Michael,
Are you using the back side of the Tortoise's DPDT switch? I have
mine wired to a separate 5 VDC bus to control the direction of
current through each Red/Green bipolar LED like so:
The LEDs are mounted on my fascia where I have the track diagram
for the turnout.
Hope this helps.
Tim
Timothy A
Johnson, Tucson, AZ ()
Member of European Train Enthusiasts ()
On 1/25/2022 4:41 PM, Michael Boyle
wrote:
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Greetings,
I hope this finds each of you well.
I'm in need of some help. I've got a hidden staging yard where the
Tortoise turnout motors are controlled with a rotary switch. I'd
like to use red/green bicolor LEDs to indicate when a specific
track is selected. Obviously, the green can be activated by the
rotary switch. But how do I get the red to come on when a given
track is not selected?
This may be simple for some of you, but, for me, it is beyond my
ken.
As always, be in good health and do good
work.
-Michael
?
????????? The miracle is this: The
more we share the more we have.
????????????????????? Leonard Nimoy
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Try my tip #5… on the bench using diodes from DCC as this might prevent simultaneous green and red lights.
DonV
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Hello Don and Jim,
Don, you really had me going. Still seems like there is a way to make that work.
Jim, dark will work if I must. I just like the Christmas lights.
- Michael
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Michael,
? Why not use Green for on and dark for off?? - Jim in the PNW
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Whoops. Disregard what I said as both the Green and Red LEDs are likely to be On at the selected location.
DonV
|
You will most likely discover you will not like all the Red LEDs when looking for the Green one showing the selected path. But here is one way to do what you asked.
Use two leaded r/g LEDs and a single pole rotary switch.
1. Connect one lead of each LED through a resistor to the center lead of bi-polar power supply. 4.7K
2. Connect the other lead of each LED to the selected pole of rotary switch, and connect the wiper of the rotary switch to the proper polarity of the power supply to light the green LED when selected. (Through the resistor on the previous connection)
3. Connect another resistor to each of the LEDs (at the open poles of the switch) and to the opposite polarity of the supply so that every red LED will light when it is not selected by the rotary switch. 4.7K
4. Yes, there will be less current to the red LEDs but barely noticeable dimness.
5. You could power it from DCC using two diodes to re-create a 1/2 wave bi-polar source.
DonV
|
Greetings, I hope this finds each of you well. I'm in need of some help. I've got a hidden staging yard where the Tortoise turnout motors are controlled with a rotary switch. I'd like to use red/green bicolor LEDs to indicate when a specific track is selected. Obviously, the green can be activated by the rotary switch. But how do I get the red to come on when a given track is not selected? This may be simple for some of you, but, for me, it is beyond my ken.
As always, be in good health and do good work.
-Michael
?
????????? The miracle is this: The more we share the more we have.
????????????????????? Leonard Nimoy
|
Re: Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions
BTW I have the aforementioned tool and it would be a trick to use it on CAT cable due to the spiral surface. You may waste more than you gain, just sayin.
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Re: Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions
I concur that all CAT 5 and 6 cable does not have the rip cord.? I discovered this when shopping for cable.? I choose CAT 6 as it is 23 in lieu of 24-gauge wire.? I too wanted to use it for LCC com,? CT's and Tortoises.? The rip cord makes quick work of it and depending on how much you need may be worth buying a smaller roll of CAT 6 and keep the other stuff for something else.
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Re: Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions
.? firmed not all Cat5 cable has it.? e cable that doesn't have any nylon thread or similar to rip the jacket. I was aware that such thread exists on many wire cables (I had just recently used it to salvage some 18awg wires). A quick check with my recently retired MSU EE & computer installer confirmed not all Cat5 cable has it.
Probably will not invest in that ideal tool but try that 11 blade modification to start. Annoying little problem!
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Walthers Turntable Intermittent Short
I have a walthers cornerstone 110' turntable (933-2851) that works okay except when it passes thru 270 degree position. When it goes thru 270 degree in either direction a short circuit is generated but the bridge continues to turn and the short circuit indication will stop after a few seconds. Power is from a PSX breaker and I have tried changing the short circuit delay on the PSX but to no avail. According to the turntable description a reverser was not needed. Does anyone have experience with this turntable and encountered this problem?
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Re: Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions
All cat5 and cat6 cables have the nylon thread inside the jacket along with the wires. That nylon thread is there for the specific purpose of stripping the jacket. If you grab the nylon thread and pull it down, it will cut the jackets as far as you want.
