DCC Buss wire... Fuse it, or not?

[Anonymous]

I was wondering if anyone else fuses their DCC Buss wiring, and if it would be a good idea to do or not. I am thinking of putting a fuse holder in my DCC wiring right at the point where it connects to the command station/booster, to prevent possible damage by a short circuit, and was wanting any advise about doing this. Thanks

[Anonymous]

It's good practice to protect your boosters with circuit breakers or fuses, especially if you have more than one power district. A short on an unprotected booster will shut down that booster and all track wired to it.
Tony's Train Exchange has circuit breakers that many DCC users recommend.

http://www.tonystrains.com/products/tteexclusive_pscb.htm

[rrinker]

To further clarify - the booster will shut down, and not be damaged, because it has protection circuitry already in it. You do not need external fuses. The circuit breakers like Tony's will allow you to split up your layout into power distrcts. A short there will trip the electronic circuit breaker - as it's designed to do. No need to add fuses. The advantage of having multiple power districts is that if you get a short on one district, the rest of your layout will continue to run. Nothign ruins the fun like that triple-headed loaded ore train coming downgrade, around a curve, through a tunnel and having the track power just STOP. In that case - hope you provided access to the inside of the tunnel... [:D]

--Randy