Layout in planning stage is 4ft by 24ft HO 2rail Atlas track and switches using MTH Locos, one TIU and 4 AIUs. 2 Power supplies (Variable Regulated Linear DC Power Supply GPR-1810HD 18V 10A) one for each TIU fixed channel, four DCCSpecialties PSX circuit breakers and two PAXARSC reversing loop controllers and two RRampMeters
Newbie questions regarding new layout (1st)
Is it possible/advisable to Split the TIU fixed outputs into two lines each, for a total of four power lines, giving a total of four wiring blocks with each wiring block serving about 8 to 10 track sections each having an average length of 8 - 12ft per power connection, separated by insulated connectors?
Should PSX circuit breakers be placed between Power Supplies and TIU or placed between TIU and wiring blocks?
Can I, in fact, use two separate Power Supplies, each feeding one of the fixed TIU channels? If the Power Supplies are set at the same DCVoltage and Amp values and are monitored by in-line RRampMeters, showing accurate DCVoltage and Amps, is there any potential issue to discourage this strategy?
Willingly accept comments on attached dog-bone layout pdf file
Would like to share a great drawing I received from Steve at Atlas. I could not comprehend the issue until I got this and want to thank him and, if it is OK, I would like to share it for use by others!!!
Take a look at the Classic Toy Trains Forum. That’s where most of the O-scalers hang out.
This forum is mostly HO and N scalers. DCS is pretty much unused in those scales. Feel free to join in, of course, but technically knowledgeable modelers will likely not see your MTH posts.
OK, well. Mr. B, he says in the title of the post, he’s asking about HO scale MTH,and I know nothing about their DCS system, and I will say, it’s not disscussed much on here, because MTH DCS is it’s own system, and not always friendly with DCC, and I know nothing about what TIU or AIU’s stand for.
Maybe somebody with some experience and knowledge of MTH’s DCS system will chime in.
I suspect that DCS command-side components are pretty much scale-independant, so answers from O would probably be valid for HO, too.
I will point out that while I’m here that the PSX series of circuit breakers have features that are DCC controlled, and may not be accessible from DCS.
DCS is not a popular system in this forum, but someone may step up with some advice for the TIU track interface unit, and AIU accessory interface unit. I did not know that until I looked it up.
Since your track plan didn’t show up, you might as well start a separate thread in the layout and read the sticky in the general forum on how to post photos. You can’t paper clip them, control v or link to Google or facebook. Nor can you attach a pdf