I posted this today on another thread but thought it might get lost so I’m reposting here. Thanks in advance for any help.
I’m trying to wire several atlas switch machines via normally open momentary contact pushbuttons. Each turnout has two of these and each momentary contact button has to spade terminals. The powerpack of course has two terminals and the switch machines have 3. I know this is an elementary question but I can’t figure out the routing of the wires.
Are the common wires (center terminal) from the Atlas machine tied together and run to one side of the power supply? What is the routing for the two wires on each button? Does one wire go to one of the outside terminals on the machine and the other to the powerpack?
The center terminal on the Atlas switch machine is the DC common (ground), and the two outer terminals are the positive inputs to throw the switch. If you’re using two separate push buttons, connect the power pack’s ground wire to the center terminal on the switch motor. Connect the positive wire from the power pack through the push buttons and to the other two terminals on the switch motor. If the switch motor doesn’t throw the way you want, reverse these two connections.
Correct, accept that they will work on AC too, and the last sentence is not applicable. AC is recommended to increase the life of your pushbutton switches, as the arcing will be greatly reduced. Even better than AC is capacitive discharge supply.