MTH O Scale Vertical Signal With Lionel 153IR Controller Help

@AMarino posted:

I just purchased an MTH O Scale Vertical Signal. I was told it will need to work with either an MTH or Lionel Infrared device. I purchased the Lionel 153IR. I followed the directions to a T. I attached the Leeds to my fastTrack i installed the black wire to the common terminal the red to the normally open terminal and the green to the normally closed. It does not work. One thing I don’t understand is”You will need to supply a ground (-) connection separately from track or auxiliary power. Could this be the problem? Can anyone please help me?

That only applies if using a mechanical TAD; you are using a 153IR...not a TAD.

Does the MTH signal light up at all?

If you recently purchased the 153IR you probably have the manual dated 3/15 as shown in diagram below.  Some earlier versions of the 153IR have different wiring which can drive you nuts.  I suggest your signal is most like Figure 14.  So:

Yes, it is a little confusing as to why you connect the signal's black GROUND wire to the 153IR's ACC PWR terminal (and not to ACC GND); but that's a separate discussion.

If you only get green, maybe the 153IR is not triggering.  If you wave you hand in the sensor window (or whatever) can you hear it click?  There is a relay inside; the click may be faint but if you put your ear near you should be able to hear it.  Then after the time delay it clicks again.

Please post whether this works or not. Unless my drawing instructions I made are wrong I have connected the MTH to ACC GND on a past layout and it seemed to work.

Thanks
Joe

@Joe Fauty posted:

Please post whether this works or not. Unless my drawing instructions I made are wrong I have connected the MTH to ACC GND on a past layout and it seemed to work.

I wonder if you have an earlier version of the 153IR.

For the same Lionel 153IR product/SKU number the wiring may be different depending on the release date.  As shown above, if your instruction manual is dated 4/02, the equivalent Fig. 14 diagram for the 3-wire red-green signal is Fig. 9 and connects the signal common to ACC GND just like you say!

There have been previous OGR discussions on this.

@stan2004 posted:

I wonder if you have an earlier version of the 153IR.

For the same Lionel 153IR product/SKU number the wiring may be different depending on the release date.  As shown above, if your instruction manual is dated 4/02, the equivalent Fig. 14 diagram for the 3-wire red-green signal is Fig. 9 and connects the signal common to ACC GND just like you say!

There have been previous OGR discussions on this.

Yep you are right - my itads are pretty old

Stan2004 thank you it works perfectly. I followed your illustration thank you.

Thank you Joe Fauty