Remote Fastrack switches. AC/DC or both??

[Michael6268]

I know they operate on AC fixed or track voltage. But I was wondering what happens if you use the DC voltage that's being supplied with so many lionchief sets nowadays. Do the switches run on DC track power too? Do they have a rectifier built in?

[brianel027]

This is a good question. Now the FasTrack switches don't use a coil like other prior 027/0 switches: They use a DC motor instead. So obviously there must be some sort of small rectifier or other electronics built in for them to run on AC.

You should be able to run them on DC also. But I checked the literature under the service link on the Lionel website. The FasTrack switch instructions clearly state AC power. But then they are also dated before the advent of LionChief andthe Plug-and-Play line.

The drawback would be the small power reserve of the wall power pack included in nearly all the LionChief starter sets. BUT since these are putting on 18 volts constant, and the switches are momentary operation, that should be sufficient, provided you don't have too much else drawing current from the wall power pack. Well, the other thing is Lionel recommends 14 volts of AC power for best operation, so maybe 18v constant is too much?

No mention of running FasTrack switches off the DC wall pack in any of the Lionel catalogs I have. Lots of promotion for the Plug and Play stuff though. Since no one else has answered, you might put the question to Lionel if you are serious about doing this.

[Teramedia]

The Fastrack switch controller connections are Ground (GND: Black), Thru (Through: Green), Turn (Turnout: Red), and some three-letter code (RSC?: Yellow) for the remote switch controller (RSC) indicator lights. With an AC power source, the yellow wire will be +5v when the switch is in the straight position, and -5v when it is in the turn position. So if you are running off of DC, that isn't going to work very well. My experience was that the green signal lights would work on the RSC, but the red lights would not with a DC supply. As soon as I connected to an AC supply, the controller lights all worked fine. The way that the controller works to control the switch is that it pulls the wire for whichever direction (green for straight, red for turn) you choose to ground by making a connection to the black (ground) wire. Because of this, the switch will work, but the indicator lights won't work properly.