I'm building a pretty substantial layout using about 30 atlas switches. Most of them are old, taken from a layout I built in the 90's. All of the switches worked fine back then. The problem I'm having is with the rails not conducting electricity. I'm testing for continuity across the points and on about half of the switches, there is no continuity. Somewhere there is a break in the line right around the switch points. I've found this in about half of my switches. Is this possible? Am I doing something wrong? Some work, some don't....very odd.
Prolems With Atlas Switches
- Thread starter ecarfar
- Start date
hamltnblue
Active Member
You could direct wire the points that aren't conducting. If you thing that the moving parts aren't conducting any more try working them some and giving them a quick shot of CRC spray. Might fix the problem.
Thanks, yeah, that's what I was looking at doing. I was worried that a wire would bind the movement of the points though. I did try spraying contact cleaner in there and I also tried a drop of rail zip, neither worked on any of the switches. I was just curious if this is a common problem.
Larry
Long Winded Old Fart
I have about 100 old switches that I've got over the years & none of them have ever froze up or not worked. They are pretty resiliant to storage conditions. Are you try to move the contacts w/an electrical switch or by hand. Maybe the problem is in the switch you are trying to operate the turnout with. Curious?
Both...I hooked all of the up to power before I put them on the layout and a few didn't work so i weeded them out and then tried them manually. They are free moving but don't conduct the track power through the rails. I think you misunderstood, the switch motors work just fine, it's the rails that don't conduct electricity.
No, these don't have the directional power. Yes, my option is to hook power up to both sides of the switch. I think it's a better option than rippng them out and disturbing the whole layout. I guess my soldering skills will improve greatly.
