When I first played around with point motors not too long ago, I came across some differences between the Peco and Hornby motors I used, and at the time I thought that I wouldn’t mind using the Peco motors (and therefore Peco points) throughout my layout. If I had to buy the parts locally, it would be a serious expense, but I found an overseas source which made the expense a bit less prohibitive. So I went for it, and after waiting a bit longer than expected, this past weekend I replaced my points and wired in the new motors.
When I was done, not a single one of the three new motors worked properly.
They were switching alright, when not connected to the point. But they weren’t throwing the points. Some managed to throw the point one way, but not the other way. Some moved the throw bar halfway, then snapped back.
Internet research pointed at two possible problems. One, the accessory decoder might not be delivering enough juice to reliably throw the motors. Two, the over-centre spring in the Peco points might be too stiff.
There’s not much I can do about the voltage. Accessory decoders aren’t cheap, and for now I am stuck with the one I have. One fellow railway modeller figured out that the Peco points needed about 19V to reliably work, whereas my decoder delivers no more than 15. But that doesn’t explain why my first motor works 100% with an out-of-the-box point, the same type I was using for the three others.
Looking at it more closely, the over-centre spring did seem a bit stiff, although it was the same in the first point ( the one which works properly) – but it’s certainly heavier than in the Hornby points. Instructions for removing the centre spring were found easily, however a solenoid motor like the PL-11 can’t operate a point without the spring. So I set about reducing the spring tension of one point, as an experiment.
That was eventually accomplished, with copious amounts of sweating and cursing. In the Peco points, the centre spring is a tiny v-shaped piece of tensile wire, about 4mm across, with short hooks at the end of each leg. I am not exactly blessed with great fine-motor skills, and I almost lost the spring at one time, which would have rendered the point useless. Once the spring was refitted, I tried the point with two of the motors – and both were working 100%.
So it seems that by reducing the tension of the over-centre spring, I am able to make these motors and points work with my accessory decoder. That still doesn’t explain why the very first motor worked without any modifications and has never given me any kind of trouble.
Perhaps I just got lucky with that one.
But now I have a different problem. While researching the issues I was having with my solenoid motors, I came across slow-action (or stall) motors, which provide a more realistic and quieter way of switching points. And now I want them… Guess I’ll have to save a bit.