Hi again,
Ya know, I started reading “Wiring Your Layout” and realized that I have been doing block wiring the whole time, using series of on\off switches to control sidings and spurs, to control certain “sections” of the main and DPDT switches to control my reverse loop.
NOW, looking at my entire layout I am beginning to see “logical” sections that can be set to run independently.
If I could now grasp the concept of Cab A\Cab B.
cplmckenzie
You need/use two power packs/throttles.
Cab A (left) wires go the a dpdt switch. Cab B (right) goes to the other side of the switch. wires go from the centre of the switch to the track. Insulating gaps on both rails, at both ends of the section. Mind your colour coding.
Each such section can be controlled by A or B.
For three or more, rotary switchs work best.
Dave
If you go back to the tread you started in the “Electronics and DCC” section, “Question, before I do it?”, scroll about half way down, and Frank (Zstrip) gave you a link with a simple wiring diagram on block wiring. Look at it, and the two boxes on the bottom of the diagram labeled “Throttles”, one box would be cab"A" and the other would be cab"B".
Mike.
Hello All,
Get a copy of the Complete Atlas Wiring Book!
It will give you a great breakdown of DC wiring and you can refer to it at any time.
At $8.95 + shipping is a great addition to your knowledge base.
Hope this helps.
The concept is simply adding a switch in the wire for each control “section” that can choose between either cab A or cab B is feeding power to that section.
Don’t make it any harder than it has to be. Really quite simple.
Mike,
What’s that old saying?? ‘‘You can lead a horse to water…but’’!?
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
Only if He choose’s to wire His layout common rail…with Atlas components. Common rail wiring, is not as versatile, as both rails insulated and easier to switch to DCC…If He so desires later.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
Hello All,
If you aren’t familiar with this book it also gives schematics so you can make these components, given your experience, not just selling Atlas components.
If you aren’t familiar with wiring diagrams then the Atlas components are a simple and relatively inexpensive option.
Options…that’s all I’m suggesting.
Hope this helps.
And even at age 12 I understood how to use double pole switches instead of Atlas if I didn’t want common rail.
It. Is. Not. That. Difficult.
Well, no. Once you “see” it, it’s incredibly obvious. But until you do, it’s not. For a lot of us.
Sorta like calculus.
Ed
Dave, you don’t have to have gaps on both rails as long as the “south” rails are gapped and individual blocks are kept separate at the controller/on/off switches. Both power packs can be connected to that “north” or common rail. The control switches determine then which “cab” or power pack runs that block. Some have said, however, that finding a short or other electrical problem is easier when both rails are gapped. My remedy for that: turn on only one block at a time.
Your individual blocks are connected to the middle tab on the SPDT, on-off-on switches (I’m using DPDT switches, as I have indicator lights for A/B throttle indicators). Your “common” lead from your power pack is connected directly to the track (you can use a jumper wired terminal strip for this and have a single connection going to the track). The other lead from each power pack is connected to an “A” terminal strip that connects to all the “A” positions on the block toggles, and separately connected to a “B” terminal strip that connects to all the “B” positions on the block toggles respectively. This method separates each power pack at the terminal strip and at the toggles. Don’t forget to use a jumper wire to connect the terminals on each termianl strip. Keep A and B terminal strips separate electrically.
Understanding wiring is also difficult for myself since I don’t use that often. It seems that electricity can get quite challenging and complex.
I think people try to read too far into things - oh, it’s electricity, it MUST be complicated. Get yourself a battery, a switch, a small motor, and some piece of wire. To use the water analogy (I hate that, because I really hate plumbing work, it’s ALWAYS a mess - yet rewiring the whole breaker box is somethign I am quite comfortable with) - you have a pump suppling water (the battery, or power pack). This water flows through a valve (the switch) to a water wheel (the motor) and then back to be picked up by the pump again. If you close the valve, it blocks off the water and the wheel stops turning. If you cut the pipe, the water doesn’t get to the wheel and it stops turning. For basic DC operation, that’s really all there is to it. Just because your ‘wires’ are a pair of rails 16.5 mm apart (in HO) doesn;t make them any different than a lamp cord or speaker wire or any other actual copper wire. Just because the ‘motor’ is on wheels that ride on these rails, doesn’t make it any different. The electricty has to flow from the source to the device being powered, and back again, in an unbroken path, for things to work. That path can be a rail, a wire, a wheel, a strip of conductive metal, anything. If there is any break in the path, nothing will work. Sometimes you want to deliberately add a break in the path, to stop something from working on purpose, like turn out the light, or park the loco on a siding.
There are plenty of advanced concepts that do use advanced math like calculus, but those things are not necessary to understand to wire a train layout. They aren;t even necessary to use DCC. Despite all the complexity that is the hardware and software inside the various components, one does nto need to undertand how such things work or how to build your own in order to make use of them. How many understand even the old electromechanical phone system (you know, back when a phone was a thing with wires running into the wall and had a big round dial with numbers
My policy for creating blocks is: Every time the track reaches a turnout each fork is a new block. The switch is part of the old block. The exception is in yards.
The Atlas selectors are SPDT on-off-on switches. SP single pole means that the common rail wire is not switched. The DT double throw is so you can switch between two different throttles so two people can operate at once (on different blocks). If you only have one power pack that is fine just use the upper position. Off is in the middle.