Hello all.....long time lurker here
I have a DCC layout using a MRC express. I am installing a walther post 60's canteliver crossing signal. As far as the driver I have been told by the hobby shop owner not to use the walther driver cause it is not DCC compatible. When I dug deeper he said that the crossing is actived by being connected to the rails via insulated blocks.
He told me to look at Berkshire Junction crossing driver cause it uses photocells. But I was also told that the walther one was photo cell driven..........any insight on this?
The Walthers version uses both photocells and track polarity to work. Track polarity tells the unit which direction the train is running, so that even if the train is too short to cover both photocells at the same time, the crossing will keep working until the train clears the second photocell. Since DCC doesn't rely on track polarity, it won't work properly.
The one from Berkshire Junction is a better choice for DCC, unless you want to build the circuit yourself.
Robert Beaty
The Laughing Hippie
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The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the
end of your tunnel, Was just a freight train coming
your way. -Metallica, No Leaf Clover