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Re: Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions
All cat5 and cat6 cables have the nylon thread inside the jacket along with the wires. That nylon thread is there for the specific purpose of stripping the jacket. If you grab the nylon thread and pull it down, it will cut the jackets as far as you want. ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of JimD - G&J--BKRR Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2022 10:24 AM To: [email protected]Subject: [w4dccqa] Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions ? Hello to a great group in a great hobby.
Quick question: Does anyone have an easy way to get long lengths of the outer jacket off a Cat5e cable?
I have a huge roll of Cat5e cable and already hooked up the NCE UTP's for CAT cables and they work fine and have a huge amount left.
I have had great luck using the Platinum Tools 15015C Cat5/6 Cable Jacket Stripper for relatively short runs, using the paired wires to hook up NCE BD-20's.? I can remove the outer jacket easily about 6 inches at a time and repeat again and again BUT eventually the friction (and time involved) becomes a bit of a nuisance! The ultimate goal is to have paired wires for more BD20's and about 20 Light-Its of 4-8ft in length.
Are there any tricks you "pros" use?? :)
--
Jim Donahue
Old friend of the Battenkill RR/G&J/D&H
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Re: Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions
Cat 5 cable should have a string placed while manufacturered, all you have to do is pull string and should cut outer cover.
On Tue, Jan 25, 2022 at 11:34 AM, Blair <smithbr@...> wrote:
Jim
I'm no pro, but I once did the following to strip an old DVI
cable to get the fine conductors out.? Epoxy a flat 1/8" tab on
the top edge of a #11 Exacto blade; the tab should project beyond
the tip of the blade.? Now you can insert the flat tab into the
cut end of the cable with the blade facing out towards the jacket,
being careful not to snag wires; you can then slip the blade along
the inside face of the cable, slicing the jacket in the process as
you go.? It took a bit of finagling, but it worked.
Blair
On 2022-01-25 11:24, JimD -
G&J--BKRR wrote:
Hello to a great group in a great hobby.
Quick question: Does anyone have an easy way to get long lengths
of the outer jacket off a Cat5e cable?
I have a huge roll of Cat5e cable and already hooked up the NCE
UTP's for CAT cables and they work fine and have a huge amount
left.
I have had great luck using the Platinum
Tools 15015C Cat5/6 Cable Jacket Stripper for relatively
short runs, using the paired wires to hook up NCE BD-20's.?
I can remove the outer jacket easily about 6 inches at a
time and repeat again and again BUT eventually the friction
(and time involved) becomes a bit of a nuisance! The
ultimate goal is to have paired wires for more BD20's and
about 20 Light-Its of 4-8ft in length.
Are there any tricks you "pros" use?? :)
--
Jim Donahue
Old friend of the Battenkill RR/G&J/D&H
|
Re: Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions
Jim I forgot to say the tool is a bit pricey. John
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On Jan 25, 2022, at 11:24 AM, JimD - G&J--BKRR <jim.donahue.amtrak@...> wrote:
?Hello to a great group in a great hobby.
Quick question: Does anyone have an easy way to get long lengths of the outer jacket off a Cat5e cable?
I have a huge roll of Cat5e cable and already hooked up the NCE UTP's for CAT cables and they work fine and have a huge amount left.
I have had great luck using the Platinum Tools 15015C Cat5/6 Cable Jacket Stripper for relatively short runs, using the paired wires to hook up NCE BD-20's.? I can remove the outer jacket easily about 6 inches at a time and repeat again and again BUT eventually the friction (and time involved) becomes a bit of a nuisance! The ultimate goal is to have paired wires for more BD20's and about 20 Light-Its of 4-8ft in length.
Are there any tricks you "pros" use?? :)
--
Jim Donahue
Old friend of the Battenkill RR/G&J/D&H
|
Re: Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions
Jim,
Yes, Ideal Industries makes a swivel knife stripper, my ancient tool is cat# 45-128. It is designed to clamp onto the wire for a cut around the wire and then you drag it to the end. It creates a cut so the jacket lays open exposing the wires inside. One small caveat, the cat 5 wire is not smooth outside so high and low spots tend to cut too deep or not deep enough, therefore making it a tedious job stripping. BUT it is faster than 6 inches at a time. If you are careful it will score at the high spots just deep enough to break the outer jacket without nicking the wire insulation. You may have to do several linear scores to make it easy to remove the outer jacket. Patience is a must, haste makes damaged wires. I used to do this method to obtain bonded pairs of twisted wire. When first developed cat cable used bonded pairs to avoid signal reflections but you could not by it separately. You can buy twisted pair of any gauge, but it may not be bonded, to avoid the stripping process, if you want to. John
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On Jan 25, 2022, at 11:24 AM, JimD - G&J--BKRR <jim.donahue.amtrak@...> wrote:
?Hello to a great group in a great hobby.
