Hello all , I currently have a Lionel cab1l system and plan to purchase a DCS unit. I have all my post-war tubular switches nected to Lionel sc controllers . I would like to control the trains mainly with the DCS unit, obviously with the adapter to make it compatible with Lionel. Can I also control my switches that are wired to the line sc units with the DCS controller?
Thank you very much, Jerry
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Hello Jerry.
Couple of things. First, this should probably be in the DCS forum, not the DCC forum. they are two entirely different systems. unless you mean DCC?
On to the question. At this time MTH's DCS system can only operate TMCC engines. There is no support for any other TMCC devices.
It is possible to make the DCS remote run TMCC devices, but it is very complex, requiring a microprocessor of some sort to decode DCS data and translate it into TMCC data. It can be done, but is probably not worth the trouble.
JGL
Thanks for the reply. I meant dcs.
Thanks again, jerry
I suppose you could wire a ~$100 MTH AIU box (controls up to 10 switches) in parallel with a SC box so either can activate a switch. The AIU would be controllable from the MTH DCS remote handheld, the SC would be controlled from the Lionel remote.
Thank you but how confident are you that this would work?
Jerry
If you are asking about marrying a Lionel switch controller with a MTH switch controller, then I'm very confident though I admit I don't have this configuration myself. The concept of two (or more) devices controlling a given switch is well established. That is, you might already have the manual lever switch controller connected at the same time as your command switch controller box (e.g., SC-2). For each switch, run 3-wires between the MTH and Lionel switch controller boxes as illustrated below. MTH labels the switch controller terminals 1,2, IN instead of #1,#2, #3.
If you're asking about what JGL suggests about a widget that would intercept DCS handheld-remote switch commands and convert them to a format that a Lionel switch controller would understand, then I am confident it could work...but I'd be amazed if someone has done so or has even pondered doing so.
Much thanks for the reply. Do you know anybody that has tried this method?
Jerry
No I do not. I see you have a related thread in the DCS forum; you may want to pose the question there.
Thanks for your reply sir. Appreciate it
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