Good morning all, I am in the process of re-designing my second layout, or should I say designing my second layout and dismantling my first layout. I will count my first layout as a lesson learning experiment. You always burn the first pancake so I guess that was just the value of all of that time and effort. Lessons learned. That being said, I am considering adding remote turnouts to my new layout and am intimidated by all of the electronic controls and choices and ... etc. etc. I found the Walthers Turnout Control System which seems expensive but after watching some Youtube videos, it seems to be very simple and reliable. I like the fact that the wiring is intuitive, customizable, and simple. The control switches and LED lighting is already wired and ready to go. It seems that you can use the system to add signal lights to the model with just "plug and play" type wiring. I have zero experience with remote turnout control and only plan to use them for remote mainline turnouts as I will still use manual turnout ground throws for local switching. Is this a good system? what are the pitfalls? any thoughts on this system or remote turnout control in general is greatly appreciated.
i dunno what turnouts u use but my self ive found that i ove this DR40 turn out control (i have kato track) works fantastic. im sure it would work for others... i no nothing about walters systems sorry...
Good question. First I am modeling in N scale. I have several Atlas #4 Customline Turnouts, several Atlas #4 manual turnouts that I have removed the attached manual throw from, and several Peco medium radius insulfrog turnouts.
I have had the same questions since 2007 when I decided to change over to DCC HO scale. I've been forced to reduce to N scale DC and Kato tracks. But with the limitations I have considered going back to Atlas.
The Digikeijs DR40[18] Sidney mentioned controls Atlas style turnouts (switches) directly, and with Digikeijs' bipolar adapters, can control Unitrack switches too. The DR4018 is controlled by the DCC bus (not necessarily a Digikeijs DCC system.) Atlas style switches use two solenoids with three wires (a common and two controlled hot wires, one at a time, to open/close the track switch.) Unitrack switches use a single solenoid with two wires, but the controller has to be able to reverse the two wires' polarity to throw the switch both ways.
I am using the DR4018 Digikeijs Accessory Decoders on on my Atlas N-Scale turnouts (Preset 1). They are working great and have not burnt out one yet. The DR4101 is also used with the DR4018 on the Unitrack switches (Preset 1). You get a pack of 4, also can be used on the Tortoise Switch Motors (Preset 6). Dennis
i was rereading every thing and noticed my post is not completed right missing some number ,letters ect lots of typos . DR4018 is one of them not dr40. sorry...i really need to slow down plus my key board sucks.....
I was looking on their site recently, and could not find the bipolar (unitrack turnout) adapter; thanks for the part number!
Are these the turnout motors that you're referring to? If so, I have buddy who tried them and fell in love with them. Easy to set up, easy to control by various means, DCC ready and signals can be added to them pretty easily. He bought a bunch and out of that bunch, maybe 20 or so, had issues. He contacted Walthers about them and they replaced with no hassle. He did a video on them:
Yes Allen these are the ones I was referring to. I don't have any experience at all with remote turnouts and this seemed very user friendly. The video is awesome and answers a lot of questions. I'm glad to hear he is satisfied with the system. l see several people using the Digikeijs DR40[18] system so I looked it up as well. Does it only work with DCC systems? That's what I seem to understand from the videos, or is it just that everyone else in the world uses DCC instead of me and so that is what I see the most of? Also, it seems to be a european product and I don't see it at my usual shopping sources.
