Unitrack switches with Marklin k83

[oenckie]

Hi all,

 

Does anybody know if the Marklin k83 switchdecoder can be used with Unitrack switches?

I found a couple of those Marklins, and wonder if I can give those something to do :)

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Regards,

 

Marco

[kvp]

They are low active switch decoders, so the middle output is power and the two side ones are pulsed to ground. This is only directly usable for the ancient 3 wire Kato turnouts, but you can make a 2 wire adapter circuit. Essentially you just connect 2 dpdt morse relays to each group of 3 outputs and wire the relays to output a polarized 12V pulse when they are activated. (one direction for one relay, the reverse for the other) I'm not sure if it's financially worth it though as all these relays could cost as much as getting a polarity reversal capable decoder.

[oenckie]

15 minutes ago, kvp said:

They are low active switch decoders, so the middle output is power and the two side ones are pulsed to ground. This is only directly usable for the ancient 3 wire Kato turnouts, but you can make a 2 wire adapter circuit. Essentially you just connect 2 dpdt morse relays to each group of 3 outputs and wire the relays to output a polarized 12V pulse when they are activated. (one direction for one relay, the reverse for the other) I'm not sure if it's financially worth it though as all these relays could cost as much as getting a polarity reversal capable decoder.

 

Thanks!

 

Guess I won't use them then :)

Saterday there's a trainevent nearby, I will look for a right decoder.

 

Regards,

 

Marco