12-02-2017, 08:21 PM
(12-02-2017, 07:38 PM)Canard Wrote: Someone on twitter wondered if perhaps it was the horses’ shoes, conducting between both rails through their bodies? Seems like a bit of a stretch, but if only a little bit of current is required...
(Hey, I’m mechanical, not electrical!)
I can’t imagine much current is needed. Certainly the two rails can’t possibly be at a significant voltage difference to each other.
Did they activate fully and for a noticeable period of time, or just blink briefly? Of course I also don’t know how the activation actually connects to the devices — I wonder what happens if the track circuit is completed briefly? I can imagine that maybe the arms would start to drop and then immediately rise up again, essentially just jerking a bit; or maybe the way it works is that it always activates fully when the circuit is completed, then after a timeout deactivates. I’ve never experimented with a 5' length of wire and a low-traffic crossing.