[Hugh Williams]

Just to let you know Peco have come out with the recently advertised PL11's. Perfect, even if the Peco points could do with an upgrade. These units work straight out of the box attached to Lenz LS150 Accessory no CDU required. The Lenz decoder is powered by a Lenz TR100 transformer. The units are fixed to the baseboard cork surface by thin track pins.

All other things being equal, I reckon these will replace my Peco PL10/W's and save me time soldering in the future.

Regards,

Hugh Williams

 

[Hugh Williams]

QUOTE (COACHMANN @ 19 Feb 2008, 20:03) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I wondered if there is any reason why they would not fit Peco Code 75 points? Does anyone know the price of this surface unit?

Coachmann

They can be bought for around £4.50 - 5.00. I will try one out on a code 75 point this week and post the result.

They are pretty useful because they can be fitted under platforms and allow low level superstructures on the side of layouts. At present most of my point work is actioned by PL10's (surface mounted - I couldn't gather enough time or energy to fit the point motors under the board) located on the board edge with rodding connected to the points. The height of these PL10's prohibited fitting in inclines in the area these were situated. I can now use the PL11 either adjacent to the points themselves, as they fit between the parallel tracks, or simply replace the PL10's. In respect of the post about using a CDU, which is what the makers advise, my accessory decoders are using either 5A off the main controller, or 3A off the Lenz TR100's, which seems ample for the job in hand. One of the point motors has been attached to the SMD82 accessory decoder, which has a CDU onboard, but run off a separate bus allocated to point accessory decoders.

The view can be taken that they are too large to be realistic, but they do the job, and can be more easily hidden/disguised. How long they will last is another matter. The nearest I have seen to these are Shinohara system point motors, which look very similar, although I have yet to handle an example.

Hornby have yet to produce their version.

Sorry, Coachmann, if I have hi-jacked your post to reply to other posts.

I have bought from MG Sharp at Sheffield and Kent Panel Control who were at the BRM Railway Ex. at Harrogate.

Cheers,

Hugh Williams

 

[Hugh Williams]

QUOTE (rich1600 @ 21 Feb 2008, 18:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>help please
just fitted n wired 2 of these
unfortunately only switch one way
anyone got any ideas why????
using lenz 150 unit
do i need a capacity discharge unit????
if so where do i fit it???
any help would be very much appreciated
richard

Hi,

I am wondering if you are using the green wire as common; for me using the Lenz 150, all I do is put the green wire in the common and the other coloured wires in whichever way. There seems more than enough power from the accessory decoder to throw the point motor, I am using the Lenz TR100, which outputs 3 amps and my track output is 13.8V at 5 Amps. Is it possible that you don't have enough power to throw the switch in the opposite direction. Also, how far away from the decoder is the point motor?

Is one of the switch wires not connecting correctly in the Lenz 150?

What controller are you using, as this might have some bearing on the problem?

Just a few thoughts on the way.

Regards,

Hugh

 

[Hugh Williams]

Hi,

It's a while since I visited the forum and since having laid out some of these point motors, I have realised that I still have a need for the old PL10's. This comes about by needing switches for the Signals, which have to be synched with the point motors! Consequently, I have wired in the PL10 into the same output as the PL11. This needs a good 5A system when working with DCC, not to mention a separate bus; however, it isn't too hard to arrange this.

I bumped into a Peco rep in a model shop and pointed out this little matter. Giving it some thought, it wouldn't take too much to build the motor's pcb so that it acts as a switch for a signal. The signal could then be wired into the front end of the point motor.

It is always possible that this was thought of, but not designed in, as Peco have to keep up the sales of the PL10! (Cynic mode coming on here!).

Regards,

Hugh Williams