I saw in the new MR under new products that MRC has produced a new power booster for their Prodigy Advance system. 2 questions. How does this booster wire into the basic system? Also, would one be better to add this 3.5 amps to one district, or wire the basic system into a 5 amp booster for the whole layout and them break it into districts? Can this new booster power one district while the basic system powers a separate district? (ok, thats 3 questions) Additionally, is the powered face plate for the command bus the same one they have offered, or is this one somehow different? Thanks for your help.
Check out the writeups on www.tonystrains.com He has some info on the 3.5 amp and the 8 amp booster from MRC. I’m not sure if any of the info there will help specific to your questions, but my understanding is the MRC DCC Boosters are plug and play, just plug them into the existing connections on your PE or PA system.
From what I’ve read, one option would be to use the two boosters for two separate ‘main’ districts, and use short circuit protectors to further subdivide the districts for individual areas of your layout. For instance, say you have a large room layout, each side of the room could be powered by one booster, thus two separate main districts, then use short circuit protectors for each individual area, such as a yard, industrial area, branchline, etc. That way if you have a short in the yard, it won’t short all the way back to the booster and knock out every train on one side of the layout. Much easier to troubleshoot than trying to find a short on an entire side of a layout.
You may also want to pick up a copy of “DCC Made Easy” from Model Railroader Books ($12.95), it’ll answer the basics of power districts and such.
I plan to use the lightbulb short management system as described by Joe Fugate in the DCC clinic here and on his web site, so shorts are not my concern. My primary concern is to get more power to my layout. I had planned to run my PE (output actually 2.5 amps) into a 5 amp booster for the whole layout, then protect blocks with the bulbs. I am now wondering if I can run the 2.5 amp PE for one district and the 3.5 amp booster for a separate district to increase power, then procect shorts with the bulbs? Can anyone tell me if this will work and how to route signal from the PE to the booster for the second power district? Thanks
It looks like it has a phone type jack that hooks into the command station. (plug and play). And a second set of connectors that say “out to track”. They have some pretty good pics of it on their web site.They also have a PDF manual for the PA system on there. Don’t know if this helps.
MRC has special front panels that have the jacks built in. There are diagrams in the Prodigy Express unit I bought recently. It’s just a matter of plugging one into the other, icluding the Prodigy Advance controllers if you want one later on. Have you checked out the MRC website? I’d think there would be info there.
I’ve seen those panels, but in my “I can do the same thing for less money” mode I am trying to see if I can make my own panels and save some bucks. Of course, like nearly all of my similar endeavors I will most likely end up spending more money and way to much time coming up with something that isn’t as good. Oh well - someday I’ll learn!!
BTW: How do you like the PE? Love mine, but would love to hear your opinion.
I think the Prodigy Express is great for my use, but I don’t really have much to compare it to. It’s now just temporarily hooked up to a pair of HO scale modules, and I’m running my On30 steamers on the two main lines, testing out the system. The DCC stuff is intended for a pair of yet unbuilt On30 modules.
I recently installed Soundtraxx decoders in my Bachmann Shay and Climax, and wanted to see what they sounded like - great so far!
My only other experience with DCC has been a few operating sessions on a friend’s layout, and he uses NCE equipment. Using their throttle isn’t really much different than using the previous DC throttles, so there isn’t really much in DCC to appreciate other than the sounds.
One correction: I kept using the initials PE above, but I actually have the Prodigy Advance ¶. The books and article by MRC are actually much less help than one might think. I have read them along with the manual produced by Tony’s Train Exchange. I basically have done all I can think of short of buying the booster and trial-and-erroring it.