Gaugemaster Point Motors on non-DCC

Joe1980

Western Thunderer
Dear All,

Sorry if I’m posting in the wrong place. My current project The Idler has been making use of Bullfrog manual ‘turnout’ switches quite successfully, but they’ve started to become a bit crap. It’s time for electrics I think.

I’ve been looking at the GMC-PM1 motor as it incorporates a polarity switch. Will this work with non-DCC power inputs/controllers? And if anyone currently uses them, are they alright?

Cheers,

Joe
 

iain_r

Member
I have used SEEP PM-1s but do not like them.
They struggled to move at all without a Capacitor Discharge Unit. CDUs give the point a throw far too firm for some people's liking but Peco pointwork is quite robust.
Of the 5 PM1s I installed, 2 of them had polarity switches which did not work. When I checked how they worked, I was not surprised: There is a small washer on the pin which should contact a track on the motor's PCB, but it has to be held on the PCB against gravity, so it will not work if there is any slop & if the fitting is too tight, it can stop the motor from throwing. I fitted micro-switches to them which worked a lot better (& cost less than the difference between a PM1 & PM2).

Gaugemaster do a completely different motor, PM10. It looks better built & looks more like a Peco motor, which I have found much more reliable. You would need need to add your own micro switch, but this is not very difficult.
 

Joe1980

Western Thunderer
Thanks Iain. That’s all really useful information. I’ll take a look at the other Gaugemaster offerings too. I guess the polarity feature is a bit more of a dealbreaker for me.
 

76043

Western Thunderer
I have used PECO point motors with their separate polarity switch (PM-13), which is bought separately, but can be hot glued to the point motor. They work well for me, a friend who works at PECO says they can move silly amounts of weight when tested at the factory.

I've also found they definitely don't need a CDU if switching one at a time.

Noisy, but reliable.

Tony
 
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Joe1980

Western Thunderer
Thanks Tony. I was having a bit of a look at Peco (I don’t know why I hadn’t considered them before). I do like the separately fitted polarity switch. Should make wiring them in a lot simpler as my points are already wired for a polarity switch.
 
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