a couple of questions about ASC

Q1: yes you would need 9 ASCs and the cable from the serial end of the Legacy Y cable to one of the ASCs. (6-14195) From the first one you could daisy chain the rest. You'll also have to power the ASCs, preferably from a transformer not connected to the outside rail of the track. Again you can daisy chain them.

Q2: you can control switches with your Cab 2 or the DZ controller. I'm not sure about the LCS. I thought I heard the guy demoing it at York say you couldn't access ACS and the like from the LCS. (may have heard wrong) If that's the case I would wait for the new wifi boxes that are coming out or at least until more info on the LCS and the new boxes comes out.

Thanks, Steve. 

If not through ACS, how would LCS control switches?

They are making wifi control boxes that would send the signal to the ipad and the base. Not much info on those yet.

Another choice for you would be using some SC2's which work off the track signal. You would only need 6 of those.

Forrest,

LCS will control any command switch you have.  Think of it this way: can you control the switch from a Cab1 or Cab2?  If yes, then LCS will work.  The same commands are sent by LCS as the Cab generates and it will be seamless.

I do think you should consider the ASC2, due out early next year.  The new control products we are working on, the ASC2, BPC2, AMC2, TPC2, etc are bi-directional communication products. 

The advantage of the ASC2 is that it can transmit the switch position back to the iPad; and while some limitations exist - generally it will update the iPad LCS app with the *current* switch position on launch of the app.

In general the the new LCS components will allow for bi-directional status updates, and more Legacy compliance (ie: settings for 99 trains for TPC2, etc).

Jon as you redesign this equipment.
(1.)The most annoying problem with early IC Controls and current Lionel ASC's that I experienced was push,(and possibly hold too long) the turnout  button on a Cab1, either through or out, and the ASC device would cycle through (2) or more momentary's. Enough that the extend momentary power would fry Atlas switch motors.  I eventually added time out feature to the system via Atlas 6924 relay boards, just to protect the switch motors from burn out. I also gained other features from the 6924 boards.
Fried Atlas switch motor via an IC Controls ASC.

(2.) As you daisy chain ASC's and other control devices together, there is an acceptable limit to the number of device that can be use before the RF signal supplied by, in my case the original Command base, is exceeded and the system no longer works.  ????  (9) ASC and possibly addition device hooked to a Cab2 command base ???? At what point does this exceed a Cab2's RF capacity on the daisy chained terminals?  There have been discussions about RF boosters.

This IC Controls system, with the original command base, seems to work well. (10) Daisy-chained devices.  I made and attempt to switch out the two  IC Controls BPC's, left in picture, with newer Lionel controls with no luck, the RF system generated by the Command base shut down.  Only solution was to fix the original burned traces on the IC Controls BPC's and re-install them.

IMO You are moving a level up with this equipment, there still appears to be problems with expansion of the original equipment. IMO   Best wishes   Mike CT  

I thought the current design of those components with the + and - terminals were supposed to provide some future additional features like bi-directional communication and collision avoidance interfacing with the Lionel infrared signals devices.

At least that is what we were told by Lou K. Since he is no longer associated wi  Lionel did his initial design work get abandoned?

"I do think you should consider the ASC2, due out early next year. 

thanks jon, currently i have no command switches.  all 35 are good old manual controls.

i can wait for the ASC2 since i am not rushing to implement this, but i am getting very interested in the LCS.  hopefully, at that time there will be comprehensive instructions on how to wire this stuff up.    especially with DZ1000 switch motors.  

I understand the +/- terminals - and sad to say, like so much of our fast moving technology in the world today, could not be brought up to current expectations. We could have chosen to band-aid the system and keep the +/- terminal support, but for a lot of reasons the best approach was to start fresh.

We created a new high speed bus, the "PDI bus", and it is quite extensible.  The goal is to extend the protocol and electrical specs to levels not possible with the current tech in the field.  We won't leave the older tech behind to be sure, and will provide a converter board to bring out the serial data stream.  This converter board, the "SER2" will even *allow* Legacy class commands to be injected into the Legacy base.

Exciting times ahead!

Yes, Rudy will be making a lot of videos, and cover such topics!  It is an honor to call Dennis Zander a friend, and his Z-Stuff controllers will be supported!

Mike, Nice control panel.  The older ICC controls product will be supported - and we will have a serial converter box (SER2) to improve your issues with Legacy. 

In question #2, you mention RF drive capacity.  I think you are referring to Serial capacity.  The Legacy base does not have the drive level of the older Base1.  I fixed the Base1-L; and the same SER2 box should solve your issue. 

I would like to connect with you off forum, to see if our SER2 converter works as expected.  Your setup would be a good test case.  If interested, let me know.

This is my control panel prior to installing the Legacy System. All devices are operated without any boosters.

Hi Jon. Thanks for jumping in. I guess I misunderstood at the York demo.

The new stuff sounds interesting. One of the things I asked about was being able to see switch position. I'm glad that's going to be part of it.

See you at York?