http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/150-344
Anyone tried these? I’ve looked at some other brands but they only operate Tortoise style machines. These will do those OR twin coil. They look pretty darn EZ to hook up. That’s less than $10/turnout for DCC control. If these follow NMRA standards, they should work with a PA2, right?
I use the Digitrax DS-64.
Easy yes… but consider this:
Kato is a BI Polar switch machine. Two WIRE MOMENTARTY THROW. The DS-64 must stop the current within .5 of a second or the switch fries.
Same with the atlas throw motors. Momentary.
Momentary = Bi Polar = TWO WIRE.
now…
Turtles and other switch machines are THREE WIRE. They require a COMMON. Whatever voltage you feed them is how fast they will throw. A single nine volt battery will drive a turtle forever or a large group of turtles several months.
Ive just exhausted my knowledge here.
I dont get any savings with my Katos. I do throw the DS 64 with my Digitrax throttle via the loconet.
I dont know what you can do with this new Atlas unit via DCC.
Aren’t the Atlas switch machines a 3 wire twin coil?(those are what I’ll probably use) I would think if this is made/sold by Atlas, it should work fine with their switch machines. I’m more interested if these will work with a PA or PA2.
They may very well be. I remember some Atlas switch machines as having three wire.
I keep looking at the board in the walthers picture.
It looks capable of driving either type of switches.
Also there appears to be a word LENZ on the board and if that is so, this is somehow related to Lenz DCC. Perhaps a repackaging under the Atlas brand.
Yes, Atlas switch machines are 3 wire twin coil machines, and this should work fine with them and with the PA2. You may have a hard time finding this because I do not think Atlas sales it anymore; however, it is the same thing as the Lenz LS150(If you look close at the picture, it even says Lenz Elektronik GmbH LS150 on the circuit board). Digitrax and NCE, also make decoders that will control twin coil switch machines, but this one is probably the lowest cost per turnout option.
CSX Robert-Thanks! I didn’t notice that these ARE the LENZ products! Tonys has them for $40. That’s only $6.75/turnout! It says you can add push buttons too.
The Lenz LS150 works great with Atlas twin-coil machines. I power mine from the AC terminal of an old DC power pack. I operate them from my DCC throttle.
For reference, here’s Tony’s write-up on the LS150:
http://www.tonystrains.com/productcompare/sta_dec_comparison_ls150.htm
As usual, it’s a first-class analysis.
Has anyone used one of these with a Capacitive Discharge circuit feeding the LS150 for power?