I don’t have the Digitrax yet, but will have it in two weeks. I’ve been laying track for a month!
In any case, I have only been using a single power feed wire to the outside rails, that will connect to the bus.
I was told that I only need to run only the positive for power, and no need to worry about the ground wires, and let the DCC system powerbooster use the ground of my house when it’s plugged into the wall sockets. Is that correct?
Now on Digitrax manual, they have RAIL A and RAIL B conencting from the powerbooster unit to both rails.
Why are we over-complicating things here? You have 2 wires coming from the Digitrax unit and those 2 wires go to the track. Thats it. Beyond that you may consider feeders to your rails every 3 or 6 feet to give a more consistent electrical feed…but it really isn’t necessary if it runs as advertised (or passes the quarter test).
Not sure what you mean here by “ground wires”?? I think they’re talking about like a three-prong plug for plugging the system into the wall so it’s properly grounded, not something you’re doing with the track.
If you’re running the tracks you’ve laid now with a DC power pack, you have two wires going to the tracks, one for each rail. For DCC you’ll disconnect the two wires from the powerpack and connect them to the Digitrax’s Rail A and B outputs. That’s it.
DCC is pretty straight forward. There is a Rail A and Rail B. Each should be connected to the power bus wires which are in turn connected to the power booster/command station. There is no need for a separate ground wire. You will however, need a programming track, either on the layout or separate. That is another issue.
You don’t actually “need” a programming track, but they are very convienient.
If you are getting a Zephyr or Chief system, you can hook up two wires from the “PROG A” and “PROG B” connections on the system to an isolated piece of track. This track is now your programming track. NOTE: make sure you never accidently route full track power into the programming track…you can damage your command station. Therefore, a toally isolated programming track (not connected to anything else) is the safest method.
This programming track will allow you to actually read what is already programmed into your decoder. Want to know why your loco is acting strange? Read the CV values. Want to know what that loco was programmed to so you can do that to another loco? Read the CV values. Why won’t this loco respond to this address, could it be programmed wrong? Read the CV values. It can be very handy to troubleshoot locos if you have a programming track.
FYI: The Empire Builder set from Digitrax does not have a real “programming track” at all. It can program decoders just fine, but it cannot read them by itself.
I am of the “no ground” school, provided you use SELV class 2 power supplies. Now you are going to say “what’s that?” Well, recommended power supplies for Digitrax like their PS515 or the nearly identical NCE P515, or the PS315 that comes with the Zephyr are all SELV 2 power supplies. The key is there is no connection other than the magnetic coupling of the transformer between the low voltage output and the AC power input. In addition the case is all plastic and totally insulated. There is in no way ANY connection between the AC house wiring and the low voltage power that goes to the command station/booster.
If you use similar power supplies for everything that connects to the DCC system, then nothing will ever connected to the house wiring. Thus my opinion is KEEP it isolated. Others have different opinions.
Some power supplies that are NOT isolated are most computer power supplies. The negative terminal on a typical computer switching power supply is connected to the ground of the input.
If you go to the Digitrax web site you can download the Super Chief manual. It is a free PDF file. You can read up on the system you are planning to purchase.
My first venture into DCC was a Super Chief radio (simplex) system which I purchased in 1989. It is still in full operation on my layout. I have recently upgraded to duplex radio by adding a UR92 to the Digitax loconet and purchasing/upgrading to the new diuplex throttles. My old DT100R throtles are still working great.
I would also recommend that you purchase a Digitrax PR3. This will interface your Digitrax system with your PC. You can download JMRI Decoder Pro for free to program your decoders and do lots of other neat things.
Well that will surely have you asking another question when the Magna force arrives. It has a ground wire on the output cable. Connecting it to your “ground” terminal on the DCS100 is optional.
I’m with Randy’s thinking, don’t connect the green wire to your system. I folded it back over the cable and taped the end to the cable. Did that on two MF615’s we use on our club layout.
One year ago, I was in your same situation… The advice the previous posters gave is quite good, and I would like to add my experience.
My layout is 11x15 two level HO. I’ve been an MR for decades, but this is my first DCC. I ended up with a Digitrax Super Chief with second booster, and 8 DCC Specialties PSX circuit breakers. The layout is split into 8 power blocks. Track feeders are 20 awg spaced 3-4 feet apart. Power bus wires for the 8 blocks are 14 awg. In order to simplify keeping “polarity” the same for each power district, I considered the outside rail to be “negative” and used white wire for all those power bus’s. The “positive” rail is the inside rail, and each has a different color power bus wire.
It is extremely important to test, test, test, especially after each area of wiring is complete. To assure I connected all wires properly, I used a simple line tester (battery/bulb/two leads) and checked to assure each block was truly isolated and that the “negative” wires went only to the same rail.
Read all you can, ask a lot of questions, and start off simply and in stages.