I just picked up my first DCC system and as I read more in depth about DCC (than I did in purchasing), I wonder if I need to go all out with wiring as it is sometimes suggested. My layout is a folded dog bone 11’ x 8.’
I have less than 50’ of main line, less than 15’ of a narrow gauge line, a few industrial spurs and a small yard.
Other than a power district for each for the HO and HOn30 lines, do I really need circuit breakers with such a small layout? I have but one locomotive for each gauge.
If I wanted to set up a couple of power districts (lets say ½ main line, 1/2 main line, yard) in the HO line, I assume I would use insulated rail joiners to isolate the districts and then ff of the main bus each feeder would have a circuit breaker.
You could probably do with out them, but there is a really cheap fast way to have protection. Install a 1156 auto light bulb, between the track and power in each district. If a loco shorts the light bulb lights and your system does not go down. This is a well established practice and the bulbs are around $1/ea.
I, and many others, use the 1156 auto tail light bulbs to limit current in power districts. They work great at limiting the current to about 2 amps in case of a derailment or short. You do not say what DCC system that you have or give enough information to know if the light bulbs will work. What is the max current of your DCC system?
Regardless of how you limit current; I believe that you should divide the layout into several power districts. This allows only the district with a problem to go down, and lets the rest of the layout run normally. It is easy to do now, and more difficult to change later. The districts should be configured to limit problems to one train. I have eight districts in my single operator layout.
With only one loco per section, you don’t really need all kinds of power districts. Just two, one for standard gauge and one for narrow gauge, should be fine. That was the standard gauge loco shorting out won’t stop the narrow gauge and vice-versa.