Help: More RealTrax Switch issues

You may not like my advice, break down and buy Ross Custom switches, and save yourself the headaches of bad switches.

Lee Fritz

All of my RealTrax switches work fine, it is just any switch I put in this location.

Oh boy........I think i can definitely help!  I have about $1400.00 (yep) invested in RealTrax ( all versions but mostly the 1st) and have gone thru many...many problems.....so you will NOT weather this alone.

   First off when connecting two switches together back to back in any fashion, ALWAYS put at least one piece of straight, or curved between them.  The switches work better.

  Secondly...........these RealTrax switches like/work better at 18 volts or near....despite what others may say.  Case in point.....every year I set up a LARGE Christmas Carpet Central and the i use a conventional engine and a K Line boxcar/meter car to see where the shorts are. Invariably the switches chatter; dont throw well; or sort-of-work!  When i attach my Lionel 18 volt bricks for TMCC control...VIOLA!  the switches work pretty darn well......even with my new Lionel Speeder!  So I think these switches work better with higher voltage.

 Thirdly..........look at the electrical connecting prongs at the ends of all track, and switches....pry at them/ bend them/ reshape them like the "hook" shape they should be! I diligently did this and my electrical problems and shorts were amazingly few.....I mean I accidently yelled out H%%y S%%T  it works!

best of luck to ya! Merry Christmas!

If it is the location then look at your tracks going to the switch; is there a small piece of dirt or anything? Are the track connections tight enough and metal pieces connecting properly?

FYI; I got rid of Fastrack because of too many problems, only had a small 3 ft. by 9 ft set-up of Fastrack(all new track, no used track), very bad for electrical connections.

Lee Fritz

Same issue.

I don't know the problem, but it seems there's a clue in what you said.  The lighted RealTrax bumpers I have electrically connects the outer rails.  Of course cars on the track do the same via the axles.  The RealTrax track sections themselves do not connect the outer rails together.  So what's curious is this behavior only occurs "far down" from the switch....which I interpret to mean there are many track pieces between the switch and where the cars start to affect switch behavior.  I'd disconnect lighted bumper and slowly move a car starting at the switch and see if the behavior starts at a particular track section to see if you can physically isolate a piece of bad track or whatever.

Separately, if you have a set of jumper-cables (like 1 foot wires with alligator clips at both ends), seems you have 6 connections that are suspect.  3 going into the switch and the 3 going into the straight.  The turnout seems OK.  So with jumper cables you can make 6 solid connections into your layout taking the slope out of the equation. 

If I attach any 1 piece of track on the turnout, it does the same thing with any one car on it.

I will try the alligator clips though

I have a large carpet layout with 11 switches. I've had issues similar to your problem. Your picture shows the juncture of the switch rails with the curved track is in a dip. This may be causing the rails to touch setting off the no derail feature which is throwing the switch as if a car rail wheel was making the circuit between the isolated rail. The humming sound is the constant action of the switch mechanism throwing the switch.Seperate the junction and see if it operates properly with the circuit broken.

I think you are correct.

Right now I have taken up all the track in those pictures.

I cannot eliminate that dip.

However, I might be able to re-arrange things so that no switch is near a dip.

For example, no switch's after the dip, but back farther up the layout before the dip is an option.

I will try again after dinner and let you know.

From your photo it looks like the switch does not meet the grade of the track. Try slightly elevating the switch end that meets the track coming down from the grade. Shim the end up so that its flush and not "kinked" as shown.  Joe

Here is am update, I removed all the track and the switch.

Then put down one straight piece instead of the 3 foot section.

And then placed a car on each section, powering up and powering down each time to test it, and then kept adding another short straight piece.

Seems the 3 foot straight is the culprit....thus, for whatever reason it causes the issue, despite all the tabs looking good.

I will order a replacement.

Not 100% sure, but I believe this was an older 3 foot straight piece that for whatever reason the center rail kept sliding and I had to glue it in place.

But, like I said I am not 100% sure if this is that same piece.

Using a small strip of plastic, insulate the ends of the inner switch rails leading to the frog.  Use a Dremel, knife or file to shape the plastic to the shape of the rail.  A little super glue can hold it in place.  If you look beneath the switch you will notice the rails leading to the frog do not have connectors.  If the rails touch a "hot" adjoining rail,  it creates a short and the switch "chatters".

You have come up against the [sort of] famous Realtrax non-derailing no-gap bug. The short rails from the frog to the rail-joint are used to actuate the non-derailing feature when equipment wheels roll over them thus grounding the appropriate switch motor coil and causing the points to align correctly. If those short rails make contact with the next track section they are continuously grounded thus causing the switch motor to continuously vacillate from straight to curve. I have used a Dremel tool to grind positive clearance on the short rails so they cannot make electrical contact with the next track sections.

I will give it a try.

There are many complex things in this world I understand, except for two.

1) JAVA Programming

2) RealTrax switches