NCE Stall Motor ("Switch"-Series)

NCE has two products that are designed to work with Stall Motor based switch/point motors. For information on Stall Motor switch machines, go here.

Common Features:

1) Each turnout output can have it own unique accessory address.

2) Each turnout output is protected from overload.

3) Remembers turnout position when power is lost.

4) When button inputs are supported, by default 2 are used per turnout.

TABLE OF CHANGES OR DIFFERENCES

FRIENDLIER PROGRAMING: A "SELECT OUTPUT" push button is used to select one of the 2 outputs in sequential order for programming. LEDs for each output will light up for the currently selected output. With a given output selected, a single digit numerical LED display is used to tell you the DCC address of that output. If you push the button for the 3rdh time, it will not select any output, all LEDs will turn off and control wise you get set to start back at the beginning with output #1 on the next push. There programming jumper is gone. When you push the "PROGRAM OUTPUT" push button, you enter into programming mode confirmed by the letter P showing in the display. If you do not do any programming for 1 minute, the Switch-It Mk2 will then exit program mode automatically and go back to operations mode.

Rev 1/A: Obsolete. No DC input support. 5/1/2000

Rev B: New PCB board. New button input design eliminates noise sensitivity issues that triggered false button presses. Adds "Exercise Mode" on Power Up . 10/15/2001

Rev B1: Software Upgrade. Adds DC Operation. Adds "Toggle" Push Button Mode operation allowing 1 button control of a turnout. 2/27/2003

Rev B1(2): Unknown software and hardware changes. New Manual Dated 1/11/2006 does add a picture of the decoder on the front cover.

Rev C: New PCB board to support new hardware design. Manual updated with new photo. Push Button Lockout feature has been added. 3/15/2007.

NCE SWITCH-It Mk2 (In Production)

The SWITCH-IT Mk2 is designed to be a DUAL standalone stall motor switch machine controller. The button inputs allow local control panel control at all time with DCC or DC being use as a power source. Each switch output can have it own unique DCC accessory address and control by accessory DCC packets from a throttle or a macro/route script. The Mk2 has all the feature of the previous product PLUS it has a greatly improved USER programming interface. No more jumpers. If you get the tortoise wired in backwards in terms of direction, you can change the output polarity with a CV value change. No need to flip the wires.

Device history:

TABLE COLUMN DESCRIPTIONS

HAS PUSH BUTTON INPUTS? Some model are intended for computer control only and do not support button inputs.

ONE BUTTON TOGGLE OPTION? Allow one to use a single push button in toggle mode to control the turnout position. If the turnout is not in the correct position, simply push the button. Setting CV548/CV549 = 1 enables the toggle option for their respective outputs. CV548/CV549 = 0 disables it for their respective outputs.. With the Mk2 series of products, CV548 affects all the inputs globally. No independent control over each output.

PUSH BUTTON LOCKOUT COMMAND? Allows a computer to send a CV command to disable button inputs. This facilitates layout operation where selected turnouts (main line) are locked out under control of the dispatcher or local tower operation using a computer. The train operator must communicate with the person in charge to negotiate how the locked turnout shall be thrown like the prototype. Set CV556 = 1 to disable the optional pushbutton inputs. CV556 = 0 enables the buttons.

TOGGLE SWITCH SUPPORT? Allows one to use a standard two position toggle switch to control the turnout position. Push button is not required.

RESET OPTION? Allows one to reset the decoder back to factory defaults.

STATUS LEDS? Decoder has LEDs of one form or another to show feedback information during operation or programming of the decoder.

POWER ON EXERCISE? This is a global option that effected all outputs. Restores full wire spring pressure of the point rail against the stock rail on power on. Why? When power is removed, the stall motor is no longer applying a force to keep the point rail against the stock rail using the spring wire. Instead the spring wire pressure is allowed to force the dead motor to go backwards and "unwind" the spring pressure until it is lost. Just restoring motor power does NOT restore the same full spring pressure that was achieved when the motor was moving from the other position.

REVERSE OUTPUT POLARITY WITH CV? If you find you have wired up the turnout backwards, you do not need to flip the wire going to the tortoise. Instead you can program a CV to switch the output polarity. This is not unlike CV29 of a locomotive decoder that defines the forward direction of the motor.

DC POWER INPUT OK? Decoder will function properly with DC power input.

GET DCC COMMANDS WITH DC INPUT? Decoder permits DCC command control while running on DC power input. Normally a decoder only has one power connection and if that power connection is supplying DC power, then there is no path that will allow DCC commands to reach the accessory decoder. However, if the given decoder are dual power inputs, DC and DCC, this allows DCC commands to still be received even if the decoder is running on DC power input. Technical: If the decoder is setup for this option, the DCC input is electrically isolated from the DC power but allows the DCC signal to reach the decoder using an optoisolator device to prevent shorts between the DC and DCC supply

ADDITIONAL NOTES

OUTPUT DRIVE POWER VS SUPPLY VOLTAGE

Although these device are intended to drive one Tortoise machine per output, in practice you can drive two in series or parallel. The best choice depends on the voltage being applied to the Switch-It or Switch-8. Lower Voltage inputs will do better with parallel Tortoise. If the DCC input voltage is low like needed for N-scale, the parallel option will give good result. If the DCC Voltage is high as found in larger scale, then series will work best.

