zimo.guru

Hello,

I have some technical questions regarding your product MX820E & MX820V (turnouts controls).
I would like to use these products with some Kato N turnouts.

1) On a Kato #4 Left or Right turnout (Kato 20-220 or 20-221) with your MX820E decoder:
- What does happen if the manual small switch along the turnout is manually moved? Is the new manually switched position reported by the railcom functionality on a DCC/Railcom central station, or is totally ignored?
- Have you a drawing of the correct electrical wiring to do on a Kato #4 turnout (a bettter drawing than the general case printed on the user manual shipped with the MX820E product)?

2) On a Kato Double crossover turnout (Kato 20-210):
- Can only 1 MX820V be used by wiring 2 by 2 the opposite turnouts (1 address/sub-address to pilot 2 opposite turnouts in 1 time, and the other address/sub-address to pilot the 2 other opposite turnouts)?
- If yes, what does happen if the manual small switch along only 1 turnout is manually moved (the opposite turnout wired on the same decoder address would create an electrical short-cut, or it's OK and the 2 opposite turnouts will be realigned at the next electrical command)?
- If no (= 2 x MX820V are required), is it possible to assign the same CV address/sub-address to move 2 opposite turnouts at the same time?
- If yes, same question as before: what does happen if the manual small switch along only 1 turnout is manually moved (and not manually moved on the opposite turnout wired on the same address)?
- If no, that probally means that 4 x MX820E are maybe preferable... But in everycases, 2 x MX820V or 4 x MX820E are very expensive just to pilote only 1 Kato double crossover: is there now (or in a near future) a cheaper option proposed by your company?
- In anycase of a suitable possibility with your product(s), have you a drawing of the correct electrical wiring to do on a Kato Double crossover turnout 20-210?

Thanks by advance for your awaited answers.

Dear Requester!

Ad 1)
• Nothing will happen. The decoder does not know, that the switch has been moved manually, because of the special construction oft he Kato turnouts.
• The correct wiring is like this:

You can find this drawing also in the manual oft he MX820: http://www.zimo.at/web2010/documents/MX820E.pdf

Ad 2)
• Yes, that’s possible.
• It’s no problem, if the switch is manually moved – no short-cut. The two turnouts will be realigned by the next command.
• No railcom-reporting like above.
• Nothing will happen like above.
• The wiring ist he same as above. Connect two opposite turnputs to one decoder-output (orange + grey or white + yellow).

Hi Andreas,

Thank you for your reply.
The best news is that I can order only 1 MX820V for the double crossover turnout (Kato 20-210)...

Thanks too for the '.pdf' that you've joined to your mail, but I already know this document, and it was the reason of my request about an user manual with a better drawing showing the correct electrical wiring: the Zimo side is well documented in your instructions (with all the desired CV values), but on the turnout side, the shown electrical wiring is very 'generic': when somebody opens a turnout, he generally faces a small electrical board without knowing where to make the connection of each wire...
I understand that it depends on each model of each Manufacturer, but I was hoping that you have some more detailled examples including the Kato's turnouts.

So, I willl try to guess what to do based on the documentation of the decoder DS51K1 from your competitor 'Digitrax' (distributed too by Kato as DS51K, ref. 29-062). I've joined to my mail the corresponding documentation (in DE and in EN). The photos make things more clear...

I was looking for a decoder with return of the position of the turnout (through Railcom), the DS51K1 from 'Digitrax' seems not to have this functiion, so, it's why I was interested by yours.
You mentioned in your mail that the manual usage of the turnout will be not reported through Railcom, but is there any option to wire the manual switch with Input 1/Input 2 of the MX820E to solve this issue (even if the electrical command with be sent in parallel of the manual change)?

Dear Requester!

In the manual we can only describe the ZIMO-side. For the correct wiring on the turnout-side please see the manual oft he turnout.
It’s not possible to describe all tournouts of all manufacturers in the ZIMO-manual.
Thank You for Your understanding and for the attachments, You sent.

The MX820 is able to send Railcom.
However the construction of the Kato-turnout prevents the detection oft he position.
There is no end-switch. So the decoder is not able to detect, if You switch the tournout manually.
It’s not a problem on decoder-side, but on turnout-side!
There is no possibility to solve this issue; neither with MX820 nor with any other decoder!

The manual-switch is not an electrical switch. It’s only mechanical.
So it’s not possible to use the decoder-inputs by the manual-switch.

Sorry for no better news…