Anybody out there use them? Opinions solicited. I have one and am considering going on a quest for more.
Regards,
Lou N
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I have one and I like it. My only complaint is that it stays too long at yellow before moving all the way to green. I have an MTH cantilever signal that doesn't have that problem - it stays yellow for a few seconds, whereas the semaphore might take five minutes.
I suspect that I may not be feeding the semaphore enough voltage? I assume there is a little thermal switch that needs to heat up before releasing enough juice to make the solenoid pull the semaphore rod down all the way. Or I could have this totally wrong. 
We have a couple of them on THE approach to the" big bridge", I like them,
Lou N that name sounds familiar. Did you design the circuits? I'd like to see one with double arms & also a train order board.
One thing I don't like about the MTH unit is the fact that the solenoid is energized until the signal is tripped. That means that the base will get hot if it doesn't get tripped very often. I used one for a while but changed my signalling scheme to the 3 color position signals.
Alan P posted:I suspect that I may not feeding the semaphore enough voltage? I assume there is a little thermal switch that needs to heat up before releasing enough juice to make the solenoid pull the semaphore rod down all the way. Or I could have this totally wrong.
I also noticed the long delay for approach (yellow). I believe that this is electronically controlled. Maybe a resistor change. Haven't opened it up yet.
Lou N
Gregg postedLou N that name sounds familiar. Did you design the circuits? I'd like to see one with double arms & also a train order board.
Actually I designed the first 3 color timer based signal for Right of Way. Lionel, MTH, and Z stuff all adapted the concept to their product lines. And, yes, a double arm is a great idea.
Lou N
Fec fan posted:One thing I don't like about the MTH unit is the fact that the solenoid is energized until the signal is tripped. That means that the base will get hot if it doesn't get tripped very often. I used one for a while but changed my signalling scheme to the 3 color position signals.
I appreciate the insight. I was going to use the semaphore as an interlocking signal, hence stand by is red (STOP). That would minimize the solenoid use to just an approaching train. Having designed for ROW I have plenty of color position signals.
Regards,
Lou N
