Does anyone have a wiring diagram for a turning wye that a dummy can understand?
That is something that has perplexed me to no end. I have a WYE and after a few directions I still couldn’t get it so a friend in the know came over and held my hand. Looking at it the other day I still don’t understand how it works?
On mine one leg is the main and the 2 lines off it come into a WYE switch and from there on to my new stub end yard.
I used a DPDT swith that needs to be switched to the side depending on which way a train is approaching or leaving. Both lines are powered up to the WYE switch which is insulated. The wires on the back of the DPDT are crossed?
It is confusing. I don’t have a diagram that I can post but hopefully someone will.
Good luck, you will love your WYE like I do once you get it going.
That is the same way I have my wye. Power to the tracks!
At the top of this page is a little box that you click to show with pictures 5 steps to making a reversing switch from a DPDT switch:
http://www.instructables.com/id/HOW-TO%3A-Wire-a-DPDT-rocker-switch-for-reversing-po/#intro
At the very top where it says 5 steps, the little right hand arrow.
Basically you have to reverse the track polarity to match the tracks you are going to cross over to. With a wye off the main line, you have 2 tracks coming from the main line connecting to a single switch, but in opposite directions, so one track is always reversed from the main line once you connect them to the single “wye” switch.
Greg
Basically by crossing the wires on the backside of the DPDT switch you are reversing the polarity that is going into the switch. This is important because our trains depend on the polarity of the electricity to determine what direction the train will move.
In other words, if the red wire was negative with the switch thrown in one direction, then when you throw the switch in the other direction it makes the red wire positive and thus reversing the direction of the locomotive.
Todd’s solution is the simplest. You have to isolate a section of track (long enough to accommodate your largest consist of locomotives) and wire a DPDT switch into that section. Wire the power feed to the center posts on the switch and then cross a wire to the opposite poles. Here is a crude diagram:
Hope that helps. I’m really doing this off memory of when I wired my HO layout.
EDIT: Jon has a much better diagram than I and I had switched the power feed and isolated sections around (I was doing it from memory, I was close). Use Jon’s suggestion.
I didn’t check Greg’s site - probably as good or better than this. The Frog Polarity option shown DOES NOT WORK, but everything else is OK.
(http://lsc.cvsry.com/Wye_Diagram-800.JPG)
Operationally you run into the tail at right; stop; flip both the turnout and the DPDT switch, then continue down the next leg. No need to change the direction of the track power.
It is easier if one leg of the WYE is a dead end. On mine I will flip the switch to the right if a train is approaching from the right it can then continue to the yard but if the train is being turned the train goes onto the dead leg, I hit STOP on my TE then flip the DPDT to the other side which reverses the polarity of my entire layout, hit the forward button and off the train goes to the left leg.
If I remember right I used split jaw clamps and picked up juice from the mainline side which went to one side of the “power feed” on Jakes diagram, the “isolated section” wire then went back to the other side of the splitjaw. I did this on both legs coming into the wye.
I didn’t check out Gregs link but he is a electronics guru so I wager he has a nice diagram on there.
On mine two of the legs are the mainline and the leg at the top goes to the train barn
My mind must be working better.
Yesterday when I was working on the layout I did figure out what I had to do and I was correct! Miracles never cease. Thanks everyone.
Greg, I can’t get to your article! Safari says it can’t find it and I couldn’t find it on your website!
Try this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/HOW-TO%3A-Wire-a-DPDT-rocker-switch-for-reversing-po/?ALLSTEPS
It gets cut off on the link— Cut and paste the addy
battery r/c anyone ?
The Shay is but the others aren’t.
And with our dry, arid weather the track takes very little maintenance. The electrical I ran several years has required no maintenance at all! It’s nice to have both.
Fred Mills said:
battery r/c anyone ?
Ssssshhhhhhhh, Fred, you aren’t supposed to say that out loud. Yer gonna get accused of bashing, or some such. (http://www.freerails.com/images/emoticons/banghead_125.gif)(http://www.freerails.com/images/emoticons/gerg.gif)(http://www.freerails.com/images/emoticons/doh.gif)
doug, let me know if you hit a dead end. i have a wye and its not that hard, one leg is set up with a double throw double pole toggle to reverse the current, or you could buy some fancy gismo.
battery / rc sounds great, makes it easier for Fred’s trains to go roundy roundy.
Doug this is why on my indoor layout for my Wye I just used an old fashioned HO Atlas control box. It made wiring it up pretty easy and they are made specific for such an application.
Jon Radder said:
I didn’t check Greg’s site - probably as good or better than this. The Frog Polarity option shown DOES NOT WORK, but everything else is OK.
(http://lsc.cvsry.com/Wye_Diagram-800.JPG)
Operationally you run into the tail at right; stop; flip both the turnout and the DPDT switch, then continue down the next leg. No need to change the direction of the track power.
AND as one can see at a glance ganging that DPDT switch with the turnout motor/hand throw etc. will make it even easier.
Simpler is always better!
I begs to be mentioned and I alluded to it and no one else has said it…there a few products out there on the market that do the switching of the DPDT automatically. Its a more expensive option.
Good thought HJ. Keeps from having to remember which way the electrical switch is thrown. I never did that but rather just converted to battery power. The Wye and Block switches are still all wired up but never get used.
As soon as you throw the switch, you’ll short the left rail to the right rail.
You need to insulate BOTH ends of that bottom leg.
So you set your reverse switch so the wye matches your track polarity. Drive your train onto the reversing leg of the wye. While your locos are in the isolated section, you stop and reverse both the layout and the reverse switch. When you start up again, the locos will continue the same direction, 'cause you’ve reversed them twice. Now the polarity of the isolated section matches the rest of the layout on the other end.
In the olden days, like when I was 9, we wired the throttle to the reversing section and used the reverse switch to change the rest of the layout. This let you reverse the rest of the layout while your train was traversing the reverse loop or crossover so you didn’t have to stop. With a wye, it’s not that significant 'cause you’ll be stopping and reversing the train anyhow. With this setup, you used the reverse switch as your forward/reverse instead of the switch on the “transformer.” You still had to be careful the switches agree before entering the reverse section, or you’d have to go ask Dad for another fuse.
But then, electric rails seems a rather silly way to try to run a railroad.
Look at the diagram again Tom. It is correct.
Track power is pulled from the bottom section between the switches. Both tracks on both legs of the switch at right are isolated. No need to change the track power direction. Drive into the isolated section at right; stop; throw the Wye switch and go. On my layout the leg at top, and the leg at right are dead ends.
This is different from the isolating track in a reverse loop which operates exactly as you describe.
I still agree with those who say the easiest solution is to just use battery and foe-get-a-bowt-it.