Bogie Track tester
Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:28 pm
I am currently laying track and wanted a tester to prove I have wired everything up correctly, especially those troublesome "Live Frogs".
Of course you could use a multi-meter, but you need two hands and contacting the rails with prods isn't easy! plus it doesn't do DCC correctly.
There are proprietary devices available, such as the Train Tech TT1 Multigauge Track Tester, at just a fiver, but I am a cheapskate and would rather build my own (for a few pence) or make one better!
Version 1
I soldered two leds and resistors to a piece of veroboard and two bits of copper wire at one edge
It works well - similar to proprietary ones red or green (dependant on polarity) or both for DCC
But running down track to see states of multi pointwork and frogs is hard without some guide to keep in it line and gets confusing when running over frogs as not sure which track its picking up!
Version 2
Same circuit times two, thus comparing each side of isolation or frog
Built on wheels so easy to run track length and see state changes at frogs/isolators
I only had yellow and green LEDs to hand
Found some metal wheels
Glued bogie together with veroboard (you could use an old wagon)
Made circuit on veroboard and soldered spring steel pickups to it
DC test track (Normal)
DC test track (reversed)
DCC (So bright, green/yellow become one)
Testing dead frog (one end live, t'other dead)
Once I get my frogs wired up, if I get it wrong, opposing ends will show opposite colours!
It will only show dead sections on DCC, so for testing, I will use DC on the layout to ensure I get all the polarity's right before changing back to DCC.
Of course you could use a multi-meter, but you need two hands and contacting the rails with prods isn't easy! plus it doesn't do DCC correctly.
There are proprietary devices available, such as the Train Tech TT1 Multigauge Track Tester, at just a fiver, but I am a cheapskate and would rather build my own (for a few pence) or make one better!
Version 1
I soldered two leds and resistors to a piece of veroboard and two bits of copper wire at one edge
It works well - similar to proprietary ones red or green (dependant on polarity) or both for DCC
But running down track to see states of multi pointwork and frogs is hard without some guide to keep in it line and gets confusing when running over frogs as not sure which track its picking up!
Version 2
Same circuit times two, thus comparing each side of isolation or frog
Built on wheels so easy to run track length and see state changes at frogs/isolators
I only had yellow and green LEDs to hand
Found some metal wheels
Glued bogie together with veroboard (you could use an old wagon)
Made circuit on veroboard and soldered spring steel pickups to it
DC test track (Normal)
- NegPos.jpg (105.34 KiB) Viewed 2465 times
- PosNeg.jpg (93.63 KiB) Viewed 2465 times
- DCC.jpg (111.82 KiB) Viewed 2465 times
- Dead Frog.jpg (71.83 KiB) Viewed 2465 times
It will only show dead sections on DCC, so for testing, I will use DC on the layout to ensure I get all the polarity's right before changing back to DCC.
