First off I'll admit Fastrack would have been better and simpler than using MTH Realtrax. It's just that when I closed out my office last year I had an office layout running around the tops of the cubes using Realtrax. I liked Realtrax because it looks nicer and is quieter than FasTrack. So when I decided to set up my Polar Express floor layout, re-purposing the office Realtrax was the way to go.
This year I decided to add a Lionel PE gateman to the layout and operate it using the MTH infrared ITAD sensor.
The problem was while the ITAD has a SPDT relay connection that is great for single or double-pole accessories like signals or crossing gates, it does not have the extra wiring to make a gateman work.
The first issue is the Lionel gateman P&P does not connect easily to Realtrax. Lionel's manual breaks down the wiring, sort of, but there is no schematic. The users is on their own to figure out the wiring. Lionel offers a bare-wire pigtail but does not provide instructions on how to wire into a non-Lionel environment.
My first step was to browse the Lionel manual for wiring that assists and compare to what the ITAD provides.
This is the most useful image(s) in the Manual. That showed the wiring with the pigtail attached. (Yes, many of you would say just cut off the P&P connector, but I wanted to preserve it for a future switch to FasTrack). Digesting the Lionel drawing I was able to create the following schematic,
Looking at the schematic there are 3 wires required to operate the gateman, Red common power, Black illumination bulb ground, White coil activation ground. Now here is the ITAD instructions,
Before I go further here are some ground rules, I intend on powering the ITAD and gateman with track power. MTH provides a switch on the ITAD for making this selection. Power refers to the Center rail and ground the outside, U, rail. Matching this up to the Gateman wiring a connection is missing. I used my multi meter and determined the ITAD NC and NO connections were a SPDT relay for switching the ground. The C (common) connection is the center rail power. The ITAD apparently provides no track ground to power the lamp. I could connect the lamp black wire to NC on the ITAD but this would mean the light would go off when the gateman operates. I can't imagine the lowly gateman turning off the lights in his hut when he jumps out to signal. 
So where to get a ground? Unlike Fastrack, Realtrax does not offer an easy connection point. While I could add a Realtrax lockon I did not deem this practical.
I decided to modify the ITAD adding a ground connection. This required opening up the ITAD and soldering a short ground wire.
When all was done I created a final schematic that shows the wiring:
I connected the wires as shown and here is the final result:
Yes next time Fastrack and I get 2-hours back in my life. But since semi-retiring last year what else to do?
Have a wonderful holiday season everyone. -Al-
