Z-stuff Signal Bridge

Mark, email or call Z Stuff. They should be able to help you too............Paul

paul 2 posted:

Mark, email or call Z Stuff. They should be able to help you too............Paul

Hi Paul,

I did that.  The email bounced back as failed.  I did leave a voice mail.  Just hoping someone here had some experience with these signal bridges.

Paul,

I had a similar experience with my bi-directional semaphore bridge. On power up, lights would cycle to green but then go to red and stay there. Only by lifting the entire signal up or laying it over could I get the lights to stay green. As soon as I returned the signal to it's upright position, it would go back to constant red. I knew that the sensors had a problem detecting black and even put a piece of black paper under the sensors which seemed to help out some. Dennis and I communicated several times but I had no real success. Finally he had me return the signal and he attempted to correct it. It took a couple of trips back and forth but it finally was fixed. I had even sent him a section of my ballasted Gargraves track to make sure it was not the problem. From what I understand, Dennis replaced both boards to correct the problem. In the end, he was very helpful.

Sorry to hear you are having problems with you signal bridge. I am installing dwarf signals around the layout but have the opposite problem.

When mounting a signal on a curved portion of track the sensor will flash red / green as the train passes buy. I adjusted the sensor sensitivity to max and still behaves the same way.  Can you adjust the sensor? 

Also noticed when the train is moving slow the sensor will turn green when the flat section of the car will go buy...

Lesson of the day... do not use these on outside curves...

Cape Cod Northern posted:

Paul,

I had a similar experience with my bi-directional semaphore bridge. On power up, lights would cycle to green but then go to red and stay there. Only by lifting the entire signal up or laying it over could I get the lights to stay green. As soon as I returned the signal to it's upright position, it would go back to constant red. I knew that the sensors had a problem detecting black and even put a piece of black paper under the sensors which seemed to help out some. Dennis and I communicated several times but I had no real success. Finally he had me return the signal and he attempted to correct it. It took a couple of trips back and forth but it finally was fixed. I had even sent him a section of my ballasted Gargraves track to make sure it was not the problem. From what I understand, Dennis replaced both boards to correct the problem. In the end, he was very helpful.

Hi Cape Cod,

Thanks for sharing...sounds like you had the exact same problem I am having.  Hopefully I hear from Dennis and the issue can be fixed with minimum fuss.

Mark

J Daddy posted:

Sorry to hear you are having problems with you signal bridge. I am installing dwarf signals around the layout but have the opposite problem.

When mounting a signal on a curved portion of track the sensor will flash red / green as the train passes buy. I adjusted the sensor sensitivity to max and still behaves the same way.  Can you adjust the sensor? 

Also noticed when the train is moving slow the sensor will turn green when the flat section of the car will go buy...

Lesson of the day... do not use these on outside curves...

Hi J Daddy,

There are no instructions with this signal on how to adjust the sensors so I'm not sure it is possible...but those would seem to be the culprit here.

I have the 4 track signal bridge with the red/yellow/green heads. Several of us have looked for solutions with moderate success. The problem is they display constant red, equivalent of your horizontal, no matter how the sensors are adjusted. We tried a multitude of colors and surfaces under the sensors. Using a flat charcoal finish resulted in two sensors working correctly, one intermittent and one stuck on red. 

The most reliable fix would be to create a short track block and use a current sensor to control the heads. That is how we have the crossing gates connected. My layout is two rail. The only suggestion from Z Stuff was to keep adjusting the sensors. 

AmFlyer posted:

...The only suggestion from Z Stuff was to keep adjusting the sensors. 

Was there anything more prescriptive than this?  Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, etc..

Does anyone has a clear photo of the sensors themselves (i.e. looking upwards from a train).  If they are what I think they are, there may be some adjustment tips from similar optical occupancy sensors from other suppliers.

What kind of lighting do you have?  My signal bridge would not work with fluorescent tubes.  Finally had Dennis disable the sensors and connected the bridge to zstuff side sensors.  Here's a video of my install, say the least it was several years before Dennis and I came up with this fix.

sadly the looking down built in sensors was a good idea in the beginning, it has turned out to be problematic.   The bridges should be redesigned with side aiming sensors.

