13:52

Welcome to Railway Forum!
Welcome!

Thank you for finding your way to Railway Forum, a dedicated community for railway and train enthusiasts. There's a variety of forums, a wonderful gallery, and what's more, we are absolutely FREE. You are very welcome to join, take part in the discussion, and post your pictures!

Click here to go to the forums home page and find out more.
Click here to join.


Go Back   Railway Forum > Railway Modelling > Railway Modelling

DCC wiring questions

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 12th December 2005, 17:24
Davek Davek is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Southampton
Posts: 3
DCC wiring questions

Hello I'm new to this whole DCC concept and haven't touched model railways for over 15 years, but now I am preparing to do my first large layout and I want to use DCC as it looks damn useful as I'm modelling a depot/yard scene and HATE isolating tracks

So here's my question: When it comes to pointwork are there/is there anything special I should do in terms of wiring? and as I plan to have two circuits of track how do I supply power to these - do I need another booster(?) module.

I am quite taken with the new Guagemaster unit and may for that - suggestions (keep it clean ) would be grateful.

Cheers,
Dave


Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 14th December 2005, 22:10
fortysevenfan fortysevenfan is offline  
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: N. Ireland
Posts: 65
Images: 35
Dave
I recently attended Warley where I posed some questions re DCC. I learned that no special wiring was required to pointwork and all that was required for trackwork was two wires. One particular firm informed me that dropper wires were required every 3 feet along the length of the layout connected to a track bus. Another firm said this was unnecessary and two wires placed approx centre of layout will supply power. A special module was required for a return loop. With DCC you drive the trains and not the track.
Hope this helps
Jim
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 15th December 2005, 09:10
Pill Pill is offline  
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Paulton somerset
Posts: 7
Most experienced DCC users have a preferance for electrofrog turnouts. But if you have insulfrogs they will work as well straight out of the box. http://www.electricnose.co.uk/dcc/dc...ectrofrog.html will give details of modifications that can be carried out to Peco turnouts. I think the most desirable is polarity switching. Current is fed from the toe end as you would with a DC layout.
As a rule of thumb have droppers every length of flexitrack. More if your track work is complex. After all what effort is it to put in a few extra droppers, the reward is superb slow speed running. Which ever firm advised you to only have droppers in the middle of your layout "forget them".
A lot of twoddle is talked about DCC, "drive the trains not the track", what people should say is make the effort as it increases your enjoyment of operation.
No more isolated sections, move your loco's anywhere on your layout, much as you would on a real railway.
There have been a few negative things said about the MRC Prodigy, service and documentation was mentioned. My own setup is Digitrax I've been using this for the last 6 years, prior to that I had ZTC. If I had to choose another
manufacturer I would go for NCE, they have a reputation for simplicity and easy of use. http://www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/dcc.htm
http://www.ncedcc.com/products.html
Alternatively Lenz have an excellent agent in Mackays and you could look at them. http://www.mackaymodels.co.uk/
Digtrax in the Uk is supported by http://www.scc4dcc.co.uk/ again the level of support is good the contact there is Ted Smale.
Dont buy DCC on price, rather select on features, if your budget is tight rather wait, until you can afford a better unit.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 21st December 2005, 20:32
dave55uk dave55uk is offline  
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Stevenage
Posts: 13
Re: DCC

I have a smallish layout, originally built as DC powered. After a while I decided to go the DCC way. I simply took 2 power wires to each siding / line so no matter what way points were set, the whole layout would be live at all times. I have insulfrog points but am planning to change them to electrofrog - all that's needed is an insulating rail joiner on the two rails leading away from the frog. DCC is much more fun, more lifelike, and stuff like lights and sound make it even more so (but at the moment I have no sound).
HTH, Dave.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 22nd December 2005, 00:34
Pill Pill is offline  
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Paulton somerset
Posts: 7
Well done Dave what DCC system are you using ?
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 22nd December 2005, 22:15
dave55uk dave55uk is offline  
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Stevenage
Posts: 13
Re: DCC

If I'm the Dave you're asking, I've got the Lenz set 100.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 27th May 2006, 07:31
Paul Eaton Paul Eaton is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Bovington
Posts: 1
Dropper wires every 3 feet? I don't think so!

I have a layout with over 60 feet of track and can run DCC no problem with just 2 wires. I'm sure on very large layouts there may be enough attenuation of the signal along the track to warrant extra feeders (has anyone a feel for that?), but every 3 feet is excessive.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 2nd June 2006, 21:56
swisstrains's Avatar
swisstrains swisstrains is offline  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: England
Posts: 4,149
Images: 538
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Eaton
Dropper wires every 3 feet? I don't think so!
I think this comes from the American school of thinking
Even on straight DC layouts many of our transatlantic cousins hate the idea of rail- joiners being used to conduct electricity between track sections and live in fear of one failing during an operating session.
As such they tend to add feeders to every section and just to be on the safe side, solder the joints as well !!
Maybe in a country like America with it's great climatic extremes rail-joiners are more susceptible to failure........who knows
John.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 27th August 2006, 21:15
paulncc1705's Avatar
paulncc1705 paulncc1705 is offline  
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: England
Posts: 8
Images: 1
Exclamation Amps

in all this talk of dropper wires to feed the tracks everyone seems worried about loss of the DCC signal,this is not the only reason they are recommended on larger layouts you have to consider the number of locos running.If you have 5 or 6 trains running possible on the same line then you could quite easily be pulling 2amps through the rail joiners(and they may not be up to that)
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 27th August 2006, 21:51
swisstrains's Avatar
swisstrains swisstrains is offline  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: England
Posts: 4,149
Images: 538
Quote:
Originally Posted by paulncc1705
in all this talk of dropper wires to feed the tracks everyone seems worried about loss of the DCC signal,this is not the only reason they are recommended on larger layouts you have to consider the number of locos running.If you have 5 or 6 trains running possible on the same line then you could quite easily be pulling 2amps through the rail joiners(and they may not be up to that)
A very valid point if you are lucky enough to have the space to build a layout where this type of operation is possible.
John.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 13:52.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.