Walthers New DCC Compatible Turnouts

Do you have a new style, DCC Compatible, Walthers turnout, or the old style? If you do not know how to tell, check out the new DCC Compatible turnout photos below. If you turnout does not have all* the features in the photos, then you have the old style and should read the web page pertaining to the old style.

* "all" is important as Walthers has made some turnouts that used rail joiners on the point rails but the turnout is not otherwise DCC Friendly. How do you know you are buying one of the new DCC compatible turnouts? See below.

Is Walthers DCC Compatible Turnout DCC Friendly?

Walther's has introduced a new line of "DCC Compatible" turnouts. Are they DCC Friendly as defined in this website? In a word: Yes! The pictures below tell the story and highlight the features that make this turnout what we have all been waiting for - a readily available turnout, in the largest variety from any manufacturer, that is DCC Friendly.

Code 83

	The frog is electrically isolated from the point and frog rails. This is a key feature of DCC Friendly turnouts.
	The point rails are at the same electrical polarity as the adjoining stock rail. This is another key feature of DCC Friendly turnouts. To achieve this, Walthers has done away with the bar that connected the two point rails together. You no longer need to do away with the wipers on the throwbar.
	Bonds (green highlights) on the bottom of the turnout complete the electrical connections between the various rails. This is not a requirement of DCC Friendly turnouts. I merely provided this photo for those curious about the new turnout's design. Some turnouts have a problem with these bonds. See below.
	Rail joiners are used to connect the point rails to the closure rails. On their previous turnout, these were connected together by a pivot joint. Their separation on this new design is critical to achieving a DCC Friendly turnout.

Photos courtesy of Walter McIntosh

How Do They Look?

While this website is dedicated to DCC, as this may be your first opportunity to see these new turnouts, a few words about their appearance are in order. The frog is a favorite among modelers in assessing the detail of turnout. The frog on this turnout isn't as detailed as some cast frogs. But notice that Walthers darkened the area between the rail heads

The hinges at the tip of the points are unappealing, but I believe easily resolved. Two pieces of styrene should do the trick. Glue a thick piece of styrene between the hinge points. On top of this piece, glue a wider piece to act as a cap covering the hinges. Paint to match the creosote-colored ties.

Using The New Turnout

There is not anything you need to do to make this turnout DCC Friendly as defined on this website.

You just need to do a few things:

1. Make sure all the bonds on your turnouts are electrically connected. See above. Fix if necessary. See below.
2. Attach wires from your bus to the stock rails.
3. Attach a wire to your frog and attach to your power routing switch - whatever that may be.

You need to do one more thing for long, reliable operation. Pick one of the following:

a. Attach two wires from your point rails to your buses. (This is my preference.) OR
b. Attach bond wires across the rail joiners under the turnout.

Above is a pair of bonds soldered across the joiner underneath the turnout. The wire is green so that it would show up easier in the photo. I used #24 AWG stranded wire so that the least amount of springiness would be added to the points.

Notice that joiner end (blue highlight) is in the center of the photo. It acts as a hinge. To prevent your points from becoming too stiff, do not solder here.

To prepare the turnout for the wire attachments on the right, trim the thin plastic strips (red highlights) from between the ties with a sharp knife. You can see examples of such strips in the photo above between other ties (orange highlight). Do the cutting with the turnout on a table top. Do not hold it and cut as the knife may slip and cut your fingers.

While this task is probably best accomplished with a resistance soldering station, I did the above with a 35 Watt pencil soldering iron just to see if it could be done.

To solder on the wire using only two hands:
1. Put some solder on the wires. Not a blob. This is called tinning the wire.
2. Then solder a small blob onto the back of the rail where you intend to solder the wires.
3. Reheat the solder and press the wire into it.
This can be done quickly. It wasn't pretty on the back of the turnout, but it looks fine from the topside.
Make sure of two things:
1. That the points are in the center of travel before soldering.
2. That you carefully handle the turnout after soldering to avoid burning your fingers.

