Trying to get a feel on how this relay is working out. Durability, performance, consistency.
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Tom,
I have two of these on my layout. I use them to operate the turnouts plus relays on my reversing loops. They have been in place for over five years, and I had to replace one. It had burned out because one of my push buttons had stuck and left it powered. All in all they are pretty hardy, mine have seen quite a bit of use and except for the failure of the push button no problems
Ray
The #200 relay has a similar issue as the Atlas switch machine, if you leave it powered for more than a few seconds, it will cook. Other than that, they work fine.
I have a couple as well as several of the comparable TRIX relay. They basically do the same tasks however I think the TRIX is a little more robust. I was using them for controlling reverse loops on a Flyer layout. Since they have a pair of DPDT contacts you can run the power to the coils through the contacts for protection. however a polyfuse on the common wire for the coils is in order. j
JOHNACTION
Might you enlighten me on the polyfuse, I have fried one of the 200s and would like to avoid that again. These relays are not terribly expensive but not always readily available locally. Not meaning to hijack the thread.
Ray
Ray: PTC Resettable Fuse .
The key here is to identify the current required with the relay. Since it only takes a moment to switch the state, I'd size the PTC to trip at about 1/4 or less of the operating current. There is a delay in the trip, a PTC will deliver multiples of it's trip rating briefly before tripping. Here's a typical set of trip curves for a PTC. If you follow the rating down for a .1A model, you'll note that it takes 1 second at an amp to trip! At 300ma, the 100ma unit takes well over ten seconds to trip.
I am using the 200 snap relay for both turnout and dwarf signal control. I use heavy duty momentary toggle switches and place a rectifying diode on the power line. I do this for both the snap switch and any Atlas O turnout motors I have.
Joe
Glad GRJ picked up on this, my lady friend had me on a quest of her own so I have not been able to monitor the forum in a couple of days, along with a Colonoscopy I had Friday. I tried to find my snap relays and got tired of opening boxes about the time I found a box of Trix relays. Ray if you have a VOM how about measuring the resistance of the coils. I don't have any 100ma polyfuses or anything smaller than about 800ma. 50ma or smaller may be large enough to power the relay due to the short period they have to be energized. I think PTC fuses are available all the way down to 10ma. I mentioned in my earlier reply about wiring the coils through the snap relay's contacts. Basically what you do is to run each coil through the set of contacts on the snap relay that will end up open once the energized coil has cycled the relay. Joe's tactic of using a high quality momentary contact center off toggle switch is a good strategy and would still be so if fuses were added. I did find a box of Trix Relays. It is just a better version of the Atlas 200 and I bet the coil resistance is not much different between them. The Trix has 10 ohm coils so it would pull 1200ma at 12V. Though my small LGB power pack takes a dive from 12v to about 8V when powering these relays so it will only drive about 800ma through them. To run 1200ma or even 800 through it for any length of time would turn it into a SMOKE MACHINE. I hooked a peak hold amp meter to it and with a heavy rheostat which I adjusted it down till the relay would just operate and about 700ma is the least current you can depend on to properly cycle it. I'm just guessing that the Atlas 200 relay has similar operating characteristics. One reason that I favor the Trix is it is available in two configurations one is a double pole double throw like the Atlas 200 and the other is a four pole double throw. You can use the second pair of contacts to switch the coils so they turn off after cycling. That way if you need to run the relay at 12-14VDC you can use the first pair to guard the coils and second DPDT pair to control another circuit even AC for your Flyer reverse loops. The model numbers were changed a couple of times for the Trix relay the DPDT was either 4992 or 6592. The 4PDT was number 4991 or 6591. Sorry to steer the topic off a bit but the Trix relay is completely interchangable with Atlas 200 just a little more versatile. Somewhere in one of my retired computers I have the plans to power twin coil switch machines and twin coil latching relays with a capacitive discharge that adds a little more safety margin if I find it I'll post it. One more thought, you can slave another single coil relay off either the Atlas or the Trix relays for more wiring options. j
