Athearn power pack, Bachmann tracks

[jkeefe]

Hello,

We are new to model railroading, so please forgive my lack of proper terminology. We have a beginner Athearn HO set (that came with Bachmann tracks), and separately bought additional Bachmann tracks to make a figure-8. We connected the female connectors on the wire from the Bachman switch track to another connector (small black plastic piece, sorry - don't know what it's called) and then connected the forked ends on the connector wire to the DC screws on the Athearn transformer - nothing happens. If anyone can understand what I am asking, and can help, I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks,

John

[Kris Everett]

The switches are AC power not DC you need to have something with an output of 16vac at 1000ma.

VAC = Volts Alternating current
MA = Milli-amps
DC = Direct Current

A wall-wart would work for just what you need you can find them at radio shack.

[Michigan Railfan]

Kris is right. All you have to do is connect the forked ends into the AC side of the power pack. Then, to activate the switch, move the button on the center of the black thing, then press down on it and release. It will then switch.

[Doneldon]

John-

You may even have an old wall wart around the house from a radio, telephone, tool or whatever. Anything you have will work as long as its output (by law this must be displayed on every unit) is compatible with your needs. You can snip off the plug for the output wire and just connect the wires directly to your system. Your power supply doesn't have to be exclusively for trains; electricity is generic and your trains and switches will neither know nor care whether it comes from something labled Bachmann or Athearn or GE or Sony.

                                                        -- D

[jward]

there is something else going on here......

while switch motors are designed for ac, they can and do work equally well on 12v dc. if they didn't the capacitor discharge circuits i've mentioned on other threads wouldn't work. on dc a capacitor holds a charge, on ac it's a short circuit.

were you perhaps connecting the wires from the switch control box to the variable dc terminals? if so, nothing would work unless you had the throttle turned up. the variable dc terminals power the trains, the ac or 12v dc terminals (some packs have them both) are what your switch notors would use.

[poliss]

What do you mean by 'switch track'? Do you mean a turnout where two lines diverge or do you mean the piece of track where you connect the DC power cable?

[Joe Satnik]

John,

If you could put up some pictures, it would help immensely. 

Thanks.

[Jim Banner]

The switches are AC power not DC...

Kris, why are you giving bad advice again?  The solenoid switch motors used by Bachmann and many others work equally well on ac, pure dc, FWR dc, HWR dc, pulses and so forth.

Jim

[rrmchone]

Well,  sounds like you got your self one of those e-z track athern sets  i used to have one and had the same prob    what you might want to do is   if you know the piece of track that has the 2 small metal looking things on the side where you put the wire on    then make sure thats good and tight  then if that doesnt work   take your power pack to a local hobby place to have it checked  voltage wise  and if it fails i would suggest keeping the wire and buying yourself a better powerpack     if your new   it will be one used for dc which is standard for beginers     if your really high tech dcc is digital comand control   but dont get that until you master the dc controls : )