How to Wire This Turnout:

This section assumes you have read "How to Wire Turnouts" in the section on turnouts.

1. Connect the frog to your power routing switch or switch machine.

2. Connect your power routing switch or switch machine to your bus as shown in the above drawing. If the locomotive shorts when it goes across the frog, swap the wires that connect your power routing switch or switch machine to your bus.

3. Run a wire from each point rail to the corresponding bus wire as shown in color above.

4. Run a wire from each stock rail to the corresponding bus wire as shown in color above.

Note: You do not need to use insulated joiners anywhere on this turnout.

Wiring the Walther's DCC Compatible (Friendly) 3-Way Turnout You could give yourself a headache trying to figure out how to wire this turnout. But as you can see, it really is simple! The microswitch that you attach to the first set of points controls the power to the first two frogs. The micoswitch that you attach to the second set of points controls the power to the third frog. Mystery solved! If you are curious as to how I figured it out, here is the table I made myself:   1 2 3 Left + Ar + Ar X Center X - Al + Br Right - Al X - Bl   I numbered the frogs 1,2, and 3. I labeled the first set of points "A" and the second "B". I use blue for + and red for -. X means the frog is not involved with the train movement in the direction listed in the left column and it doesn't matter what the polarity of that frog is. "r" means the points are thrown to the right and "l" means the points are to the left. First, I filled the table with +,-, and X. Then I figured out what combination of the points when moved might create the polarity the frog needed. Cautionary note: My local train store does not carry this turnout. I figured this turnout from several photos one of my readers sent. While I feel confident that I have this right, I have no way to check it. So if you find that I have made an error, please let me know. How to Wire This Turnout: This section assumes you have read "How to Wire Turnouts" in the section on turnouts. 1. Connect the frogs to your power routing switches or switch machines. 2. Connect your power routing switches or switch machines to your bus as shown in the drawing. If the locomotive shorts when it goes across the frog, swap the wires that connect your power routing switch or switch machine to your bus. 3. Run a wire from each point rail to the corresponding bus wire as shown in color above. 4. Run a wire from each stock rail to the corresponding bus wire as shown in color above. Note: You do not need to use insulated joiners anywhere on this turnout.

Code 70 and code 100 Shinohara turnouts are still non-DCC Friendly as of this writing. Also, you may still have an old code 83 turnout. If it has metal pivots for the points, you have a non-DCC Friendly turnout. For instructions on converting the non-DCC Friendly turnouts to be DCC Friendly, see these instructions.

Which Turnouts Walthers is Making DCC Compatible:

Check the Walthers website for availability and which turnouts will be available DCC Compatible. Skip through to about page 3 and look for the part numbers starting with part number 8801. These are the new DCC Compatible turnouts.

How You Know You Are Buying One of the New Turnouts:

Walthers is using their existing boxes with a neon-yellow sticker you cannot miss. It says:

NOW IMPROVED
For Both DC and DCC Operations

This is the turnout you want to purchase. The sticker also has the new part numbers on it.

Be sure to check their website for availability. As of this writing (3/24/04), not all models of this turnout are yet available.

Check Your Turnouts for Good Electrical Bonds:

The bonding straps on the bottom of the turnouts is something new for Walthers. On some of the early production units, these bonding straps are not making good electrical contact. Of the three units I have inspected, only the initial one had a problem. This is provided for the people with the early production units.

Here is what to do.

1. Before buying a turnout, check it out electrically in the store. Use the colored diagram above to guide you. All the rails shown in red should be connected together. All the rails shown in blue should be connected together. Use an ohm meter to make sure the various pieces of rail are electrically connected as shown in the diagram. When checking, do not have the points touch the stock rail of the side of the turnout you are checking. This will give you a false positive indication.

2. If you have already bought the turnout or want to buy one and don't mind fixing it, it is fairly easy to do. Just determine which bond is defective and run a wire between the two rails of the defective bond. Or you can drop feeders from the problem rail to the busunderneath your layout.