# z stuff for trains



## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

I purchased two of their signals at the york show.Their siginals have a sensor on the side of them that activates the three color light to change colors as the train passes. The three color signal worked as it should. I also purchased a semaphore signal that should have changed colors and made the signal to show that the track was not clear. But the gears inside did not work and the signal arm never worked the way it was intended. I sent it back two times and also called the owner of the product and told him what was happening he said he would fix it or replace it but after sending it back twice he sent me the same one back. Both times the action of the arm was worse. The last time he sent it to me and it did not work i called him and told him that the semaphore signal was junk and i would be sending back to the dealer i purchased it from for a refund. I,am posting this to see if there are any other people that have had this trouble with this product. The product name is z-stuff for trains.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I have several of their 3 color signals and the only thing I noticed is in bright sun the signals will not change colors when the train passes by. Later in the day they work fine. I did not purchase any of the semaphore signals. So i do not know if this was a problem or not. Later RJD


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

What voltage where you feeding it? Was it rock solid or could the supply be loading down 

JJ


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## ConrailRay (Jan 2, 2008)

Pete, Can you describe what you mean by "the action of the arm" ?? ie, smoothness, doesn't stop at proper position points, etc? 
I don't have any but saw them at the eclsts and the semaphores are powered by a small servo. The uproc sends signals to the servo to control speed and position and if you try to make it move too slowly, creates a slight jerky motion, but they looked ok moving at the booth. Servos also suck up more current then you would think, so not sure of the rating on the wall-wart they provide or battery you used. 

RJD, I think they use an infrared LED and receiver. The sun will mess this up big time if they didn't program in a specific pulse rate to monitor, and even then the suns IR could still cause issues at certain angles. 

-Ray


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ they run off 9v battery. Ray the semaphore one that i had has a worm gear that drives a round gear that operates the red arm or signal and that is where the trouble was the red arm never worked the way it was intended.


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## Adam Anderson (Apr 21, 2011)

These units always looked a little large to me, Ive always thought the S and B units looked better, I guess only the insider can tell what they prefer.


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## mgilger (Feb 22, 2008)

I should have posted this several months ago.

I bought 2 of these units with the 3 lights, not the semaphores, several months ago. I found out to operate reliably you need to raise the height of the unit so the sensor hits the flat surface of the passing cars. In my case, that meant I had to build a base and raise the unit by 3/4 inches. It works best if it sees a flat surface. I also built a little sun shad over the top of the sensor to keep sun light from degrading the returned signal. I power mine from the 24volts on my track and that required a small dropping resistor be installed in the base of the unit to get the voltage below 18 volts. This is what they say is the maximum operating voltage. I'm now very happy with the performance.










Regards,
Mark

*http://mmg-garden-rr.webs.com *


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