CONTROL PANEL TURNOUT POSITION INDICATORS

There are NO dedicated turnout status outputs that can be used to show the current turnout position on a control panel. However using a Bi-color "two wire" LED -or- two separate LED's pre-wired back to back which in turn is wired in series with the tortoise, you can display the turnout position on a control panel. No current limiting resistor is required with the series option. Instructions on how to do that are included in the manual and in there Tortoise manual. You can also wire the same LED's up in parallel with the stall motor provided they are set up to only draw a few mA's of current. A minimum 1K current limiting resistor is recommended. This is the recommended if the supply voltage is low. Otherwise the tortoise will move to slowly or worse, not work properly as in proper spring pressure.

REVISION ID's

NCE has showed inconsistency regarding revision control labeling. Letters and numbers are switched but the order is preserved. For example: Rev 1 = Rev A and visa versa.

NCE SWITCH-It (Discontinued)

The discontinued SWITCH-IT is designed to be a DUAL standalone stall motor switch machine controller. The button inputs allow local control panel control at all time with DCC or DC being use as a power source. Each switch output can have it own unique DCC accessory address and control by accessory DCC packets from a throttle or a macro/route script. However, DCC control can only work if DCC power is used to power the device.

NCE SWITCH-8 (Discontinued)

Programming is done with a rotary dial and a Jumper. With the jumper installed, the rotary dial selects 1 of the 8 possibly outputs. The numbers on the rotary knob 0-7 correspond to the outputs 1-8 respectively. With the jumper removed, the rotary dial is deactivated. There are 16 possibly positions on the dial but any value above 8 does nothing. When your done programming you remove the jumper (place it on a single pin so you do not lose it like shown in the picture on the upper left) and cycle power.

NCE SWITCH-8 MK2 + OPTIONAL BUTTON BOARD (In Production)

If the SWITCH-8's DCC bus that powers it dies, then all 8 stall motors will lose power AND there will not be any response from DCC commands sent by a PC or an Mini/Macro Panel until power is restored. Any DCC commands sent during the DCC power outage will be lost.

The discontinued Switch-8 had NO BUTTON INPUTS which means only DCC accessory commands can control it. You can control the SWITCH-8 with a NCE throttle directly or with command station macros. But building a local control panels with buttons will NOT be possible UNLESS you control this device is by using a NCE Mini-Panel. This device not only provides the missing button inputs but ALSO allow macros inside the Mini/Macro panel to control SWITCH-8. To learn more about the NCE Mini-Panel, go here:NCE Mini/Macro Panel

The SWITCH-8 is designed to be a 8 output stall motor switch machine controller that can ONLY be controlled with DCC. Each output can be assigned its own unique DCC address.

2/14/15

the 8 outputs in sequential order for programming. Each push selects the next output down the line. LEDs for each output will light up for the currently selected output. With a given output selected, a single digit numerical LED display is used to tell you the DCC address of that output. If you push the button for the 9th time, it will not select any output, all LEDs will turn off and control wise you get set to start back at the beginning with output #1 on the next push. There programming jumper is gone. When you push the "PROGRAM OUTPUT" push button, you enter into programming mode confirmed by the letter P showing in the display. If you do not do any programming for 1 minute, the Switch-8 Mk2 will then exit program mode automatically and go back to operations mode. Any DCC commands sent during the DCC power outage will be lost.OPTIONAL BUTTON BOARD: (Bottom Photo) The separately purchased button board add 8 sets of dual button inputs consistent with how the SWITCH-IT buttons work. To connect the button board, the user installs a 3 conductor cable between the SWITCH-8 Mk2's location and the fascia control panel where the button board is to be located. The Button board draws it power from the SWITCH-8 Mk2 via this cable.

The SWITCH-8 MkII (Mk 2) is designed to be a 8 output stall motor switch machine controller the can be DCC controlled running on DCC or DC power as well has with OPTIONAL buttons. Each output can be assigned its own unique DCC address.

The new Switch-8 Mk2 can do everything the original SWITCH-8 could do BUT now has an OPTIONAL button board that support 8 Button Inputs. There is no more mandatory PC, Throttle or NCE Mini/Macro panel control required. In addition, it has a greatly improved USER programming interface which now uses status indicators and the input power options have been expanded too. In summary, the SWITCH-8 Mk2 has been design to address all of the short comings of the original SWITCH-8.

EXPANDED POWER: The power situation has been improved as well. There is a switch now that select DC or DCC for input power. Like before you can still run on 100% DCC power like the original SWITCH-8, but now the SWITCH-8 Mk2 can also run on !00% DC power. In DC mode, you can get the optional button inputs board and operate it as a stand alone controller. Finally the SWITCH-Mk2 can let you have the best of both DC and DCC capability at the same time. It can draw its power from the DC bus while safely being able to receive DCC commands from the DCC track bus via a built in optical isolator. This arrangement allows the SWITCH-8 Mk2 to never lose power keeping the ALL of the stall motor energized at all time and still while optionally allowing local push button control to still function WHEN the DCC bus goes dead due to some short circuit on the track. However the SWITCH-8 Mk2 will not be able to receive any DCC command until the DCC bus power is restored.

FRIENDLIER PROGRAMING: A "SELECT OUTPUT" push button is used to select one of

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