Allright folks, So i bought an engine. Its not DCC equipped yet, but it will be in the future. Can anyone recomend a DCC contoller (Or transforumer, not sure what its called) that will operate the train on analog as well as DCC? When I was at the hobby store they had one that would play the engine sounds when I would move a switch. Is this something that has to be programmed?
Thanks for the help
TJ
I don’t believe such a system exists, although if the decoder, itself, can operate in both modes, you can use a DC contoller.
The trouble is that the decoder in your engine will know if a digital signal is present, and will preferentially take its cues that way. So, if you were to run a strictly DC loco with a DCC system, that is when the address 00 comes into play; you dial “00” on your paddle, and the DC loco will move as directed…as a DC locomotive would. However, the loco will very likely make all sorts of singing sounds when it gets under way…not a comforting event. Also, you should not leave the loco to sit on a powered DCC track for more than a few minutes at a time unless you are letting the loco move. If it sits, it should be placed in a non-DCC powered location or the motor may get hot enough to melt surrounding plastic.
TJ, what they most likely showed you was one of the analog sound controllers that have come out to allow DC layouts to benefit from the sound functions available from the DCC/sound equipped QSI locomotives. Broadway limited makes something called the “Sidekick” and Atlas makes one as well. http://www.atlasrr.com/dcc/quantumengineer.htm
There is no DCC system that is both true analog and DCC switchable. Systems like the Digitrax Zephyr can run analog locos on the 00 address, but it is not particularly satisfying compared to running the same loco on a DC power pack.
TJ, Welcome to the club of DCC newbies. I finaly went DCC, but ONLY after much research. I have read so many threads of people who purchased before they understood.
You need to read up on thiss DCC stuff so you know what it is all about. It is complicated and was quite foreign to me.
The cheap stuff is cheap for a reason. Take your time or you may spend a bunch of money and not get what you eventually will want.
Good to know folks. The engine I bought is only DCC ready, not equipped so maybe I will just enjoy the analog world for a while before I jump into that side of things! Thanks again!
TJ
Well, one more question. I am going to play the analog game for quite a while, but I will move into DCC in a few years. Should I take special care in how I design my track? Or will it be fine the way I have set it up with standard analog analog? (I know you cant see my layout but its just a basic oval. nothing fancy)
In a word, no. However, if you decide to get well into the DC operating system complete with switched blocks and all, you will have a lot of crud under your layout when you switch to DCC…useless crud. DCC only needs, for insurance/safety purposes (I’m talking about preserving your locos, not saving your house from danger) to have districts, powered or otherwise, that have safety cut-outs for short protection. It is a longe explanation, but you basically don’t want a lot of locomotives drawing near-limit amperage through your DCC controller only to have a short someplace. That could spell disaster to your engine decoders and your DCC works.
I suggest you use a heavier gauge pair of wires running parallel to your main line, just beneath the rails under your platform…whether plywood, foam, whatever. From those wires, making sure to keep wire-to-wire matching to avoid shorts, solder 22 gauge thing wire from the rail sides down through pre-drilled holes and then crimp the other ends, or solder them, to the main wire I just described. These wires should be soldered every 3-6 feet along your main, and onto sidings and spurs. These thinner ones from the bus to the rails are called “feeders” or “drops.” A good idea after adding the feeders is to cut the rail between them someplace. You use a fine saw or Dremel to cut gaps in both rails about halfway between sets of feeders. Later, you can add short protectors to the individual feeder sets and protect your layout from complete and perhaps dangerous short shutdowns.
There is so much more, but I wanted you to know that heavy duty DC wiring and DCC wiring are very similar, but DC blocking adds a lot of extra work and material that you will want to tear out.
Play-Doh:
For people who don’t know much about DCC and aren’t sure even of their future layout plans, I am thinking there is value in getting a cheap throw-away DCC system just so you get some DCC equipped locos in your roster and you learn about DCC.
Then in future years when you’re sure what your modeling direction will be, you will also know what to look for in your ultimate DCC system because you will be a lot more DCC savvy, having played with it a while.
I’ve seen Bachmann EZ DCC systems on ebay for a little as $50 – for the price of a couple of good decoders you can try out DCC and learn how it works. I would not plan on having the Bachmann DCC system for a long time – it’s cheaply built and limited in its capabilities. But if learning on a throw-away system for a couple of years makes sense, then this is a good option.