wiring a kato track layout for dcc

[spngauge]

Hello guys, Im a newbie so please bare with me. I have a layout that i put together myself with kato track. it is a dual track with 5 turnouts 1 of which is a criscross by kato. I have all the turnouts working with all factory kato switches, etc & im powering them with a seperat dc power supply. all the turnouts are working properly but now im ready to wire the track for power. I have a total of 7 feeder tracks installed at the appropriate places but im somewhat confused how to hook them all up to my dcc power box. my dcc unit is a mrc prodigy express. i noticed it has 1 spot to power the track & 1 for the program track. i dont understand how to hook up 7 different feeder track to only 1 output on the dcc power box. i assume that somhow i must tie all 7 extensions from the feeder tracks to the 1 output off the box. I am good at soldering so here is my question. can i basicall bring all the blue wires into 1 wire & all the white wires into 1 & tie it together at the power box. It seems like it should work but like i said ive never done this before. any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. my 9 year old son i dying to see our new project run.

thanks for any help

 

[tomikawaTT]

The usual method of wiring a DCC layout calls for attaching a single heavy wire (bus) to each of the two track power output terminals, then running it approximately parallel to the tracks.  At each of the 'feeder tracks' (your term) the two (usually) smaller size wires (drops) from the track are connected to the two bus wires.  Probably the most common way to make that connection is to get the bus insulation out of the way, wrap the drop around the appropriate bus and solder it.  Don't forget to insulate the soldered joint - either with tape or with liquid insulation.

So, the short answer to your original question is, "Yes."  But the better way is to keep the small diameter drops short and carry the power in larger-size bus wires.

I am not a DCC guru, but I'm pretty sure I got that much right.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Attach the wires of your feeder tracks to two larger wires. These two wires will be connected to your DCC system. If you control your track through a control panel with one DC power pack just disconnect the power pack and connect the DCC system.