Lionel 352 Icing Station - Wiring << CAVEAT >>

Go to Lionel.com, support, manuals, then enter 6-24174. It should pop up Icing Station click on it will open up the manual. I always open my documents on my IPad to open in IBooks this way it saves the document for me for access for later.

The wires (black, white and red) are all the same, just different colors.  When using the little switch provided with the accessory you will need 3 wires total (see link to 352 manual, page 4):

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...2250IcingStation.pdf

If you connect it to the SC-2, you still need 3 wires total (see link to SC-2 manual, page 28) :

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...s/60607229802501.pdf

I have the manual (78-2028-250 of 7/15), and that's is where I got the information.

All three wires cannot be the same.

Two of the wires would be power (RED and BLACK, for instance), and the third (WHITE) may be to actuate, but since the WHITE IS NOT USED (See Notes on pages 9 and 10) when the station is connected to track power (per the manual), I wonder what is the function of the WHITE wire? And why is the  BLACK wire not used (or at least not mentioned in the manual) when the station is used with the SC-2 or with the ASC, according to the manual? 

Alex

This is the first 3 wire version of the icing station as it is the Plug & Play version... it looks like. Does it come with a switch? Is there some way you can scan or photograph the manual for us?

Here are selected pages of the manual.

The RED wire is used in every case, but note the use and not use of the WHITE and BLACK wires. 

Question: To use with a DCS AIU (just a simple relay) would I used the BLACK or the WHITE wire? I suspect the BLACK wire would work, but I would still like to know why the WHITE wire is specified for use with the SC-2 and ASC.

(Pages 6 and 7) Using the switch provided and a FasTrack adapter.

(Page 9) With regular FasTrack connections > WHITE wire is not used.

(Page 10) With tubular track > WHITE wire is not used.

(Page 10) With a transformer; continued on next page.

(continuation Page 12 ) With a transformer > Only RED and BLACK used, WHITE is not mentioned.

(Page 13) With SC-2 > RED and WHITE wires are used; the BLACK wire is not mentioned.

(Page 14) With ASC > RED and WHITE wires used; the BLACK wire is not mentioned.

Thank you for your help.

Alex

The white wire bypasses the switch. The switch included with the station connects the white wire pin on the station plug with the black wire  of the pigtail for conventional wiring. For remote/TMCC actuation, the switch is not needed, so the white wire provides the current directly to the accessory.

Using the white wire with the switch will give a non-op situation. Using the black wire with just the pigtail, no switch, will also be non-op. Using the switch and the black wire with remote/TMCC actuation will require you to also push the switch to run it.

Yes - 

The two wires that are needed to run the Icing Station are the RED and the WHITE wires. Then provide the means to turn the power on and off. I also found that 14 VAC runs the little man rather smoothly.

Thanks!

Alex

However, Do Not fall into the trap of thinking that all accessories are wired this way; i.e., Red and White wires for power even if they have the same connector with the RED, BLACK, and WHITE wires!

A few days after I received the Icing Station, I received the Playground Playtime and the Tug-of-War accessories. Both of these have the same connector as the Icing Station with the Red, Black, and White wires. But instead of Red and White being the wires used to actually power the accessory, the Red and Black are used instead. The Owner's Manuals for these two accessories simply say not to use the White wire when connecting directly to the track.

Just a caveat . . .

Alex

I thought Plug and Play was supposed to make things easier. Oh well.

Now with the Operating Gate Man you use the Red, White and Black wires.