Replies sorted oldest to newest
The accessory is very simple to wire. One wire to hot is 2nd wire to common. The insulated track makes common via the wheels bridging the common to the insulated rail.
1st thing to do is make sure the insulated rail is insulated. Test it, take the track out the the loop and touch the common wire to the insulated rail side with common to the other outside rail and power to the signal. If it works the rail is not isolated. Put it back in the loop and make sure it is still isolated.
Using a relay is not a solution because the relay still needs to a trigger devise and right now the insulated rail is not working correctly.
The problem without a relay is that the train wheels carry the current for the bell,you may get a lot of arcing and intermittent contact as the train enters and leaves the block. The relay with a capacitor will work much smoother.
Second the bell will put out a lot of voltage spikes. If you are running modern equipment with PC boards,it is best to power the bell on a circuit separate form accessories with PC boards,LEDs etc or at least add a TVS in the circuit,preferably across the leads of the #69 bell.
Dale H
All true. However, the issue at hand is getting the insulated track to work properly.
I would also put a on/off switch in the common because this bell can be annoying.A push button to ring the bell is also nice.
Attachments
Ensure that the break\cut in the two 5" pieces are on the same outer rail.
Thanks for posting the result. That's a neat looking bell. Does it have a nice sound?
It is a nice looking accessory, but -- geez -- that bell is shrill. I finally disconnected mine (but left it sitting on the layout).