Lionel Remote Control Switch

Here is a picture of the switch and remote wiring if that helps.  Im also powering everything through the track.  The track power is through an 80W Lionel Transformer.

Almost looks like the limit switch is bad, the switch motor gear teeth aren't contacting to turn the switch mechanism, the switch mechanism teeth are broken, or the switch motor is faulty - you'll need to pop the back cover off to check it.

Does the anti derail feature work? That would rule out most of the above troubleshooting

Thanks for the reply SirCaptain.  Unfortunately, I'm super new to all this and I don't what any of that stuff you mention is at this point. 

I don't know if this makes a difference, but whenever my train cars roll through it, it sparks.  I did have to slightly bend the tip to keep it from derailing, but had to do that with a couple of the other switches and they've had no issues.

If your switch is under warranty - ignore everything I'm about to post and contact Lionel for a warranty RMA - there's likely something mechanical or electrical wrong with the switch, get them to fix their crap since these switches almost always seem to have problems of some sort in a batch.

If you flip the switch over - there's a bunch of tiny Phillips head screws, when you unscrew them, that metal plate pops off the bottom, which reveals a mess of cables connected to a big board and a little board. CAREFUL - the metal plate is very sharp on the edges and you can accidentally cut yourself. Make sure not to bend it. Disconnect your switch controller so you don't have a dangling cable to deal with (tiny flathead unscrews the 4 switch controller wires)

After you've popped open the switch, near where the led is for the switch lamp, the DC motor, switch mechanism, and 2 limit switches will be visible. You'll want to make sure the switch mechanism can contact both limit switches correctly ( turning it by hand is the easiest method), and that the DC motor shaft gear teeth are contacting the switch mechanism. (It either spins freely or binds up really badly)

On the opposite side of the board sits the 2 PCBs for the switch. One big PCB will have an array of wires connected to it, a smaller PCB sits near the edge of the switch with a few wires connected to it. Make sure these are all plugged in snug. Trace all wires from point to point - look for any that look frayed or melted - that would indicate a big problem.

Some additional troubleshooting:

When your switch sparks, can you pinpoint the exact part of the switch track that it sparks on? And what direction (or directions) does it spark on?

And the anti drail feature I mentioned - if your switch isn't in the direction of travel of an oncoming loco, it will trigger the switch to flip to that direction without any input from you.

If you do open the switch up - can you take a high res photo/video of the inside?

And also - welcome to hobby! You'll quickly learn a lot of troubleshooting steps as you go on

I'll check it out and take some pics and post what I find out.  Thanks again.

To me it seems like a lack of power.   You said you are using track power.  If you take the train off the tracks and turn up the transformer full, does it work then?

John

While it could be source power- it's not unheard of to have a bad fastrack switch. I'm not saying that disparage the brand or fastrack switches in general, I started using them back 2017 and still use them today. But, every once in a while, you may find a bad one.

By bad- I mean anything from an internal wiring mismatch, to mechanical problems, sometimes both at the same time.

The fact is, this has a tiny, and I do mean tiny little DC motor, that interfaces a molded crown style gear and lever arm system, and I've seen plenty of defects where that tiny motor cannot move the larger gear actuator arm because of molding flash, too tight of gear mesh, and dozens of other related and similar defects.

Last- as part of any fastrack switch discussion- it's HIGHLY advised to test all switches on the bench before installing into a layout or track plan. But further than that- for long term and best reliability- hopefully after it passes basic functional testing- is bulletproofing. You perform those mods after you know you are not sending the switch back, but to ensure when you install it into your layout- electrical connectivity through the switch is ensured and you don't have to rip up the switch later because of a known failure that could happen over time.

Another larger picture in my fastrack switch repairs and mods folder.

Folded tabs electrical connections- recommend soldering

Electrical terminals can short to the metal backer plate, so I also use tape or other insulating material over these rows of wires to solder joint contacts.

As seen here https://ogrforum.com/...1#163461606334295091

and here https://ogrforum.com/...8#162053334063720688

Also for FWIW, for those who follow my adventures, the previous last time I bought fastrack switches, I got 13 in a row from 2 different suppliers- all had internal miswiring of the aux power in. Now fast forward to this last weekend. I had the local shop order 2 right hand O-72 switches, and both of them were factory correct wiring and did function properly out of the box.

I still had to make the modifications for folded tab connection soldering, and insulating the terminals to prevent any chance of shorting to the metal backer plate- but at least they did on the most recent batch, appear to have checked and gotten correct that problematic aux power wiring problem. Again, these were O-72 6-81952 and I'm a trust but verify kind of attitude- check first before, but maybe you won't have to "correct" a wiring mistake.

@Supercamp25 posted:

I don't know if this makes a difference, but whenever my train cars roll through it, it sparks.  I did have to slightly bend the tip to keep it from derailing, but had to do that with a couple of the other switches and they've had no issues.

Try using electrical tape here:

John

Ok, so a couple things.

1) I accidentally broke the plastic that holds the screw which secures the green through wire.  (See picture) I soldered it in place. It was the first solder I ever did so it doesn't look the greatest. Will this still work?

2) I saw another post and it showed that the green pull tab and blue tab were switched, which was a common issue found in some switches.  So I switched those.

3) I didn't find any burnt or frayed wires and the teeth look good.

After I did that, the remote switch worked, but only in one direction...lol.  Any ideas?

You can buy proper replacement parts. As an example, I'm trying to repair a few right now and have this order in.

	SEGMENT GEAR / FASTRACK REM SWITCH - 6102045102 $3.00 SKU: cs-6102045102-p Quantity: 5 Total Amount: $15.00	Reorder
	SPRING / GEAR ROD / FASTRACK SWITCH - 6102017050 $1.10 SKU: cs-6102017050-p Quantity: 5 Total Amount: $5.50	Reorder
	TERMINAL HOUSING / FASTRACK REMOTE SWITCH - 6102045085 $1.00 SKU: cs-6102045085-p Quantity: 10 Total Amount: $10.00	Reorder
	TERMINAL NUT / FASTRACK REM SWITCH - 6102045088 $0.40 SKU: cs-6102045088-p Quantity: 5 Total Amount: $2.00	Reorder
	TERMINAL SCREW / FASTRACK REM SWITCH - 6102045087 $0.80 SKU: cs-6102045087-p Quantity: 5 Total Amount: $4.00	Reorder
	DC MOTOR / W/GEAR / FASTRACK REMOTE SWITCH $7.85 SKU: cs-6102045100-p Quantity: 5 Total Amount: $39.25	Reorder

@Supercamp25 posted:

Ok, so a couple things.

1) I accidentally broke the plastic that holds the screw which secures the green through wire.  (See picture) I soldered it in place. It was the first solder I ever did so it doesn't look the greatest. Will this still work? While that may work, shorting to the back cover or changing that wire is a pain.

2) I saw another post and it showed that the green pull tab and blue tab were switched, which was a common issue found in some switches.  So I switched those.No, bad idea unless you confirmed anti-derailing function was reverse or backwards. Again this is all about sensing for antiderailing function- not remote control function.

3) I didn't find any burnt or frayed wires and the teeth look good.

After I did that, the remote switch worked, but only in one direction...lol.  Any ideas?

Yes, the 2 limit switches on either side of the actuator must work and be hit. They are 3 wire switches using both NC and NO contact states. So manually push the black gear actuator against a direction and then attempt to move.

Like I said, you may have a bum switch, it happens.

So, I think I just got a bum switch because nothing seems to have worked.  At least I have some spare parts now.  Thanks everyone for jumping in and trying to help solve it.