Using TMCC with multiple TIUs + one more dumb question

[majorjkg]

At the moment, I have one Lionel Lionmaster Pennsylvania T-1 Duplex (two motors) with command control and railsounds pulling seven Lionel 15" passenger cars and one MTH RailKing Pennsylvania 2-8-8-2 w/ProtoSound 2 pulling six Lionel 12" bathtub gondolas and a caboose. My shortest of eight blocks is the turntable/roundhouse about 15 feet and the longest is almost 40 feet. I suppose I could get by with one TIU and four power supplies, since I doubt the wiring in my train room could support a potential 84 amp drain anyway! Each TIU channel could support two blocks. Also, I think I like the idea of using both TMCC and DCS remotes to operate their respective locomotives! Another concern, should I install a toggle switch on the track section(s) where the passenger cars are normally parked when not running to prevent the lights from burning continuously? I know the boys on the O-Gauge Railroading DCS video recommend a toggle switch to isolate a short section of track to be used for "addressing" ProtoSound locomotives.

[jimhaleyscomet]

This might not at all apply, BUT........ I like to not add my TMCC trains to my DCS. I prefer to run them of off the TMCC remote. That way I can have instant access to the TMCC and the DCS engine at the same time because I have two remotes (no need to switch engine selection in DCS).

Jim H

[Anonymous]

One TMCC Command Base per layout.

Connect it to one of your TIU's with the special cable. When you add your TMCC locomotives, add them to the TIU which has the Command Base attached.

As far as blocks go, you can run multiple blocks off of one TIU channel. We have three large loops, each broken into four equal blocks. One 180 Watt power brick supports each TIU channel. We use the MTH Power Distribution Panel to run the wires from teh TIU channel to the individual blocks.

You do not need one TIU channel per block. You do not need on transformer per block.

We use one 180 Watt power brick per TIU channel for the large demo setup where we might have 10 trains running at once.

How long are your blocks? What types of trains are you running (long lighted passenger trains draw a lot more current).

[majorjkg]

I am building a new layout using Fastrack and plan to use DCS primarily but I do have at least one TMCC engine. All the reference works say to connect the TMCC Command Base to the TIU using MTHs special serial cable. My question: What if your layout requires two TIUs, do you need two TMCC Command Bases, one connected to each TIU?
My (second) dumb question pertains to power supplies. I plan to use 180 watt Powerhouse power supplies. Should I use one power supply for each TIU channel, requiring eight power supplies for my particular layout? Or is there a more economical yet effective way to power eight blocks?