WeHonest Railroad Crossing Servo Problems


V

victortorgrimson

New Member
Hi,
I've been installing crossing gates. I'm using the "WeHonest" system. The train sensors, the sound, and the lights all work well. It also can trigger a servo motor to rotate, so you can have the crossing gate arm go down. Attaching the servo to the crossing gate arm was quite a trick, but worked fine with one servo. However, the WeHonest board only has a single place (three pins for power and control) to plug a servo in. So to hook up the second servo initially I tried just splitting the wires, but when I did that the servos became very glitchy. They try to move a lot when they shouldn't, and even the rest of the board starts acting flaky. Then I discovered WeHonest sells a servo speed adjustor board that specifically supports sending the signal to up to 4 servos. But even with this custom component, connecting in two servos causes the same flaky behavior! When I go back to one servo everything returns to working properly.
I've bought two of each of their components, and swapping components does not solve it, so I know its not just one bad component. I've tried emailing them for assistance, but they didn't reply.
Does anybody have experience with their system or any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Victor
 
I considered them when I was looking for a grade crossing system over a year ago.
I just wasn't going to bite on the "WeHonest" name. Seems to much like the guy on the street corner selling "genuine Rolexs at deep discounts".
It sounds like their servo motor control is sensitive to back EMF. In other words, the resistance of the motor will effect how the control board adjusts the current.
You may have to go with one control board per servo.
I went with the Logic Rail Technologies system. A well thought out set of boards. They also sell the servos that work well with their system.
 
victortorgrimson said:
Hi,
I've been installing crossing gates. I'm using the "WeHonest" system. The train sensors, the sound, and the lights all work well. It also can trigger a servo motor to rotate, so you can have the crossing gate arm go down. Attaching the servo to the crossing gate arm was quite a trick, but worked fine with one servo. However, the WeHonest board only has a single place (three pins for power and control) to plug a servo in. So to hook up the second servo initially I tried just splitting the wires, but when I did that the servos became very glitchy. They try to move a lot when they shouldn't, and even the rest of the board starts acting flaky. Then I discovered WeHonest sells a servo speed adjustor board that specifically supports sending the signal to up to 4 servos. But even with this custom component, connecting in two servos causes the same flaky behavior! When I go back to one servo everything returns to working properly.
I've bought two of each of their components, and swapping components does not solve it, so I know its not just one bad component. I've tried emailing them for assistance, but they didn't reply.
Does anybody have experience with their system or any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Victor
Click to expand...
That's strange, I've dealt with them for a number of years without any problems the one faulty goods I received were replaced at no charge and I kept the faulty one. I'm assuming you bought this from eBay, if so you have to use eBays messaging service, usually, they'll reply within 24-48 sometimes quicker.
 
victortorgrimson said:
Hi,
I've been installing crossing gates. I'm using the "WeHonest" system. The train sensors, the sound, and the lights all work well. It also can trigger a servo motor to rotate, so you can have the crossing gate arm go down. Attaching the servo to the crossing gate arm was quite a trick, but worked fine with one servo. However, the WeHonest board only has a single place (three pins for power and control) to plug a servo in. So to hook up the second servo initially I tried just splitting the wires, but when I did that the servos became very glitchy. They try to move a lot when they shouldn't, and even the rest of the board starts acting flaky. Then I discovered WeHonest sells a servo speed adjustor board that specifically supports sending the signal to up to 4 servos. But even with this custom component, connecting in two servos causes the same flaky behavior! When I go back to one servo everything returns to working properly.
I've bought two of each of their components, and swapping components does not solve it, so I know its not just one bad component. I've tried emailing them for assistance, but they didn't reply.
Does anybody have experience with their system or any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Victor
Click to expand...
 
Hi Victor. Did you ever figure this out? How did you attach the servo to the gates? The gates dont seem to have any electronic connection they are all plastic.
 
victortorgrimson said:
Hi,
I've been installing crossing gates. I'm using the "WeHonest" system. The train sensors, the sound, and the lights all work well. It also can trigger a servo motor to rotate, so you can have the crossing gate arm go down. Attaching the servo to the crossing gate arm was quite a trick, but worked fine with one servo. However, the WeHonest board only has a single place (three pins for power and control) to plug a servo in. So to hook up the second servo initially I tried just splitting the wires, but when I did that the servos became very glitchy. They try to move a lot when they shouldn't, and even the rest of the board starts acting flaky. Then I discovered WeHonest sells a servo speed adjustor board that specifically supports sending the signal to up to 4 servos. But even with this custom component, connecting in two servos causes the same flaky behavior! When I go back to one servo everything returns to working properly.
I've bought two of each of their components, and swapping components does not solve it, so I know its not just one bad component. I've tried emailing them for assistance, but they didn't reply.
Does anybody have experience with their system or any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Victor
Click to expand...
Don't know if you will see this but what power supply are you using ?
If it's a switching power (smps) you will get results like you are getting when using more then one servo
SMPS units have a tendency to go nuts if you ask for too much current all at once
Get and use a Linear power supply it's more like using a battery far better
 
Hi Like Smudge, I have used Wehonest for literally a hundred signals (counted them...) Just bought more last week. Dave is a good guy to work with. On your servo issue, try twisting the wires that go between the servos and the board. The other issue is that servos do draw a "significant" amount of surge current for a small power supply. This may be part of the problem. I have a 5 foot run between an activating switch and the input to an Arduino controlling a servo- I had to twist the wires to avoid false triggering.
 
Just got a bunch of two aspect ground signals and some tall yard lights from Dave (WeHonest) Fast delivery, great prices. I have been buying form Dave for years.
 
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