Peco Turnout motor won't stay in one direction?


KB02

KB02

Well-Known Member
I have a Peco curved turn out connected to a simple Peco DC turnout motor wired through a DPST momentary switch. When I turn the switch to one side (main line travel), the motor and switch work just fine. When I turn the switch to the other direction (diverging route), the points will switch to that side as long as I have the switch held, but will then immediately pop back into the other direction.
The motor is not powered and I can move the switch by hand without issue (and it will stay in place), but when I hit the switch to the diverging side, it will pop right back to main line.

Any suggestions?
 
Perhaps replace the Peco machine with a Tortoise?
It sounds like you've got a bit of tension on your point rails. Make sure the turnout is nice and flat, not canted slightly to one side.
 
It's not a tension issue. The points aren't sliding back-and-forth issue, but almost like I'm throwing the switch in the opposite direction.
 
KB02 said:
I have a Peco curved turn out connected to a simple Peco DC turnout motor wired through a DPST momentary switch. When I turn the switch to one side (main line travel), the motor and switch work just fine. When I turn the switch to the other direction (diverging route), the points will switch to that side as long as I have the switch held, but will then immediately pop back into the other direction.
The motor is not powered and I can move the switch by hand without issue (and it will stay in place), but when I hit the switch to the diverging side, it will pop right back to main line.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
KB02: Take another look at that switch. Swap the Diverging and Normal wires. Does it still pop back from the Diverging route?, or does it now pop back from the Normal direction? If so, switch problems; if not, wiring?

Later
 
KB02 said:
It's not a tension issue. The points aren't sliding back-and-forth issue, but almost like I'm throwing the switch in the opposite direction.
Click to expand...
Depending how you've wired the switch up (I use spade connectors.) If you wire the SDPT switch the opposite way round and the points stay on the diverging route but won't stay on the mainline, replace the SPDT.

EDIT

ctclibby beat me to it.
 
Well, I pulled the motor off the turnout and threw the switch a few times and the motor worked fine (no return to an undesired side). I reinstalled in the opposite direction to see if it might have been a track alignment issue and low and behold the issue came back - though not nearly as bad. Still not perfect, but better. I turned the switch around in my control panel and am going to call it good for now. A tortoise may be in the future for this turnout, but it's location is not exactly conducive to large things. We'll see.

This turnout/motor combo used to be at a different location on my layout. I recall having some issues with it there as well (although different issues). The instructions that came with the motor, if I remember correctly, said to remove the spring in the turnout. I'm wondering if maybe I should have left it in? Maybe that's the root of this issue - a tension issue after all? Not too much, but not enough?
 
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