Another wiring question ...


goscrewyourselves

goscrewyourselves

I'm the one
Morning,

Please bear with me on this as I am not sure how clear my question or explanation is going to be. I know what I am wanting to ask, just not sure of how to word the question/s. Here is a picture of what (I think) my layout wiring should be:

WringSchematic_zps73a06f30.jpg


Okay, so that is what I have been led to believe the wiring for my layout should be, based on what I have seen and read. I am of the understanding that wiring a layout in this way (sectional) means that if a short occurs in a part of the track, only that section of track will be lost instead of the entire layout. I hope I have that right.

My question is this: "...If I were to run one main wire powering all of my track, with feeders attached to it at various points, I simply connect the main wires to my DCS 100 and the entire track is powered. How on earth do I power each separate section of the track so they are (essentially) isolated, when I only have the one "power source"?

Regardless of how many sections of track (wiring wise) I have, at the end of the day they all have to join up at the DCS 100 for their power, right? So how do I have that "single power source but still be able to isolate the various sections? What do I need to buy/use to achieve that?

Does that make sense?
 
Thanks fcwilt,

So am I to infer that the "track power" from the DCS feed each of the circuit breakers? In other words, I would directly wire the circuit breakers (4 or 5 individually) to the DCS via its track power in and out connectors, or, could I use a Bus Block to wire the circuit breakers to then have a single (+ - wires) running back to the DCS? Again, hope this make sense.

Cheers,
 
If you go with the units I referenced they have connections that allow you to connect one to another. The DCS 100 would be connected to the "input" connections of first unit. Then the "cascade" connections of the first unit would be connected to the "input" connections of the second unit. Then the "cascade" connections of the second unit would be connected to the "input" connections of the third unit. Repeat as needed.

The output connections from each unit would go to the associated power section on you layout.
 
They are easy to install and connect and they work well. They are all solid state devices, no relays, so nothing to wear out. Baring some sort of electrical meltdown they should last forever.

They have a number of optional features as well.

They have outputs you can use to drive LEDs to tell you if a unit has shutdown power, they can be turned on/off via DCC commands and more.
 
I like the idea of having the LED's as well, in fact I like everything that you have mentioned..

Time to break out the wallet AGAIN! :)

Cheers
 
Thats not a lot of track, why do you want to iscolate into different blocks? Why not just power it all using one main wire bus?

My layout is a lot bigger than that, and I only have one main wire bus. I have never had problems with shorts, with troubleshooting shorts, etc.
 
Motley said:
Thats not a lot of track, why do you want to iscolate into different blocks? Why not just power it all using one main wire bus?

My layout is a lot bigger than that, and I only have one main wire bus. I have never had problems with shorts, with troubleshooting shorts, etc.
Click to expand...

If that is appropriate for this length of track, then that is fine and I will just use the one main wire. My impression was that it would be best to isolate the different sections.

Cheers,
 
Of course there is nothing "wrong" with that level of short-protection.. But in practice, it is overkill.

I have ~330 feet of track; 28 turnouts, on an, "around the walls" layout, in a 32 X 16 room.. not one insulated rail joint..

There have been the rare times when metal car wheel jumped a frog, shutting down the whole layout. On a VERY large layout with maybe five other operators at work, that's a problem.. or, on a very large layout, a wiring snafu is difficult to chase down, if it's all on one bus.. but even on my modest empire, neither is an issue.

The primary reason I'd want to isolate any portion of any layout, is if it were too large for a single, DCC power station; either by shear trackage and/or distance from a single power source; or by the number of locos that might be running at once..

This is called "power districting", as in, a separate DCC booster for each (isolated) district.
 
Yep no need to make it more complicated than it needs to be, you'll be just fine with just one main bus.
 
On the other hand if you WANT to have isolated power sections with breakers do so - it's your layout! :D

My layout's only 20x15 or so (u shaped) and I have 4 power sections.
 
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Yes, I would go with what Brett said. Leave it all on the DCS as one. Now if you are running many trains so as to exceed your power supply, then you would need multiple boosters each with their own power supply and have multiple sections insulated from each other.
If your power needs can be met with just the DCS and its power supply, but still having multiple trains with engineers and you want to isolate them, then going with just the DCC section power units with breakers all getting power from the one DCS will do the job.

Personally, I would start it all off the one DCS and start splitting it up as the need arises.
 
After the comments, that is what I am going to be doing. Just leaving it on the one main line. Thanks for all the input, appreciate it and it has made things much easier for me.

Cheers.
 
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