Eric Miller emillerz

Greetings,

I posted a thread a few weeks ago about how I am wanting to have a grade crossing protected by traffic signals that the crew can switch to either let the railroad or the auto traffic have control of the crossing.  Here is a link to that thread:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/29534

Now that I thought I had it figured out, I am into the wiring and started it this morning, but nothing is working for me and I would appreciate any help and guidance you may have!  I have six of the Walthers LED traffic lights, two of which are double-sided (for the auto traffic) and the other four are single-sided (for the rail traffic).  I am trying to use a DPDT switch to control this since I thought that would be easiest and I have one on hand.  For power, I am trying to use a 9-volt battery.  I have added resistors into each of the LEDs, 470-ohm resistors to the single-sided lights and 1,000-ohm resistors to the double-sided lights.  Here is how I have it wired right now:

So I have two options - either red for the rail and green for the traffic or yellow (proceed) for the rail and red for the traffic.  I am not using the yellow phase for traffic and am also not using the green signals for the rail.  I want the DPDT to either be center-off or go to the rail or auto.

Here are some photos showing how the wiring looks and a shot of the signals on the layout surface - once I have it figured out, I'll tuck it away better under the layout.

I am wondering if I need to have the black wires from the LED traffic lights go through the other connector on the DPDT switch (so have one going to the colored wires, the other going to the black wires on each end) and then have the negative from the battery going to the other DPDT connector (so the center connectors would have the positive and negative from the batter).  But I wanted to ask on here before I try that so that I don't damage anything.

Thanks in advance for your help!  And let me know if you need any more information from me.

Modeling the SPSF Englewood Siding small switching layout in HO Scale
facebook.com/spsfrailway ​spsfrailway.com youtube.com/channel/UC56eO8z_PU1hf5xxo4KSI2Q
Reply 0
jeffshultz

Side note

I don't know if this will simplify your wiring or add a headache. But on the local UP mainline I am pretty sure that the red light is on the bottom and the green on the top. 

 

orange70.jpg
Jeff Shultz - MRH Technical Assistant
DCC Features Matrix/My blog index
Modeling a fictional GWI shortline combining three separate areas into one freelance-ish railroad.

Reply 0
Mark R.

Currently, what is it doing /

Currently, what is it doing / not doing ? Do any of the LEDs actually light up ? Your diagram shows an awkward schematic of a DPDT switch - not sure exactly how you have it wired. (?) 

Your resistor values may be too high if you are not getting any illumination. For optimum brightness, red, green and yellow LEDs should be using about 360 ohms on 9 volts. Is the battery putting out a full 9 volts ?

 

Mark. 

 

Reply 0
Eric Miller emillerz

I think the battery voltage was too low

Good news, I got the signals to work!  Below are some photos that show them.  I tried testing it with several different batteries and also tested connecting the battery directly to the wires to the lights, without the DPDT.  I still got no response at all.

Then I remembered that I had some old transformers, so I dug into my stash and found a 10-volt transformer.  So I connected that to the lights and it worked!  Then I connected it to the DPDT, the same way I had the battery connected, and it worked fine and I can switch between the two different light options.  So I think I might just go with the 10-volt transformer instead of the battery.  I was thinking the battery would be easier so I wouldn't have to string a bunch more wire under the layout.

Modeling the SPSF Englewood Siding small switching layout in HO Scale
facebook.com/spsfrailway ​spsfrailway.com youtube.com/channel/UC56eO8z_PU1hf5xxo4KSI2Q
Reply 0
Reply