Shinohara double crossover wiring

[AllenB]

Here is a picture of my crossover. Anyone familiar with how to wire this so there isn't a dead zone in the middle? I checked the search and came up with a few things but nothing dealing with DCC. There was a discussion about removing some plastic for a smoother transition. ??? A locomotive will not "crossover".

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff35/smawgunner/Trains/DSCF5013.jpg

 

[Cjcrescent]

With Shinoharas, there shouldn't be any special wiring needed. There is a real good chance that the jumpers underneath the turnout are loose on broken from one rail to the other.

Check the turnout with a meter where the jumpers are, and anywhere you have an open circuit, check that jumper underneath.

 

[kencunningham]

That one is power routing and the points must make good contact with the rails. Allso i would like to note that if you are using dcc, (not sure about dc) that you will need to throw all the points at the same time to the same orientation or you will get a short. What i did with mine was to hook all the tortoise machines together so that all the points are set divergent or to the thru route at the same time, after i did that i didnt have anymore problems with it.

 

[ianacole]

That one is power routing and the points must make good contact with the rails. Allso i would like to note that if you are using dcc, (not sure about dc) that you will need to throw all the points at the same time to the same orientation or you will get a short. What i did with mine was to hook all the tortoise machines together so that all the points are set divergent or to the thru route at the same time, after i did that i didnt have anymore problems with it.

I'm going to be facing this in a short while. Did you use 2 or 4 tortoise machines? Do you have a wiring diagram for how you wired these to your switch?

Thanks!

 

[bigB]

I think you mean you have to throw the 2 turnouts at the same time of the crossover pair, right? No reason to throw all 4 at once, correct? There shouldnt be a short in that case unless your dealing with a reversing loop elsewhere, even if they are power-routing turnouts.

Brad

 

[kencunningham]

I saw a post on here before where someone else had the same problem and there fix for it was the same as i did. I allso had a problem with a shinohara 3 way switch. I had to put insulators on the 3 output tracks and feed power only from the two rails leading into the switch to keep it from shorting. As for why it does this, i guess i could get a meter and sit down for awhile and try to figure it out, but whats the point. Do it one way and it works trouble free , do it the other and you will have problems.

 

[bigB]

I too will be installing one of these in a few months. I did a little research today. It looks like Walthers retooled these somewhat recently to DCC Friendly versions. There are probably some of the older, non-dcc versions around that people are still able to buy. These have the power-routing throw bars and require modification for dcc use.

The newer version, ending in sku # -8812, is designed to be a 'drop-in' type application. The frogs are isolated. Looks to me, you have a couple of choices about how to wire these using tortoise switch machines. First, and probably easiest, is to use four tortoises, wire them all to one dc powered dpdt switch so that all routes are either straight or diverging. Second easiest is to wire 4 machines so that two function together to two separate switches. This way you can control each 'crossover' independently.

If you want to power the frogs, you could do that using the auxilary contacts on the tortoise.

Brad

 

[Cjcrescent]

... These have the power-routing throw bars and require modification for dcc use.


Brad

Actually, Brad, they don't. I use power routing turnouts, almost exclusively, and as long as you follow the "DC Wiring Rules" for turnouts and crossings, no changes need to be made to the turnout physically. I also have a completely scratched double cross over and the only thing "special" I had to do to it, was provide jumpers to the diamond at the center of the crossing. Otherwise this section would be dead.

The dbl cross over was wired following the rules for wiring it to DC, and it performs flawlessly in DCC.

 

[bigB]

Actually, Brad, they don't. I use power routing turnouts, almost exclusively, and as long as you follow the "DC Wiring Rules" for turnouts and crossings, no changes need to be made to the turnout physically. I also have a completely scratched double cross over and the only thing "special" I had to do to it, was provide jumpers to the diamond at the center of the crossing. Otherwise this section would be dead.

The dbl cross over was wired following the rules for wiring it to DC, and it performs flawlessly in DCC.

Oh, ok, I was under the impression that the early versions of these crossovers were not dcc friendly. I was pretty sure that with either version youd have to wire in jumper/feeders to the middle-diamond part where short wheel bases may die.