sent to the controller board. Best to keep the fascia controller cables short and the quad board near the controllers.
I am very please with this product and the installation of the boards and servos has been so easy it is almost trivial. Duncan has been a real help with any problems or issues I have had and is a pleasure to deal with.
I have no connection with Tam Valley Depot or the owner other then I am a happy customer.