Quick question: Does anyone have an easy way to get long lengths of the outer jacket off a Cat5e cable?
I have a huge roll of Cat5e cable and already hooked up the NCE UTP's for CAT cables and they work fine and have a huge amount left.
I have had great luck using the Platinum Tools 15015C Cat5/6 Cable Jacket Stripper for relatively short runs, using the paired wires to hook up NCE BD-20's.? I can remove the outer jacket easily about 6 inches at a time and repeat again and again BUT eventually the friction (and time involved) becomes a bit of a nuisance! The ultimate goal is to have paired wires for more BD20's and about 20 Light-Its of 4-8ft in length.
Are there any tricks you "pros" use?? :)
--
Jim Donahue
Old friend of the Battenkill RR/G&J/D&H
|
Re: Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions
Jim
I'm no pro, but I once did the following to strip an old DVI
cable to get the fine conductors out.? Epoxy a flat 1/8" tab on
the top edge of a #11 Exacto blade; the tab should project beyond
the tip of the blade.? Now you can insert the flat tab into the
cut end of the cable with the blade facing out towards the jacket,
being careful not to snag wires; you can then slip the blade along
the inside face of the cable, slicing the jacket in the process as
you go.? It took a bit of finagling, but it worked.
Blair
On 2022-01-25 11:24, JimD -
G&J--BKRR wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hello to a great group in a great hobby.
Quick question: Does anyone have an easy way to get long lengths
of the outer jacket off a Cat5e cable?
I have a huge roll of Cat5e cable and already hooked up the NCE
UTP's for CAT cables and they work fine and have a huge amount
left.
I have had great luck using the Platinum
Tools 15015C Cat5/6 Cable Jacket Stripper for relatively
short runs, using the paired wires to hook up NCE BD-20's.?
I can remove the outer jacket easily about 6 inches at a
time and repeat again and again BUT eventually the friction
(and time involved) becomes a bit of a nuisance! The
ultimate goal is to have paired wires for more BD20's and
about 20 Light-Its of 4-8ft in length.
Are there any tricks you "pros" use?? :)
--
Jim Donahue
Old friend of the Battenkill RR/G&J/D&H
|
Stripping Cat5e cable suggestions
Hello to a great group in a great hobby.
Quick question: Does anyone have an easy way to get long lengths of the outer jacket off a Cat5e cable?
I have a huge roll of Cat5e cable and already hooked up the NCE UTP's for CAT cables and they work fine and have a huge amount left.
I have had great luck using the Platinum Tools 15015C Cat5/6 Cable Jacket Stripper for relatively short runs, using the paired wires to hook up NCE BD-20's.? I can remove the outer jacket easily about 6 inches at a time and repeat again and again BUT eventually the friction (and time involved) becomes a bit of a nuisance! The ultimate goal is to have paired wires for more BD20's and about 20 Light-Its of 4-8ft in length.
Are there any tricks you "pros" use?? :)
--
Jim Donahue
Old friend of the Battenkill RR/G&J/D&H
|
Re: Live Frogs AND Power Routing?
Hello Robert,
Allan has an excellent section on frogs at??in the section entitled How to Wire Turnouts. Very relevant if you are using Peco and Atlas. Check it out and if you still have questions get back to me.
- Michael Boyle
boyle10017 at comcast dot net
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Re: Live Frogs AND Power Routing?
Apology for jumping in on this. Could you expand on "isolated frogs"?? So is this the case where you would cut both tracks before and after the frog? I am using Peco and some Atlas power routing turnout controlled by Tam Valley servos. Thanks to all.?
On Tuesday, January 18, 2022, 09:04:51 AM CST, Michael Boyle <boyle10017@...> wrote:
In the following diagram (a revision of one of Allan’s) the left DPDT switch of the Tortoise sends blue track bus power to either of the blue rails to the right of the turnout. In this case it is powering the straight leg and the divergent track’s blue rail is dead (assuming there is another gap in the rail somewhere down the line). The right DPDT switch is directing the red track bus power to the frog, appropriate for this configuration.
Do you see any problems with this?
- Michael
?
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Tim Johnson
Michael Boyle
Jim Betz
JimD - G&J--BKRR
Robert Hughes