DCC Bus Wiring

[ICGman]

This is my first time on Forums. I have a question about bus wiring for DCC. I have a Nscale layout with Atlas flex track an customline turnouts. The layout has a double track main with two crossovers both rails of the crossovers have been insulated. All feeders are in an I tested them with a DC transformer an everything works great. My question is should I run two sets of bus wires for each main or can I run just one an hook up both main line to it?

[tpatrick]

 You can do it either way. One set of bus wires will work just fine. A second set will allow the second main to be its own separate power district. The advantage for two power districts is that a short circuit on one district won't shut down the entire railroad,  just that district. Each power district needs its own circuit breaker protection. Personally, I have one bus for the entire layout and that works fine for me because I rarely have a guest operator running with me. Thus, a short is easy to detect amd remedy. Hope this helps.

Tim

[Phoebe Vet]

I, too, have only one buss.  My track is broken into many segments for the future use of detection, but they are all wired in barrier strips to a single buss.  It would be easy enough to ad power districts in the future if I become so inclined.

[cacole]

 Here's a web site that will answer most, if not all, your wiring questions.

http://www.wiringfordcc.com/

[Aikidomaster]

One set of bus wires will work. You do not need to insulate the crossovers if the turnouts are DCC compatible. The use of different power districts would necessitate insulating each district. The advantage of power districts is for trouble shooting short circuits and power drainage if you run a lot of locomotives at the same time.