[jimlar19]

PS-1 50' single door box car

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hello
i have a Athearn SD 45-2 that i am painting and i had the side frames on the trucks off and the wheels out of the trucks i read somewhere thet there is a neg and pos side to the wheels, does it matter polarity wise whitch way that i put the wheel asmly back in the trucks, there was no markings on the wheels they looked the same.

one more question sorry !!! i have a couple peco turnouts that are not insulated they are the Electrofrog type can i use these on a DCC layout without any short circut problems or do i have to do some special wiring, a lot of my cars have metal wheels thanks in advance.

I also posted this in the general section I did not mean to break any rules

thanks Jim

 

[T-Man]

In a tworail set up, one side is isolated from the other. Normally at the axle a plastic insert insulates the wheel. The wiper should tell you what side goes where. The more sophisticated your electronics the more important the sides are because DC current direction is everthing. This is where a second engine is important. I can't help you there. Visit a hobby shop? If you have a loop with the reverse button on the transformer you are fine if you do not have sound or DCC.

If the wheels ground out throught the truck and axle, then yes, direction is important. Both axles have to point in the same direction and both trucks have sets of axles have to be different .I think Athearn uses the wheel so piclup is from one side.
It's always good to take pictures or have an extra engine handyfor reference.

 

[stationmaster]

The engine may run reverse of what its normally would. Test with your power supply BEFORE tightening the thing down

as far as the switch, are you running a reverse loop? shouldn't matter with DCC, but any analog engine you may choice to run may have difficulty if a revers loop is in use at that location.

Bob

 

[jimlar19]

all my engines are DCC, operating system DCC, no reverse loops, I have just got 2 of these turnouts and was concerned about short circut, i could get a couple more turnouts that are insulated if these are going to cause a problem

thanks Jim

 

[stationmaster]

My turnouts are isolated I believe. The layout is 350 miles away....hard for me to check. But, I use Walther's switched, made by Shinohara. Anyone out there know much about them? I can't seem to picture them in my mind, old age, ya know....

Bob

 

[T-Man]

I have some loose change.(My 2 cents) I found this.
Electrofrog
A lot of info, this should settle your initial question, Jim

 

[stationmaster]

That's a nickel's worth.

Bob

 

[jimlar19]

T-Man

thanks that link to electro frog was wery helpfull, it really explained the whole thing in detail

jim

FYI
Athearn emailed me and informed me that there is not a polarity problem with putting the wheels back in the trucks, you can put them in either way no problem.