Happy New Year everbody. I know there is a seperate forum for power issues, but I want to poll as many people as possible on this issue. Therefore I amn posting in the general section. I am making the move from DC to DCC and would like to know which publication has the best and simplest instructions on wiring your layout for DCC, type and gauge of wire,feeder wires etc.,etc.,etc. What to do and what not to do for a bedroom size layout with two independent levels of operation. Thank you in advance for your valued suggestions.
I would start with the manual on what ever system you are planning on buying. I bet I read the Digitrax Super Empire Builder manual online in PDF format about a dozen times before I purchased it so 1) knew what to expect when I opened the box 2) what I needed in addtion to the SEB to get my layout up and running 3) what needed to be done to my engines to get them DCC 'ed.
Then after that it was a lot of hands on learning and reading the advice here on the forum.
I don’t know how up to date this website is, but I find books often get outdated very fast.
Brent[C):-)]
I agree with Brent. I have a book which is just 3 years old, and it’s talking about setting CV’s the old fashioned way (hexadecimal numbers). The internet may be your best source.
I’ve been using Allan’s website for a while now. He keeps it very up to date. As I write, the latest article was posted on 12/26/11.
Thats what I would do as well. I bought the MR DCC book years ago as well as a copy of Digitrax’s book on DCC and to be honest I didn’t learn anything from them that I couldn’t get from the manual, from this site or from old club members. Every question you want to ask is probably been asked in the DCC section so maybe check that out first. Look at the money you will save…
Michael,
I have two recommendations: One online; the other, a publication.
DCC for Beginners -Its a DCC primer on Tony’s Train Exchange web site. You can either read it online or download it onto your computer as a .pdf file.
DCC Made Easy (Lionel Strang/Kalmbach) - It’s a few years old now but should still be helpful. Lionel has a real knack for taking complicated things and putting them in very understandable terms.
Tom
The Big Book Of DCC is in my opinion a good book on DCC. It got me started and is an excellent piece of refernce material.
Its a good book but a little outdated now. It also goes from 50 bucks to over 100 bucks for a copy depending on condition. Thats a lot of money for info you can get right of the internet.
For DCC, I have found the PDF-download, Getting Started with DCC, at the Information Station to be quite helpful in addition to the occasional DCC article in Model Railroader.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to share where you have been and where I shouldn’t go with my adventure in DCC. Enjoy 2012 to the fullest and may you all have a year of problem free operations on your layouts. Michael
Hi,
I didn’t read all the replies, so my response is “unadulterated”…
I have been an MR since the mid '50s, and finally decided to do DCC 3 years ago. Before that, I read all I could and paid special attention to the electronics section of this Forum. While I know “electricity”, I don’t know all that much about electronics - so I had a lot to learn and frankly it was intimidating.
To answer your question, there is no single “best” book. In other words, “one size fits all” isn’t happening for DCC users or wannabe users. You will benefit greatly by picking up a number of them, starting out with the Kalmbach DCC books, which start with the basics and also have sections for intermediate or advanced projects. I have all of them (3) and can’t say one is better than the other.
In addition, you will find a lot of reading material from the various suppliers (i.e. Digitrax, NCE, etc.). And lastly - or perhaps firstly - the good folks on this forum are always there to guide you (but I strongly suggest you educate yourself on the basics first.
I have to say, I’m really glad my newest layout is DCC, and I really enjoy running trains with it.
There is no best book, only what you like best. There are MANY variables in DCC as you will soon find out.
I use Google and search for the DCC subject of choice. I get hundreds of links and choose the ones that best answer my question and store those links in Bookmarks. With IE, store them in Favorites.
I configure the Bookmarks in the Browser to easily find the links under different subject headings.
Scroogle is good also and you do not get tracked like Google does.
I have never had to buy a DCC hard copy book. Many sites have PDF documents you can download to your PC and print out.
This is great if you have a tablet and can easily read the info at your work bench or layout.
I back up all data to an external hard drive.
Rich