Crossing gate/signal question

The gate will operate any time the ITAD is activated, so yes, both directions will trigger it. Yes, you could use a pushbutton to activate the gate. What is the part number of the crossing gate? It makes a difference in how it gets wired up--

Previous thread on relays.  Click on the underlined phrase to access.

Does the the gate go down regardless of which direction the train is coming from? Yes, but to trigger the gate from either side of a road crossing would probably required two Itads or two isolated rail sections, before the train enters the crossing.  My layout is a switching loop so train would cross the gate from both directions.

Is there a way to make the gate only operate at the push of a button/switch vs automatic? Requires two momentary buttons, one for down, and one for up.  Note the link posted above.  May be fun for my 3 year old to control it. 

I just use an insulated rail and relay works in either direction,shown here

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=410

More precise bi directional shown here

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BiDirectionalCrossingGate

Dale H

Thanks guys. Now that I see that the gate will operate from either direction I realize this will not be a good setup for my layout for a couple of reasons...

1. If the train approaches say from the right the engine will pass the ITAD first & automatic operation would lower the gate before the train actually reaches the crossing BUT if the train is coming from the left then the train will have already have passed the crossing before reaching the ITAD.

2. Given this is an X-mass small layout the gate going up & down & ringing every time the train crosses the ITAD may get annoying since it could be going off every minute depending on train speed.

I got the idea because I took my son to a train club over the weekend and they had a small Lionel O gauge table for kids to operate and they had a gate/signal set up so the kids could simply push a button and it would come down & stay down and once released it would go up and my son LOVED doing that so I was hoping it was an easy thing to do. Understand that this is our first train so very, very new to this and need to keep things simple for now.

Anyhow I was looking at either of these 2 switches. I have an MTH layout and just bought the full DCS system w/ TIU & AIU but just got delivered in the mail yesterday so still in the box & I will have to learn how to set & use that...

http://www.mthtrains.com/content/30-11012

http://www.mthtrains.com/content/30-1073

Thanks!

Since you are running bi-directional, I would go with isolated outer rail trigger.

Simply insulate the outer rail at both ends of the crossing area perhaps a foot or more back from the crossing, distance back depends on speed of the trains. You want the gate to be down before the train enters the crossing.

Insulating the entire section outer rail ensures the gates stay down while the train passes.

Now For a Push button operation, I would use a relay, Normally Closed contacts raise the bar, Normally Open ones Lower it.  A Normally Open Push button activates the relay coil. Press and hold the button to lower and maintain the gate down, release and it rises.

This will avoid the noise all the time as well as making it interactive for the children.

I would not recommend the insulated rail method alone without a relay with a capacitor. Intermittent contact from train wheels can cause voltage spikes and unreliable voltage to the gate as the train approaches. Not good for the LEDs and chip circuitry in the gates. Also use a TVS if other accessories on the same circuit can generate spikes such as the old Lionel gateman. Some MTH and Lionel gates are always under power so a SPDT  contact set are needed to work it.

Dale H

If you look under forums at top of this page there is a DCS one whose members will be ready to answer your questions.  No questions are dumb ones, we have all stumbeled over system hiccups, so ask away..

Thanks everyone. Since all I want is a simple way to activate the crossing gate I may research the simple relay button route or check out the DCS forum to see if I can accomplish the same via DCS TIU and AIU which I just got. I got my new DCS gear up and running and WOW. The added features of the full blown DCS are great. I read some info on the AIU and it the documentation says it's basically a large relay so I imagine I could simply wire the crossing gate to it and use the DCS remote to activate it without the ITAD. If so that would be a great solution since my son already learned how to operate the train w/ the new DCS remote. Thanks everyone.