NYC_George
Well-Known Member
I thought maybe I should post this.
In the photo below you see my command station setup. 10 Amp Radio Shack power supply, NEC-PowerPro command station. Heavy duty double pole, double throw toggle switch, 5 Amp breaker, NEC low voltage programming track, regular voltage programming track.
I've installed many decoders in the past 10 years. These are the steps I take after I think the installation is complete.
1. Throw the toggle switch to the up position so the two programming tracks are powered You can see they're two separate tracks. Go to step 2.
2. Put the engine on the NEC low voltage programming track, left in the photo. If the decoder is installed improperly or there's some other problem. The command station will not recognize the decoder. If you skip this step you may cook the decoder if there's something wrong with the installation. If every things OK go to step 3.
3. Move the engine to full voltage programming track. You can see if the engine moves, sound is OK, etc. You can choose to program on the main here because it is the main for now. The layout is turned off. I like to isolate the engine here to rule out any other problems that may be occurring on the layout. If everything works here go to step 4.
4. Throw the toggle switch to the down position. The to programming tracks are now not powered. The layout should come alive. Add the engine to the layout.
As far as the 10 amp power supply goes I bought it in 1996. There wasn't many DCC power supplies around then, almost none. I added the 5 amp breaker to protect the command station. It's a good idea for everyone to do this. It protects your investment. It has tripped 3 time since I've built the layout. I have no idea why anything would be drawing more than 5 amps. I'm just glad I installed the breaker. If I want to work on the layout without turning every thing off I put the toggle in the center position. This cuts the power to the layout and programming tracks.
NYC_George
In the photo below you see my command station setup. 10 Amp Radio Shack power supply, NEC-PowerPro command station. Heavy duty double pole, double throw toggle switch, 5 Amp breaker, NEC low voltage programming track, regular voltage programming track.
I've installed many decoders in the past 10 years. These are the steps I take after I think the installation is complete.
1. Throw the toggle switch to the up position so the two programming tracks are powered You can see they're two separate tracks. Go to step 2.
2. Put the engine on the NEC low voltage programming track, left in the photo. If the decoder is installed improperly or there's some other problem. The command station will not recognize the decoder. If you skip this step you may cook the decoder if there's something wrong with the installation. If every things OK go to step 3.
3. Move the engine to full voltage programming track. You can see if the engine moves, sound is OK, etc. You can choose to program on the main here because it is the main for now. The layout is turned off. I like to isolate the engine here to rule out any other problems that may be occurring on the layout. If everything works here go to step 4.
4. Throw the toggle switch to the down position. The to programming tracks are now not powered. The layout should come alive. Add the engine to the layout.
As far as the 10 amp power supply goes I bought it in 1996. There wasn't many DCC power supplies around then, almost none. I added the 5 amp breaker to protect the command station. It's a good idea for everyone to do this. It protects your investment. It has tripped 3 time since I've built the layout. I have no idea why anything would be drawing more than 5 amps. I'm just glad I installed the breaker. If I want to work on the layout without turning every thing off I put the toggle in the center position. This cuts the power to the layout and programming tracks.
NYC_George
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