Has anyone had experience with the Piko switch motors? I'd like to hear some of your opinions, good or bad.
PIKO 35271 Switch motor
- Thread starter Madman
- Start date
Bigjack has some, but he is away on holiday in Rhodes at the moment.
They are much bigger than the LGB ones. Can't comment on how well they have fared, but Bjgjack has had them for a year now....
They are much bigger than the LGB ones. Can't comment on how well they have fared, but Bjgjack has had them for a year now....
Madman said:
Significantly larger in size than the LGB, but much better waterproofing (which accounts for some of the extra size). In terms of operation, no different to LGB's. Too early to say whether they will last as long as some of my LGB motors (14 years for the longest-lived!), but no obvious issues so far.
I was thinking about the size of the motor. Are they direct replacements for EPL switch motors? Would there be any problems with interference from locos or rolling stock? Do they operate on the EPL system?
Yes, they can directly replace EPL motors.Madman said:
No issues with interference AFAIK.
They work fine from an EPL system or an LGB/Massoth Point Decoder....
Gizzy said:
Same answers as Gizzy. They are designed to be drop-in replacements for LGB point motors and are.
This is old thread, but just in case... , this is not totally true.
I have USA Trains GP38 and there is interference with the truck, creating a wear zone underneath of the side frame.
I started with one unit .This Piko motor is quite good and beautiful product but I came back to LGB for that reason.
Then I am indoor so the water tightness is not needed.
I have USA Trains GP38 and there is interference with the truck, creating a wear zone underneath of the side frame.
I started with one unit .This Piko motor is quite good and beautiful product but I came back to LGB for that reason.
Then I am indoor so the water tightness is not needed.
I am trying to find out , by diagram , or utube or what ever works, how to hook up the piko switch motor. I have three of them and am trying to get power to one of them to work{•~•}.
Cheers
If they are taller than the latest EPL drives interference may be an issue. Check carefully if you can before committing to buy. I had some of the first edition EPL drives with the slide on top that could be used to manually throw the turnout. The slide interfered with the rail clearance devices (some call them plows) on my LGB 20273, G3/4 Rhatia. This only happened when the switch motor was thrown toward the rails. It took me a while to figure out what was going on. I had to remove the slides which was easily done. I then covered the resulting hole with mastic electrical tape to keep water out. I assume there would be a similar issue with all the LGB RhB G3/4 variants and the early EPL drives.
Edit added: Did not realize this was a resurrected thread!
Second edit added: The interference may have been with the bottom of the cylinders not the rail clearance devices. The problem cropped up and was solved a few years ago and the old memory is not what it used to be!
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Ipsu you possibly just buy a piko switch control box
connect ît to the power transformer .
At last you connect 2 wires out of the control box to the switch motor.
with the piko control box you have a data sheet instruction.
connect ît to the power transformer .
At last you connect 2 wires out of the control box to the switch motor.
with the piko control box you have a data sheet instruction.