The room lighting is LED. It makes no difference if the lights are on or off. 

I had issues as well with a Z Stuff signal bridge as to ambient lighting. I think my issue was with a fluorescent bulb in a lamp near the bridge. The bridge downward sensing is iffy...

Incidentally, I installed a scale speed pair of sensors from a product sold by Model Train Stuff which didn't work well at first. I had to remove a couple of LED spotlights and replace them with incandescent spots to get it to work bullet proof now. So the light frequencies from these gas tubes and LEDs can be at issue.

J Daddy posted:

Sorry to hear you are having problems with you signal bridge. I am installing dwarf signals around the layout but have the opposite problem.

When mounting a signal on a curved portion of track the sensor will flash red / green as the train passes buy. I adjusted the sensor sensitivity to max and still behaves the same way.  Can you adjust the sensor? 

Also noticed when the train is moving slow the sensor will turn green when the flat section of the car will go buy...

Lesson of the day... do not use these on outside curves...

The Dwarf Signals do indeed have an adjustable sensor.  It's a very small, plastic Phillips screw that can be turned to adjust the sensitivity.  I've had to turn mine all the way up....but they do work.  Very well, actually.

cjack posted:

Incidentally, I installed a scale speed pair of sensors from a product sold by Model Train Stuff which didn't work well at first. I had to remove a couple of LED spotlights and replace them with incandescent spots to get it to work bullet proof now. So the light frequencies from these gas tubes and LEDs can be at issue.

That's what Dennis told me. That you may not see any improvement converting to LED over fluorescent 

superwarp1 posted:

What kind of lighting do you have?  My signal bridge would not work with fluorescent tubes.  Finally had Dennis disable the sensors and connected the bridge to zstuff side sensors.  Here's a video of my install, say the least it was several years before Dennis and I came up with this fix.

 

sadly the looking down built in sensors was a good idea in the beginning, it has turned out to be problematic.   The bridges should be redesigned with side aiming sensors.

Hi Gary,

I do have fluorescent lighting in the room but not by the train table.

Several years before the fix??  Yikes...hope mine is quicker.  Dennis has responded to my email and asked for a picture of the bridge in place and what my track spacing is.  We shall see...

Markmad3 posted:

I purchased the z-stuff 7 light Pennsy signal bridge (DZ-1090-60-2).

It is wired using just the black and red wires.  The lights for both tracks only glow in the horizontal position (they should be in the vertical position if nothing is under the bridge).  They do not change when the train runs under the signal.  I pressed the re-calibrate button for both and it cycles through the other options but ends in the horizontal position and still does not change.  It seems as if the sensors are detecting something under the bridge all the time.

Has anyone else experienced this issue with the signal bridge?

Any info would be appreciated.  

Thanks.

Mark

 

Just to close the loop on this.  I was able to get a hold of Dennis at z-stuff and he asked me for a picture of the bridge in place and he asked a few questions.  After that he asked me to ship it back to him for repair.  I did this and a couple of weeks later got it back with a note saying he re-calibrated and reprogrammed it.  It is working fine now.

The only weird thing is the sensors will not recognize my maroon colored Pennsy diesel or Madison passenger cars.  That was the set that was on one of the tracks when I get the signal bridge back.  If I run anything else under the bridge it works.  If I put a piece of blue masking tape on the top of the maroon colored cars it will work (most of the time).

Other than that, it is all good.

superwarp1 posted:

What kind of lighting do you have?  My signal bridge would not work with fluorescent tubes.  Finally had Dennis disable the sensors and connected the bridge to zstuff side sensors.  Here's a video of my install, say the least it was several years before Dennis and I came up with this fix.

 

sadly the looking down built in sensors was a good idea in the beginning, it has turned out to be problematic.   The bridges should be redesigned with side aiming sensors.

Marty, I sent you an email in regards to this.

My downward sensing Z bridge works pretty well, but was somewhat dependent on ambient light sources. It is working now reliably with LED ceiling spots and the two incandescent spots I had to put in for the sensor tracks in the same vicinity.