Retirement Sale: Save An Additional 20% Off of Our Normal Discount Price
On Most Items - Excluded Items are Highlighted in Orange

Click here for the list of remaining items.

Find a place under the layout somewhere close to the middle of the reverse section, but don't mount it yet. You just have to know where it will be so you can measure wire lengths to make the wire harness.

The most common reason the ARSC does not work properly the first time is incorrect wiring - mixing up North and South, or left and right. To help alleviate this, it's best to use two colors of wire to make it easier to keep track of left and right, such as white for the right rail and black for the left rail. Zip cord usually has a stripe on one wire, which can be used the same way.

For any scale up to HO, portal wire size can almost always be 20 AWG stranded, even though the wires may be up to three feet long. Even though four or five locos may be occupying the reverse section at one time, only one loco will be drawing power from any given portal at one time. And it will never be drawing more than half of its power from that portal - the other half of the power will be from the adjacent track that the loco's other truck is on.

Compare your ARSC with the illustration above to determine the pin connection sequence. Note that the connector on the ARSC can be unplugged so you can take it to the bench to solder wires to it.

Hopefully the ARSC will be mounted within a foot of the track power bus. And, with the reverse section being only five feet long, the reverse section wires shouldn't be more than 2.5' long. So, 20 AWG (larger for larger scales) stranded should be fine for the reverse section.

If you purchased an ARSH wire harness with your ARSC, the portal wires are about 3' long, the reverse section wire 1' long, and the power connection wire about 2' long, all with 20 AWG stranded wire. The intention is that they will be cut to length as needed when installed.

If making your own, make the harness with wires longer than necessary, then trim them to fit when installing it.

While the 8 metal pieces in the plastic socket housing can be removed for crimping, most people don't have the proper tool. It's easier to solder the wires with the metal pieces left in place in the plastic housing.

Strip about 1/8" of insulation from the wire. Place the wire in position and use a small blade screwdriver to press the wire's insulation down into the last 1/16" of the end of the trough. With wires pushed into place, you can then solder them. You have to use a hot soldering iron, and do it quickly. Otherwise, you stand a chance of melting the plastic.

DO NOT SOLDER WIRES DIRECTLY TO THE ARSC PINS. This will automatically void any warranty and make it exceedingly difficult to troubleshoot. If you screw up the connector that came with the ARSC, call us for another one.