Atlas Remote Switches

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Cannonball

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Dec 4, 2006
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I know nothing about N scale remote switches. What is needed to make these go? I notice they just have a couple of wires running off of them. What are they attached to? O scale just has an overgrown toggle switch connected to them. What do the controls look like for N scale and why don't they come with the switch?? :confused:
 
jesso

jesso

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The ones that I have is a three wire coming off of the motor, you attach that to a monentary switch that you move to either side and then press it in for a quick second. Off of that switch are two wires that attach to the AC screws on your power pack. My switches came with everything I needed. If you look closely in the middle of this old picture, you can see the switches and wires and toggles.
2.jpg
 
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seanm

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Atlas remote switches are twin coil solinoid type. The black wire is ususally the common contact. The red+ black throws the switch one way and the green + black throws the switch the other way. These switches can run on any 12v AC or DC power. The black wire goes to either positive or negative or either AC. The other side of the power goes to a momentary contact type of switch that then connects to the green wire on one side and the red on the other DO NOT USED TOGGLE SWITCHES. They must be momentary either push button or on-off-on momentary. If you make a trip down ot the hobby store and look on the back of any Atlas switch (even HO) there should be a wiring diagram.
 
jesso

jesso

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Those are the ones. I have seen where you can wire a couple of switches together that need to be changed together, but you would need even more switches to have them control different parts of the layouts at different times. Sorry i used the word toggles (I looked that up and definately wrong about that), when it comes to wiring and electronics, just about everything to me is a doohickey or a thingumabob. :)
 
C

Cannonball

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jesso said:
when it comes to wiring and electronics, just about everything to me is a doohickey or a thingumabob. :)
Click to expand...

Don't worry.
I work with mechanical engineers who have college degrees and still use the same terminology. :D

So they each have to be wired separately to the switches but they can all be wired to the same power pack, correct?
 
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60103

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diode matrix

You can reduce the number of controls required.
I use a system where there are contacts on the control panel track dagram and a dangling wire; you could use push buttons.
Using jesso's track plan as an example: you can set up a diode matrix for control. There are engineering-style designs for these, but for simplicity, I'll describe it. You have 3 pushbuttons for each of the sidings, 1 2 and 3 from the bottom. The turnouts are A and B from the bottom.
Button 1 throws turnout A straight.
Button 2 throws turnout B curved and turnout A curved.
Button 3 throws turnout B straight and turnout A curved.
Button 3 is connected to one side of turnout B motor and through a diode to the curved side of turnout A.
Button 2 is connected to the other side of turnout B motor and through a diode to the curved side of turnout A. (Both diodes end up on the same side of turnout A).
When 2 is pushed, it curves turnout B and through the diode turnout A. The other diode prevents the current from coming back to the straight side of turnout B. Similarly for 3.
I think a DC supply is needed but I may be wrong. This method can be expanded and applied to complicated systems. If you have a lot of turnouts at one time you may need a Capacitor Discharge Unit.
 
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