Do reversing loops still exist on a DCC system? Since the voltage is AC running through the tracks now I’m guessing No? Is there any need for me to keep my still in the box #205 Connector, #215 Selector, and #220 Controller? Someone else post mentioned signalling as a need to keep the tracks in a block configuration is this a mandatory thing and do you still need the isolated track section to program your locomotives?
These should be my last questions on DCC…
Yes reversing loops are still an issue. The polarity is reversed by the loops in the same way it is in DC. So the loop still needs to be isolated.
You can manually address the issue or you can install an auto-reversing module that will sense the momentary short caused by the locomotive (or other) wheels bridging the gap and automatically reverse the polarity of the loop. Auto reversers are not expensive, so most seem to go that way in dealing with this problem.
With the module is isolating the loop still required? Just making sure I’m starting to lay my track and will isolate the section if needed. Isolated programming track still required?
The auto reversing moduals on the market today are the epitomy of simplicity. You isolate the reversing section, solder 2 wires to the reversing section and 2 wires to the non reversing section(or bus wires). Then you forget about it.
David
Yes. The module gets wired between the power bus and the reversing loop.
And the isolated programming track is required, if you want.
Ken.
Just because a signal may be AC doesn’t mean you can connect the two wires of an AC circuit together and have it not short.
The two rails will connect at the end of a reversing loop and the AC signal will be out of phase (one rail will be momentarily negative while the other rail will be momentarily positive, in effect), which is AC’s version of a short.
DCC wiring is 99% the same as straight DC wiring. DCC’s dirtly little wiring secret is that wiring the layout for proper short management needs to be accommodated – two wires to the track and that’s it doesn’t cut it. The more trains you want to run at the same time, the more you should consider installing robust short managment on your layout.
“Dirty little secret”?
“robust short managment”?
Ive been running DCC for 6 years now and I have never come across and dirty little secrets or robust short management issues. What is up with all of these anti-DCC/fire-and-brimstone replies?
David
Newbies to DCC who want to use it to run more than a couple trains on their dream layout will soon find shorts can shut down the entire layout. Wiring your layout for proper short management involves some good planning, cutting the track up into blocks, adding short catching mechanisms, and so on.
If you have a larger layout that conducts regular operating sessions with lots of operators and trains (we can have up to 16 operators in the layout room at a time), you don’t want shorts shutting down big chunks of the layout and causing operators to holler, “allright, who shorted the layout?” when their trains mysteriously stop dead.
Multiple booster districts is part of the solution, but not all of it. Really robust short management involves busting the layout up into train length blocks and adding a short catching mechanism on each train length block.
You don’t see this discussed much in the hobby press DCC material. Booster short detection isn’t enough unless you can live with multiple trains going down whenever someone runs a turnout. On my layout, I just can’t stand for that to happen, and in 2000 I rewired the layout to solve the short management issue.
Now, only the train that gets the short goes down. All the other trains, even in the same booster district keep on running. The “two wires to the track and you’re done” DCC wiring mantra is mostly a myth and not very real world if you want a smoothly operating DCC layout much beyond a 4x8.