While there are lots of differences between manufacturers’ products, one thing that is pretty standard are the workings of twin-coil switch machines. These have been a hobby standard for 100 years. Consequently, you can use your Lionel TMCC or LEGACY command system to control lots of switches, not just ours. The SC-2 is the easiest controller to wire for twin-coil machines. For machines that use an AC or DC motor to throw the switch, you would be better off using an ASC. The ASC can be used for momentary-contact switches as well.
Before we get into the SC-2, let’s take a look at the switches themselves. Although you can run your switches off of track power as they are shipped, we highly recommend converting to a constant voltage of 14 Volts AC from an accessory power supply. This will extend the life of your switch by protecting it from the constant 18 Volts of command control on the rails and improve your operations as well whether you run with command control or conventional.
Wiring
The SC-2 can control up to six switches from many manufacturers.
- The SC-2 has its own external power supply. This simply plugs into the back of the base and plugs into a standard wall outlet. Also, unlike the ASC, you don’t need any wire connection directly to the command base.
The SC-2 can be used with switches from MTH, Atlas-O and Z-Stuff. While there are some subtle differences between each one, the wiring is fairly standardized. In general, you need four connections between switches, your power supply and the SC-2:
- Common / Ground
- AC Hot
- Through
- Out
We recommend color coding these wires to make tracing much easier. Any colors will do, just be consistent between switches.
To see the particulars for wiring MTH RealTrax®, MTH ScaleTrax®, Atlas-O and the Z-Stuff DZ1000, just check out this video:
Operating Your Switch
Using your TMCC or LEGACY remote, to operate the switch, simply press:
- Switch
- The Switch Number (1-99)
- Aux 1 (Through) or Aux 2 (Out)
All of this is to confuseing