Fastrack O-36 Powered Switch troubleshooting`

Crusty,This may sound simple but check & make sure all the wires are in the right place,i recently had a 0-36 switch problem with two o-36 switches,& pcrrDave suggested i check mine to see if they were hooked up right,i thought for sure i had them in the right places,but when i checked them both more closely 2 wires were in the wrong place, i put them where they belonged & all was OK,hope this helps.

Gerald, I took a look and it looks like the wires are in the right place.  So now I need some additional input from anyone willing to help....

Thanks tho...  good idea.

How are you powering the switch?

How are you activating the switch? Have you just tried 3 wires from the thru-out-gnd and touched out to ground momentarily to eliminate a bad remote controller?

Sometimes the micro-switch tab is worn or the gear thingy doesn't travel quite far enough to trigger the cherry switch when it's fired normally. Compare the length of the little arm on the cherry switch to the other.

Also, check the throwbar and see if it is cracked\broken or binding.

I had one switch that didn't quite activate the micro-switch at the end of the travel.  Since the switch really isn't adjustable, I just put a small glob of JB-Weld on the lever and all was well.

To test the switch without the controller, you need 3 pieces of wire stripped on both ends.

remove the remote controller wires and connect one each of the three wires to the locations labeled THRU  GND   OUT.

Then supply power to the switch. Touch the bare ends of OUT and GND momentarily. Then THRU and GND momentarily.

Does the switch operate correctly. If, yes, the remote controller is bad. If no, something in the switch is bad.

Hey, dude!  I did what you asked using the wires from the controller.  I crossed Red to Black, then Green to black.  Red to black does nothing, the Green to black throws the switch.  I have to manually push it back then go Green to black again.  So I guess that means that the switch is ok, I gotta figure out what's wrong with the physical switch.

I've already tried remounting the wires on the bottom to see if they were loose.

Actually, no that's not what I said. What you did assumes the controller wire is ok. Switch points should be in the thru position. Red to black should move it to out position. No yellow (Lights)connected. Green to black should move it to thru.

It still sounds as if it's not activating the cherry switch in the direction that you have to manually push it.

I think Carl is on to it, the little microswitch that senses end travel is probably not making contact at one end.

I manually pushed both of the cherry switches and they trigger the lights on the controller to turn on.  I imagine that also "tells" the controller, or the switch, that the segment gear ( I looked it up finally  ;D   is all the way over.  So if the Cherry switch is bad, I don't understand why if it's triggering the light....

Be gentle, I'm related to Forest Gump.

It also "tells" the board that the segment gear (thingy) has moved the points. The motor is not moving the segment gear far enough to trigger the switch.(maybe?)

You have to watch it when bench testing and switching it electronically to determine what is not happening.

Now your getting there. Run, Forest, Run!