MTH Double head signals to lionel 153R controller

Birney 

 

Please give me a call so we can talk about it.

 

So I can maybe be of some here.   848-992-2157............  

 

John,

Perhaps not enough info to get the job done but here's a starting point.  I don't have a 153IR but it appears the track "clip-on" section was removed and replaced by the 2 black wires?

 

From Lionel 153IR instructions

 

From MTH 30-11035 instructions

 

Per Stans research it looks like the track power just goes to the "Aux power supply" + and - terminals?

I seem to still be having difficulty, I tried taking the track wires and putting them into aux power. And the red green and black wires to where they go no luck

By "no luck" does this mean neither green/red on signal head came on?  One or the other color should be on, so this suggests the 153IR is not receiving power.

 

If you're applying power to the AUX inputs terminals, did you flip the Power Selection Switch on the 153IR to the "AUX POWER" position?

The outside rail  that you used  does have power on it?   Did you use the same rail as the track feeder.... You could just place a car on the track for testing.  Looks to me like the thing should be working,

I took it to my friends house it worked I left it together the way he hooked it up, I then hooked power and got nothing. I think it's something that's messing it up, the main thing I know it does work. I'll post pictures on how it's hooked up maybe I have it wrong

You have two things going on here.

 

First, two-head MTH signals are two separate signals in a single mast. To operate them properly you'd need two triggering devices/methods. What I've found makes things easier is that since they operate off AC voltage input, connecting the "hot" from your accessory supply to the black wire, then switching which wire (red/green) goes to common/ground is a more efficient way of triggering them using either an SPDT relay with insulated rail or an ITAD.

 

You hook the common of your ITAD to common; the normally closed to the green wire, and the normally open lead to the red. The AC "hot" lead goes to the black wire of the signal.

 

Second is what the signals are set up to indicate. Two-headed signals usuallyindicate a diverging route ahead along with occupancy. The upper signal indicates the status of the non-diverging route while the lower indicates the status of the diverging route. In this context:

• Green over Red means you're taking the non-diverging route and the block is clear.
• Red over Green means you're taking the diverging route and the block is clear.
• Red over Red means you're going to be sitting until one of the blocks clears.

So, in your situation, you'd need to add another ITAD for the diverging route in this context. What I did for this situation at the club was to use the relay contacts on the Tortoise machines to control which head was indicating occupancy and throwing the other to red to indicate direction as above.

 

I've also read that two-head signals have also been used to indicate the status of two blocks ahead. In this case, the upper signal indicates the first block you're approaching while the lower indicates the block beyond that. In this context, your second ITAD would be placed in the following block wired as above and the indications would be:

• Green over Green -- both blocks clear
• Green over Red -- next block clear, block beyond occupied
• Red over Red -- both blocks occupied

Hope this helps.

I only have one loop of track, I had the MTH ITADS before and it worked fine, my buddy got it working I think I may have something incorrectly hooked up on the transformer end. He will come help me.

I took it to my friends house it worked I left it together the way he hooked it up, I then hooked power and got nothing. I think it's something that's messing it up, the main thing I know it does work. I'll post pictures on how it's hooked up maybe I have it wrong, I've always hooked my signals up by track power, when I turn the transformer on the both of them go to green, when the train goes by goes to red yellow back to green. Even if I have no trains running and the throttle at 0 power they continually stay at green

They must be getting power someplace with the throttle set at 0 to light up..  Yep A pic  would certainly help and transformer type?

 

As Matt mentioned  these are actually 2 signals  , Why not try to get the top one working changing from green to red as the train goes by.

The two wires left sides are where my wires attach to the transformer from the signals and ITADS, the itsd is how I have the wires from the signal hooked up. Both heads on both signals work together, I am running on conventional

My Transformer is an MRC pure power AC single throttle, track power is on right signal power on left, bottom left is accessory power, photos are up

Ok It appears you're using an AUX power supply which is the transformer. So the  Power selection  switch should be set to  AUX power, In PIC 3 (at top of thread) it appears it's set to track power. Maybe try changing that.   I'm guessing the black in PIC 3 is the ground for the signals LEDs.. It looks like it may be  hooked up to AUX power instead of AUX ground. Move it one terminal to the right.    I couldn't  tell what 's and how things were hooked up at the transformer. Why a black & red connected together?? Short on wire?

wire on transformer is hooked up like that, it worked for the MTH ITADS. I will until twist them tomorrow and give it a go. I appreciate eveyones help, I'll get it. That wire comes in a spool twisted like that.

Sure you will, And the next one will be a piece of cake.

Wanted to inform everyone I finally got them working, my stepfather helped me. Took him 10 minutes after switching some wires around. Thank you everyone for all the help