Operating gateman and Insulated track trouble

Dirty track and or wheels. Probably not enough voltage if you are taking power from the track.

Ditto, I run my accessories off a separate power source.  Some shaking is inevitable, it's in the nature of the accessory.

I am running DCS would this effect how an insulated section operates with a PW Gateman

Not at all.

Use a relay and you won't have that problem. 

Relays for block detection is described here

LINK

BTW the PW gateman generates a lot of voltage spikes. Do not share a circuit with modern accessories with solid state electronics or at least add a TVS to clamp the spikes.

Dale H

You can take the "shaking" out if you run it on DC, ,even filtered DC,but you have to use caution and reduce the voltage until the accessory just operates,then add a volt. Too much DC voltage will cook it..

Dale H

Good to know. I don't have a Gateman, but have been experimenting with using DC for powering things. One item I tried was an old '70s-'80s vintage Lionel crossing gate that was almost louder than the trains running on AC. Powering it with DC, it was absolutely silent, made no noise at all.

I'm afraid your gateman probably has the DT's, lonely in that shack so he probably drinks a lot to keep warm and relieve the boredom.

Actually he has a girlfriend in there who keeps him quite busy and exhausted. He is a handsome devil. 

Dale H

This is great to know thanks to everyone who helped out. I am going to give DC a try and will post the results. A relay was way to hard for me to comprehend.

Another is expand the insulated track to 2 sections.

Before all of those suggestions, I'd seriously try a lower voltage.  Some of these shacks, and especially the newer ones use way less voltage than the earlier ones.

Jon

Actually, that's great advice. I've got a number of track-activated accessories on my PW-style layout and use multiple track sections for some of them.

Agreed as well. It isn't that a single track isn't capable, but two tracks together do give that extra bit of wheelbase so there's always more than one truck providing the connection

You are really better off with a relay. The PW type gateman causes an inrush of current when the coil inside in energized and pulls a bit of current. The large loads is carried by the train wheels and can cause a lot of sparking. In contrast the relay coil only pulls about a half watt and it's operation is steadied by the capacitor. The contact can switch one or more separate circuits. In addition timers can be added to shut off the accessory so it does not overheat.

If you elongate the track sections, there is still the duration when the train enters and leaves. In the beginning and the end only 2 wheels are on the section. Lots of chatter and sparking and voltage spikes. Not that it dont work,it is just a crude way of doing it, simple but crude. None of this is a problem with an inexpensive relay setup.

Dale H

That's what my Gramps used to say about him

The guy on the 445 switch tower steps is quite sure he smells the cologne of the guy on the balcony too 

The man has a point . You didn't mention if it was new, or was the PW type, did you?.

Just a reminder relays are fine but thousands of these gate men work just fine without one.

The initial post says it is a PW 145 gateman.

Dale H

The last post here discusses using the Gateman on DC.

LINK

Dale H