ATLAS SWITCH

[EARIC]

Will atlas switches work on DC or only on AC?

[Jim Banner]

They will work fine on either ac or dc.

Jim

[NMWTRR]

EARIC,

Question: Are you referring to the track, switch machine or selector?

Atlas makes all of these products. 

Locomotives on track normally use DC (Won't go into DCC here).

The switch machine which moves the postion of the track turnout uses AC.

The selector or other type of device that you use to control how electricity flows can be used either on AC or DC.

I used the term selector. Atlas makes several products that are used to control the flow of electricity. Selector is one of them.

Hope this helps.

[jward]

as jim said, atlas switch motors will work with either ac or dc. remember, capacitor discharge circuits are dc, and many have used the atlas motors with them.

[Jim Banner]

Perhaps I should have said "all types of Atlas switches work just fine on ac or dc."

The tracks in Atlas turnouts ("track switches") can carry ac and dc equally well.  I am not sure why NMWTRR chose to ignore DCC which puts ac on the rails.  I would guess that over half the layouts started in 2010 use or will use DCC.  Analogue locomotives use dc.

The switch machines in Atlas turnouts and most other dual coil switch machines work equally well with ac or dc.  There are some dual coil machines that use dc only.  They reverse the polarity to throw the switch one way or the other.  These are characterized by using only two wires instead of three.

Electrical switches made by Altas and many other companies work equally well on ac or dc.  However, there are some electronic switches that work with only one or the other.  Unless you have large bags of money or some very special applications, you are very unlikely to ever use any of these on your layout.

That is the complicated story of Atlas switches.  The simple version is: They will work fine on either ac or dc.

Jim

[EARIC]

Thanks Jim you heip me a lot.
Thanks again
Bob

[NMWTRR]

Interesting I did not know that the switch machines would work on DC.

As always this forum is very educational.