How To Make Ground Signals by Brian Tucker
How To Make Ground Signals by Brian Tucker
Club member Brian Tucker has been working on a colour light ground signal project for his OO scale layout. Brian has put together an article showing how to make a colour light ground signal for minimal cost, ideal for anyone on a tight modelling budget. The LED’s used are from Rapid Electronics & cost around 25 pence each ( £1.25 for a pack of 5 ). Resistors used to cost just a few pence. Brian says these ground signals are connected/wired on to Peco PL-13 point motor accessory switches. These mount onto the top of the Peco point motor such as the PecoPL-10 etc.
So I’ll now hand you over to Brian with his very handy how-to guide.
Equipment needed
- Fine Wire in 1 colour
- Standard wire in 3 colours
- 3mm Green LED PCB Mounting Order Code56-
- 2205 from RAPID
- 3mm Red LED PCB Mounting Order Code56-
- 2200 from RAPID
- 1K Resistor if using more than a 3 volt supply – (not shown)
- Heat shrink – (not shown)
The first thing to do is lift the tags on the top light (green). Then glue them together. I glued the two PCB mountings together with the green light on top. I found that plastic glue was not successful so used Gorilla super glue, as this was quite thick, placed a tiny bit on a cocktail stick. DO NOT put too much on as it will squeeze out and run down the sides.
At this stage before cutting the tag decide which side is to be the common. Now on the top mounting (green) cut some of the tag off so it misses the bottom mounting tag. The front facing of the mounting is marked to show the positive and negative sides. In my case, the common is the positive side, therefore, I cut the tag on the negative side.
With the common wire (black) strip the coating off so it will cover both tags. Solder the wire to the tag sticking up, push it down below the surface and solder the remaining part to the bottom tag. In my case, I am using a 14V supply so using a 1K resistor soldered it on to the position shown. It does not matter where on the line you attach the resistor to.
Using the fine wire attach this to the other tag sticking up. I used green to make it simpler to identify the light source.
Using the standard wire (red) attach this to the final leg. Push down the top tag.
Put heat shrink on the 2 legs. Attach standard green wire to the fine wire and insulate. Add black wire to the resistor. Finally insulate the resistor. You’re ready to go.
Put heat shrink on the 2 legs. Attach standard green wire to the fine wire and insulate. Add black wire to the resistor. Finally insulate the resistor. You’re ready to go.
The signal fitted.
In the diagram below, you’ll see how the signal connects onto a Peco accessory switch. The Peco accessory switch fits on top of the point motor. The rest of the diagram shows how the point motor is wired up.
Thanks for that. A very clear article. I’m not very good with electrics, but ever I might think about having a go.
Hi, sorry I have not got back to you before now. Do not worry too much about the soldering if it looks a little untidy. There are 2 ways of disguising this, either paint with a matt black over the wires or get some thin black plastic sheet and glue this to the back which also disguises the wires.
Hope this helps but have a go you will be surprised what you can do
Regards
Brian