I decided to give the new Lionel Fastrack a try since I can set it up so quickly. I am having a hard time wiring my Lionel 154 Automatic Flashing Road Crossing to alternately flash using the Lionel Fastrack. I purchased the Accessory Activator Pack, but still can not figure out how to wire it so the lights will flash alternatively? I have asked many train store owners and cannot get an answer. How can I use my classic accessories with this new track?
Help!!
Christopher
Unfortunately that “accessory activator pack” is good only for simpler accessories that just need to be turned on or off.
You could duplicate the function of the 154C contactor by isolating two consecutive pieces of an outside rail, each about 1 inch long (or whatever the width of the 154C blades is). The connections to these rail sections would replace terminals 2 and 3 of the 154C and would therefore be connected to terminals 2 and 3 of the 154 signal. Terminal 1 is just a connection to the center rail; so you can connect terminal 1 of the 154 to the center rail or to an accessory voltage, whichever you want.
Another option is to add a relay in the mix (Burns Manufacturing sells them in an add in the back of most CTT issues, as does Depotronics ). These relays will give the 154 a more realistic, evenly spaced flashes than the original activation switch. The 2 short pieces of track will replicate the original switch’s operation.
The relays cost about $20 each. If you go with one of these relays, make sure the one you buy is reated for lamps and not LEDs (I don’t believe Burns makes an LED model), as the LED version I saw didn’t have the current rating high enough to use with the Lamps on a 154.
Hope this helps,
J White
You might also look at the Z-Stuff relays, don’t recall the number, they may be less $'s. They are not only for use on the DZ-1000 swithch machines, I’ve used them for activating signals.
Here is a flasher design I posted about 5 years ago. The Radio Shack stock numbers and prices are in parentheses:
Get a bridge rectifier (276-1152, $1.59). One of the terminals is marked “+”. Connect either of the two terminals on each side of the “+” to the accessory voltage. Connect the other of these two terminals to the insulated control rail.
Connect the “+” terminal of the rectifier to the positive terminal of a 1000-microfarad, 35 volt capacitor (272-1032, $1.59) and the rectifier terminal opposite the “+” to the negative terminal of the capacitor. Call the positive capacitor terminal V+ and the negative V- from here on.
Connect the 154’s terminal 1 to V+. Connect the emitters, marked “E”, of two 2N3904 transistors (276-2016, $.79 each) to V-. Connect the 154’s terminal 2 to the collector, marked “C” of one transistor. Connect the 154’s terminal 3 to the collector of the other transistor.
Connect a 3300-ohm resistor (271-1328, 5 for $.99) between V+ and the base, marked “B”, of one transistor. Connect another resistor between V+ and the base of the other transistor.
Connect the positive terminal of another 1000-microfarad capacitor (272-1032) to the collector of one transistor and the negative terminal to the base of the other transistor. Connect the positive terminal of a third 1000-microfarad capacitor to the collector of the second transistor and the negative terminal to the base of the first transistor.