I need this for my layout. From an ebay seller it was said that they are not DCC friendly. What makes them not DCC friendly? Dead spots with no power?https://www.walthers.com/code-100-nickel-silver-6-turnout-double-crossover
As long as you throw all four switches at the same time, they work fine on DCC. I have two on my layout for years.
That double crossover is nothing more than four turnouts, two right handed and two left handed, combined into one specialty track. Since only one train can pass through the divergent ends of the double crossover at one time, the four turnouts are usually wired to all be thrown at the same time.
What makes a turnout, or a crossover (two turnouts), or a double crossover (four turnouts) DCC Friendly, is that the piece of "specialty" track is manufactured with integral gaps to prevent shorts as opposed to the user cutting gaps and setting up special wiring. It is already done by the manufacturer for the user.
Rich
Alton Junction
I would suggest not trying to modify a double crossover. I trashed a perfectly good double crossover trying to make it DCC friendly.
A double crossover needs four switch machines or manual devices to operate. As long as all four switches are set the same, staight through or crossover, the switch will be fine on your DCC layout.
I have some experience with Shinohara/Walthers older DC ("non-DCC-friendly") code 83 turnouts and DCC.
The issue with the DC turnouts is that both the point rails are electrically connected at the throwbar and the frog so they will always be same polarity as each other, so while the closed point is snug against the stock rail, the open point is about 1/8" to 3/16" away from the other (opposite polarity) stock rail. When a flanged wheel passes next to the open point rail, it is very close to a rail of opposite polarity. Sometimes close enough to allow a spark to jump across the gap creating a minor short. Usually this is not enough to bother a DC power pack, but a DDC system is far more sensitive and will cause it to shut down and then try to re-start.
A DCC-friendly turnout has the point rails isolated from each other and from the frog, but electrically connected to their respective stock rails, so the opposite polarity rails are far apart.
When I switched to DCC, most of my DC turnouts worked ok almost all the time. But this was not reliable enough so I converted them over to DCC-friendly. Note that I run small steam, typically 2-8-0's, and these have a much longer wheel base than a diesel truck, so I'm sure that was a factor.
I don't have experience with the double crossover, so there may be other issues aside from the points.
Anyway, if it were me, I wouldn't buy an older DC unit, but if I already owned one, I'd test it with all my lokies, and it they didn't complain, then I'd use it.
Jim
robkozWhat makes them not DCC friendly? Dead spots with no power?
Live frogs and points that are not always the same polarity as the adjacent stock rail. The same is true of any Shinohara Code 70 or 100 turnout. They can be used with DCC, you just have to understand power-routing turnout wiring to install them correctly.
Rob Spangler
wp8thsub robkoz What makes them not DCC friendly? Dead spots with no power?
robkoz What makes them not DCC friendly? Dead spots with no power?
I touch one wire to a to a rail segment and the other wire to the opposite rail segment. If the bulb lights, I have a completed circuit of opposite polarities. If the bulb does not light, there is either no power to that rail segment or the polarities of both rails match, and that is not good.