DCC walkaround throttle plug ins

[Blind Bruce]

OK, I have a shiny new UT-4 throttle. Is it possible to use standard modular telephone jacks all connected in parallel at a standard telephone type box?
I want to have four places to run trains from. What do I need to buy?
BB

[rrinker]

You CAN - you need 6-wire jacks though, which are not super easy to find. It is not recommended to use telephone jacks because of the chances for makign a wiring mistake. Most odd problems with Digitrax end up being traced to incorrectly or poorly wired Loconet cabling. The UP5 which is designed for the purpose just has jacks all over it. Cables connected each one to the command station are readily available premade at Walmart, and also are super easy to make with a crimp tool and some wire - Radio Shack has the plugs and the crimp tool, and I cheated for the wire - the 50' premade cable at Walmart was the same price as the 25', so i got the 50', measured off for the first UP5, cut the wire, installed ONE plug (the other one was factory). For the second cable, I did the same thing from the other end. So I got 2 complete cables only having to crimp on 2 plugs. And I still have a hunk of wire for more.
The UP5's also have provisions to connect to the track for throttle power, AND have a conenction for a small transformer as yet another source of throttle power. Sufficient throttle power starts to matter when youh have many throttles and/or long runs from the command station - the power only comes over the fine telephone wire and thus has a greater voltage drop than your nice thick track bus. Hooking up extra power to the UP5 eliminates the problem - you can't do that with standard telephone jacks.
Bottom line, you CAN do it, but it's not recommended, for the various reasons I've mentioned.

--Randy

[robengland]

Randy, isn't there a distinction between phone cables (eg Walmart) and Digitrax cables? The phones cross-over the leads and Digitrax don't

[Anonymous]

I don't really know what your point would be, since the digitrax panels that are correct for that application are fairly inexpensive.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by robengland

Randy, isn't there a distinction between phone cables (eg Walmart) and Digitrax cables? The phones cross-over the leads and Digitrax don't

It all depends on how you connect the plugs. True, you can't (or shouldn't) just use a regular 6-pin phone cable as-is, but if you buy some 6-pin ends and a crimper (about $25 or so at Radio Shack), you can cut the cable and put your own plug on one end in such a way that it 'reverses' the cross-over. The Digitrax website and most of their system manuals have a section on making your own cable that tells you how to do this.

[rrinker]

Which is what I did - I got 50' of cable and two 'free' plugs for the price of just 50' of wire.

Although - it doesn't really matter UNLESS you connect track detection, autoreversers, or additional boosters down the line - anythign that uses the railsync signal. Then the 'phase' of the wiring matters, ie if you use a phone cable as-is to connect two boosters, the Rail A on one will be the Rail B on the other since the railsync signal will be flip-flopped by the cable. The data and ground lines (such as for a throttle) are mirrored int he cabling so it doesn't really matter. I finished my Locobuffer before I bought a crimp tool, so my first Loconet cable, connecting the Locobuffer to the Zephyr, was a regular phone cord, and it worked just fine.
Like using generic phone jacks, best to avoid potential future problems and make all cables the right way. All your throttle jacks might work fine, but then some day you add that second booster and can't figure out why it shorts every time the train crosses the gaps - all because SOMEWHERE in there you have a crossed cable.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

Radio Shack sells a 6 conductor cable that will plug right in, and work just fine. I've bought a couple of them, and they have worked with no problem. Just use the tester that came with the control unit on them first to make sure they are wired right.

[claycts]

Randy, I have 550ft of CAt 5e Wire left over from the house wiring job I did. Since this is 6 wire foor the trains I SHOULD be able to drop 2 leads and go. I know you understand this type of wiring system better than me. I have TONS of 6 wire plugs and termination units from Lithonia which we used for the Phone system. Again this was wire and we ran the Cat 5e and used the spare set for an intercom.
Same deal on the trains?
George P.

[rrinker]

Like I said, you can use it, if you are VERY careful with wiring it up. It's actually overkill - Loconet works at a low enough speed that the flat wire they specify is more than adequate. But then, I use some of my leftover Cat5 to wire Tortoises.. The other question is what to use as a 'pair'. The outer two pins, 1 and 6 (using data numbering - telephone numbering has pins 1 and 2 as the MIDDLE two!) are the railsync - a low current version of the signal that is on the track. BTW, this is the one missing from most other DCC systems' cab bus - they have a seperate bus to connect the command station to the booster. Anyway, that's definitely a pair. 2 and 5 are the ground lines - that can be a pair. And the inner two pins are the actual loconet data lines. These are connected together internally in some devices. The whole thing is quite redundant - very well engineered. Whatever you may think of AJ Ireland's idea of user interface design, his engineering designs are top notch.
My whole house is wired - multiple phone lines, data - all CAT5. I did most of it myself. I had to call in some outside help to get cables between floors. At our old house, I did it all myself. I've done plenty of network cabling jobs at work. And I am using UP5's, not wiring my own 6p6c jacks. It's not like I can't get parts, there is a local supply house where I bought all the stuff for the house Take from that what you will.

--Randy

[claycts]

Thanks Randy, Hey I am actualy starting to build something! Got most of the ceiling supports in for the lights and facia.
Take Care
George P.

[ClinchValleySD40]

Anything and everything you ever wanted to know about wiring for DCC is on this site.

http://www.wiringfordcc.com/