how can I make this work?

What's a POHO? What are you wanting...just light the LED? When...all the time? Green? Red?

Thanks for your reply. A poho is an anachronym for Lionel's powerhouse transformers- otherwise known as a brick. 

Yes I would like to have the LED lit green when there is power then change to Red if there is a short on the line and all the electronics to fit inside the box. Is this possible?

That appears to be the Lionel 6-34120 TMCC Direct Lockon, why not use the manual?

Lionel 6-34120 TMCC Direct Lockon User Manual

Not sure I understand the question.  Are you saying you "took delivery" of these sheds but they were absent the internal circuit board?  In GRJ's link to the manual it instructs how to configure/wire the included circuit board to work with "any transformer" (not just the POHO).  So are you trying to duplicate the OEM circuit board functionality because it's not available, too expensive, whatever?

If you look at the diagram, the original board uses a powerhouse plug in. Don't you need the powerhouse to use that board?

No, you can put that standard Molex plug on any transformer and use it with the Direct Lockon, it was just designed with the Lionel products in mind.

Here's a sketch of the power house and the plugs it uses. Same for the ZW inputs of course. Only two pins are used for power, the bottom two. The part numbers at Mouser are listed for the plug and pins. You need a male plug and two female pins to simulate a powerhouse connection.

So what you are saying is that electronic board does what I wanted. From Lionel, that board is $34.00 ea.

The electronics in that house is what offered the functionality, without the board, it's just a little plastic house.

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

If you look at the diagram, the original board uses a powerhouse plug in. Don't you need the powerhouse to use that board?

If you look at the manual, another alternative is to buy the "Power Adapter Cable".

Stan, he's working with an empty box with just a couple of 3-terminal bi-color LED's, the board is missing.  He needs a whole circuit to do what he wants to do.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Stan, he's working with an empty box with just a couple of 3-terminal bi-color LED's, the board is missing.  He needs a whole circuit to do what he wants to do.

Hmmm...that's a thought. Buy these lockons, pull the board which is an excellent fast breaker for the track, eh? And sell the empty houses. Cheaper than some other options.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Stan, he's working with an empty box with just a couple of 3-terminal bi-color LED's, the board is missing.  He needs a whole circuit to do what he wants to do.

Exactly.  So he buys the $34 circuit board and the Power Adapter Cable and he's done.  If the issue is how to save a few bucks by designing a circuit I'm sure that's do-able.  But given the 3-wire LED cables and connectors are already in-place it's hard to see how you could make minimum-wage assembling a circuit at the component level.  His previous question pondered whether such a circuit could fit in the available space - obviously the $34 board is form-fit. 

Gosh, NIB ones have sold on eBay for $17 and up, no reason to pay $34 for just the board.  I'd just put a search on eBay and wait for one to come along.

Not relevant to the discussion, but I am confused. I was under the impression that the Powerhouse already contains a high-quality breaker; when using a Powerhouse, what does the Direct Lockon bring to the party, other than a place to hide bulky connectors? 

The PH135, one of the transformers supported, had a pretty mediocre breaker, so this would certainly be useful for that one.  However, the fact that this product nukes the DCS signal makes it unsuitable for many layouts.