02-17-2009, 06:10 PM
I've read various opinions regarding DCC wiring...and with my birthday present - a Digitrax Zephyr - on the way, I'm trying to figure out what to do.
The basics of the layout: currently wired for DC operation, Peco Insulfrog turnouts, no reversing tracks, 16 feet length/14 inch width dog bone with 4-ladder yard, 2 mainline passing tracks. Currently there are three powered track joiners located on a front mainline, front mainline passing track, and rear mainline, all near the midpoint of the layout's length. There are four dead-end parking tracks for car storage and access to industries that are accessed from the yard.
Here's my question....... Does every track (including all the branch lines, mainlines, turnouts, sidings, parking tracks, passing track, everything) need to be constantly powered? Or...can I leave one or more parking tracks that can be reached from a Peco Insulated turnout "dead" for parking DC loco's? My idea was to have a dedicated track where I could park a DC-only loco and not have the DCC power constantly trying to spin the loco's DC motor by using the Peco Insulfrog turnout to create a "dead" track off the turnout. I've read that several large club layouts employ this technique, since members frequently forget to "turn off" their DCC loco's when they step away from the operations. This gives the chief operator the ability to park unused engines on a parking track and "forget them". I have several DCC articles and a book explaining DCC operations, but they contradict each other. One says wire every track, the others say you don't have to. This leaves me confused. I plan to run mostly DCC engines with one DC engine from time to time. I know the Zephyr can handle this arrangement (at least the online manual gave me that impression). And from what the manual explained, I can also use my "straight-DC" power pack routed through the Zephyr as an extra controller operating one DC loco while the DCC cab operates everything else (I believe they call this a "Jumper" arrangement).
Any ideas or advice would be most appreciated.
Thanks guys!
The basics of the layout: currently wired for DC operation, Peco Insulfrog turnouts, no reversing tracks, 16 feet length/14 inch width dog bone with 4-ladder yard, 2 mainline passing tracks. Currently there are three powered track joiners located on a front mainline, front mainline passing track, and rear mainline, all near the midpoint of the layout's length. There are four dead-end parking tracks for car storage and access to industries that are accessed from the yard.
Here's my question....... Does every track (including all the branch lines, mainlines, turnouts, sidings, parking tracks, passing track, everything) need to be constantly powered? Or...can I leave one or more parking tracks that can be reached from a Peco Insulated turnout "dead" for parking DC loco's? My idea was to have a dedicated track where I could park a DC-only loco and not have the DCC power constantly trying to spin the loco's DC motor by using the Peco Insulfrog turnout to create a "dead" track off the turnout. I've read that several large club layouts employ this technique, since members frequently forget to "turn off" their DCC loco's when they step away from the operations. This gives the chief operator the ability to park unused engines on a parking track and "forget them". I have several DCC articles and a book explaining DCC operations, but they contradict each other. One says wire every track, the others say you don't have to. This leaves me confused. I plan to run mostly DCC engines with one DC engine from time to time. I know the Zephyr can handle this arrangement (at least the online manual gave me that impression). And from what the manual explained, I can also use my "straight-DC" power pack routed through the Zephyr as an extra controller operating one DC loco while the DCC cab operates everything else (I believe they call this a "Jumper" arrangement).
Any ideas or advice would be most appreciated.
Thanks guys!
Mark
Citation Latitude Captain
--and--
Lt Colonel, USAF (Retired)
Citation Latitude Captain
--and--
Lt Colonel, USAF (Retired)