joe27 You also need to make sure that your switch is a center on type as Radio Shack sells center off as well. Joe
You also need to make sure that your switch is a center on type as Radio Shack sells center off as well.
Joe
A center-off switch pin out will be the same. The only difference is that the toggle switch has three positions on-off-on as opposed to on-on . Thus you can put the switch in the center position and have nothing connected to the track. I use this for all of my block switches because I thought I would need it when switching from DC to DCC and wanted to be able to disconnected power to the track. In reality once I made the switch to DCC, I immediately disconnected DC and got busy upgrading non-DCC locomotives. The only place where I still use one is my programming track where it doubles as a powered DCC siding and a programming track. The center off position is for no power at all to the track.
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Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
Yes, mine is a center switch.
- Luke
Modeling the Southern Pacific in the 1960's-1980's
Thanks, I got it set up. I only needed one because I have a small layout.
New Haven I-5 How do I set one up? Do I split the wires between the track and the control station and twist the wires from the same side together? I'm stuck, so can anyone help. I am trying to switch between DCC & DC.
How do I set one up? Do I split the wires between the track and the control station and twist the wires from the same side together? I'm stuck, so can anyone help. I am trying to switch between DCC & DC.
It sounds like you're setting up a simple cab selector, in this case, one cab is DC and the other DCC. Think of the terminals on the switch as three sets of two terminals. The center pair will go to the track. One outer pair goes to the DCC power station, and the other to the DC power pack.
An important note, if you're planning on having your blocks selectable between DC and DCC, at each place you have block divisions, you need to insulate BOTH rails. It's not recommended to try using common rail when selecting between different types of power sources.
Yes. Center two terminals go to the track. End two on one side go to your DC, end two on the other side go to your DCC.
Tricky Part: If looking at the switch from the bottom, in other words looking at the terminals, and the switch handle is to your right, it's connecting the LEFT set of terminals to the middle set. This fools people all the time, and I've even seen it draw wrong on block wiring diagrams.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I have the Radio Shack one. So, the center position's pins have the track soldered to it?
If it is a standard DPDT switch then the track connects to the center (switched pins). The DC power pack connects to the pins on one side of the DPDT switch and the DCC control station connects to the other set of pins on the opposite end of the switch from where you connected the DC power pack.