NCE 5240115 Snap-It Stationary Decoder

The NCE Snap-It stationary decoder is designed to operate a single snap action turnout motor. It measures 1.80 X 1.50 inches and is specifically designed for low current motors such as Atlas, Lifelike, Bachmann, etc., but it will operate high current machines such as the Nick & Jack International, Kemtron, or Rix with the addition of external capacitors or the use of an external power supply. The Snap-It uses a capacitive discharge technique to operate coil motor switch machines. In this technique, a capacitor is slowly (e.g. about 1.5 seconds) charge and used to store electrical energy. When a command is issued to operate the switch, this energy is released all at once through switch machine causing it to change position. The current pulse is large, but is present for only a short time (0.125 seconds) while the capacitor discharges so it will effectively operate the switch machine while preventing switch motor burnout and keeping the current drawn from the layout quite low.

The Snap-It supports address ranges from 1 to 2044 and is programmed directly on the main rather than by using the programming track. Pushbutton inputs are provided for manual switch operation. As delivered, one manual switch will open the points and the other will close them. A CV value change will cause the Snap-It to toggle the switch position with each push of either manual pushbutton. For those wanting to fine tune the Snap-It operation, the duration of the output pulse and the capacitor re-charge time are both programmable by changing the appropriate CV value.