I’ve been reading and reading. Think I understand DCC for the most part. Thanks to a lot of people here. One thing that puzzles me…Wiring. I can’t seem to picture what goes on under the layout as far as wiring. Thinking some pictures might help. Someone post some good pictures? Past feeders I get a bit confused. 
Curious to see how cable management was handled etc also.
My I suggest this forum:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=36389
It includes all kinds of DCC wiring help including pictures.
How big is the layout in question. Many layouts just require two wires. One to each rail - done!
TZ is spot on. On one extreme the booster portion of the DCC system can simply have 2 wires going to a single location of the track, one to each rail. At the other end of the spectrum is a multi booster, multi power district layout with yards of track and complex short protection built in all over the place, reverse districts etc. Your needs will fall somewhere in between the 2.
If all you have is a simple loop of track then the 2 wires from the booster may do it. However, in a more permanent layout long term electrical continuity can be enhanced by connecting the booster to a power bus and then running feeders to the track at regular intervals. In this case, the power bus would be a pair of heavier guage wires one connected to each of the track A and B outputs of the booster. The feeders would then run up thru the road bed to the track. The whole purpose of this approach is to eliminate reliance on the rail joiners to provide long term electrical continuity, and to ensure that track voltages stay good all over the layout. How often you have feeders is up to you. My rule of thumb is that every piece of track be connected to the powerbus via a solderd connection, either soldered to a feeder, or soldered to an adjacent piece of track that is soldered to a feeder.
Taking is a step further, you may want to break the power bus and the layout into districts to minimize the effect of short circuits. In the example above with one booster connected to a single power bus, if there was a short (loco running a switch) then the booster short protection would kick in and the entire layout would shut down. This may not be a problem for you in a single operator situation, but could be annoying for other operators. Using some sort of power management/short protection like a Tony’s Powershield, Digitrax PM42 or the JFurgate Tail lamp idea, you can break the layout into smaller sections where only the section with the short would shut down.
Going a step further, you may want to run
I’m actually building two layouts. One being a small shelf layout. Maybe 3 x6 or so. But I planning a 4x 8 layout to be started soon. Like to connect the two at some point.
2 wires for DCC???
2 wires could do it for sure. If it were me, I would still run a simple powerbus and feeders simply to increase the long term reliability of the layout. Depending on your track plan, you might only need a half dozen or so feeders, so it won’t cost a lot to add them, or take much time.
Good information simon…do you happen to have a actual picture? I still reading the topic someone directed me too.
I think I understand the feeders attach to the buss lines which in turn connect to the booster…but were does the other end of the bus wires go? And is that it… My layout will be a simply 4x8 layout. Eventually connecting my “learning” layout 3x6 switching layout. Using a NCE pro Cab.
the easiest part of DCC is hooking up the two wires . After that comes all the programming etc. which is almost a hobby in itself. I can’t say that I’m proficient ,I have no formal computer training . Just extend those two different colored wires out as far as you need and stop em. then run feeders to the track you need to power. You do need to keep track of right and left and wire accordingly. Feeders are just short wires soldered to the main busses. I like to put em in between turnouts and other possible breaks or weak areas of continuity.
I’m on the road right now so can’t take a picture right now. However the other end does not go anywhere! In my case my leads from the booster connect in roughly the middle of the power bus wires. The ends of the power bus leads are just screwed into a terminal block for neatness, but are not connected to anything.
Generally, they go to the furthest part of your layout and just end. Their job is to get the power to the feeders.
Whatever you do, don’t connect those free ends to each other. Make the far ends of the buss wires the connections to your last pair of feeders.
HTH,
Steve
What you can do is run two 12 gauge wires from each output, one in each direction under your layout, tacked up with holders. So, you’d choose red and black, say, and have one of each going left AND right, under your main line. But there would be TWO reds coming out of one output slot, and TWO blacks from the other (positive and negative). Therefore (and I am belaboring this to ensure it is clear), two red wires pressed and screwed into one post or outlet from the power supply or controller, and two wires of matching color from the other post. One red and one black go left around the layout, and the other two go right. If you want them to meet, and I understand it matters not, for God’s sake don’t hook up black to red or vice versa!. Hook up like colours…red to red.
Once that is all done, choose places to drill tiny holes (1/8" or less) through the layout so that you can feed feeders of about 18-22 gauge wire up to the rails. On a small layout in the 25’ mainline range, three to six feeders would be lots.
Solder the appropriate coloured (red or black, again) wires to the same rail (you’ll have to keep checking that it is always the same inside or outside rail of you loop or straight) at these drilled places, and solder the other ends, again, to the red or black rail (make sure the colours match) 12 gauge bus running just below…or close by.
Does that help with the visualization?
jflessne,
As you can see numerous people don’t think your question is silly at all. We’ve all been newbies at some phase of this hobby at some part of our lives and were filled with “silly” and “simple” questions.
There have been times when I’ve seen a question as a topic title that I’ve said in my mind “I know the answer to that, it’s an easy one.” Upon reading the responses, however, I will often find a new (or several new) technique(s) based on a different way of looking at the problem/issue. I then find myself thinking “I’m glad that guy/gal asked that!”
So . . . ask away!
FWIW I built my current layout (approx. 6’ x 16’) for DC with block wiring etc. When I bought my DCC system (Digitrax Zephyr), I just connected it up to the existing wiring and it’s worked fine the last two years. I usually operate 1-2 engines on a train and 1-2 (usually two diesels back-to-back) switching in the yards at the same time. My existing DPDT switch for my reverse loop worked fine on DCC too, but I added an automatic reverser about a year ago and that works really nice. For a small layout, you probably don’t need buss wires etc., that would be more for a club or large home layout. If you use non-power routing turnouts, you could probably get by with just two wires to the track (I’d probably add a couple more connections just to be sure) unless you use a reverse loop.
jflessne, the best information available anywhere on DCC wiring is to be found on Alan Gartner’s website. I suggest you take some time to read his articles.
BTW programming a decoder isn’t like programming a computer !! When you first read about it, it sounds really complicated but it isn’t that bad. For most of us, we only really need to adjust a couple of things. When I add a decoder to an engine, I like to set the CV’s (control values) so that when the engine is going forward, the front headlight is on bright and the rear headlight (if there is one) is dimmed, and vice-versa when backing up; and I like to set the momentum so the train will coast for a little bit when I turn the power down to zero rather than ‘stopping on a dime’. Except of course for adding an ID no. (decoders come with a default ID no. of 03, I change the ID to match the engine number on the model ), that’s usually about all I do. On my Digitrax Zephyr, it takes maybe 5 minutes.
Hey Stix,
How do you do that? What CV settings are used?