MTH RealTrax switch wiring

Are you planning to run DCC on your O-gauge layout..perhaps even using your existing NCE controller?  That would be one-thing; in other words adapt a DCC decoder to drive/control a Realtrax switch mechanism.

Or if planning to run DCS AC (or DC) you are correct that there is no equivalent DCS decoder module that the DCS system "knows" how to control.  As you point out you could use an AIU Switch Port which the DCS system "knows" about (with suitable icons and such) but you would then need to cobble together your own wireless system to relay the command signals from the AIU port to the remote switches.  I'd think it would be a somewhat complex DIY project requiring detailed soldering and mucking around with tiny components.  I'd guess, say, $10-20 per switch.

If you divorce the wireless switch functionality from the command system (whether DCS or DCC) you could do it for less per switch.  That is, you would just use some generic wireless remote-control modules off eBay which come with their own "fob" with, say, n buttons.  This would talk to n receiver modules located at n switches.  The fob is battery-powered.  The receivers would need DC voltage (e.g., 12V DC) which you'd derive from the AC track voltage.  Here's an example of an n=4 fob and what a typical receiver module looks like (on the right).  This is a re-cycled photo from another thread discussing how to remotely control (wireless) a uncoupling/unloader track...in essence a similar idea to what you're talking about.

STAN2004

Thank you for the reply.  What you posted was spot on to what I was thinking.  I did some work with microcontrollers a couple of years ago, and was already thinking of how to make a homemade solution.  I think the off the shelf ebay remote direction will work perfectly for me, wire it all up and stuff it inside a small trackside building and I should be good to go.

So are you running DCS with fixed AC track voltage? 

How many switches do you have that you want to put under wireless control?

I think the option of putting components/modules in a track-side building will greatly simplify matters.  I was thinking one could cram the necessary components in the cavity underneath Realtrax sections but this would involve quite a bit of detailed soldering/assembly of tiny components.