DCC and HO/HOn3 Dual Gauge Line

[travel1903]

fwright

Key differences that might impact your dual gauge setup:

• You can only use 1 command station for the entire layout, including both HO and HOn3 track.
• Most DCC advocates insist on gapping both rails between power districts if more than one booster is being used.  Since 3 rail dual gauge is automatically common rail configuration, I would suggest keeping all your dual gauge track inside a single power district.
• Because DCC does not reverse direction on a "polarity" (phase reversal in DCC) change, reversing loops are generally handled by swapping the polarity of the reversing loop instead of the main. 
• Blocks are unneeded, as are separate controllers for the HOn3 and HO track.  Just power both the 3ft and standard gauge rails together to one side, and the common rail to the other.  The same controller will work any decoder equipped locomotives, no matter which gauge they are running on.
• Gaps in turnouts will take a little bit of planning.

 

I had a feeling it was that simple.  This is just going to be a small layout and DCC attracted me with idea that a single controller can run multiple locomotives and trains.  Now to worry about the rest of the layout.

Thanks again.

[fwright]

travel1903

The basic idea is that DCC is designed as a digital signal of the standard analog DC power-pack system.  So in a DC sends an analog continuous signal into one side of the track.  Then the solid metal axis in the locomotive conducts the direct current and then completes the circuit on the grounded rail and allows electricity to flow through the locomotive motor.  With a dual gauge 3-rail system, theoretically, we treat the shared rail as positive side and the HOn3 narrow gauge rail  and HO standard gauge rail as the same negative rail (which is very similar to wiring in an extra set of running lights on a car).  So the DCC system should just be the digital version of the classic analog circuit.  

Am I correct in my thinking?  

 

Yes.  As long as you are not trying to mix DC and DCC on the dual gauge.  Both systems use the 2 rails and metal wheels to get power to the locomotive.

In DCC, the decoders are individually addressable, meaning you select the decoder you want to "talk" to rather than selecting the section of track that contains the locomotive you want to select the speed for.

Key differences that might impact your dual gauge setup:

• You can only use 1 command station for the entire layout, including both HO and HOn3 track.
• Most DCC advocates insist on gapping both rails between power districts if more than one booster is being used.  Since 3 rail dual gauge is automatically common rail configuration, I would suggest keeping all your dual gauge track inside a single power district.
• Because DCC does not reverse direction on a "polarity" (phase reversal in DCC) change, reversing loops are generally handled by swapping the polarity of the reversing loop instead of the main. 
• Blocks are unneeded, as are separate controllers for the HOn3 and HO track.  Just power both the 3ft and standard gauge rails together to one side, and the common rail to the other.  The same controller will work any decoder equipped locomotives, no matter which gauge they are running on.
• Gaps in turnouts will take a little bit of planning.

Fred W

[travel1903]

My plan was to attach a simple wiring schematic, but I was having trouble posting the image (even as a word doc).

The basic idea is that DCC is designed as a digital signal of the standard analog DC power-pack system.  So in a DC sends an analog continuous signal into one side of the track.  Then the solid metal axis in the locomotive conducts the direct current and then completes the circuit on the grounded rail and allows electricity to flow through the locomotive motor.  With a dual gauge 3-rail system, theoretically, we treat the shared rail as positive side and the HOn3 narrow gauge rail  and HO standard gauge rail as the same negative rail (which is very similar to wiring in an extra set of running lights on a car).  So the DCC system should just be the digital version of the classic analog circuit.  

Am I correct in my thinking? 

 

[travel1903]

Quick question:

I am planning to make a small layout with an HO/HOn3 Dual Gauge 3-rail line, do I have to have any kind of device or can I just split one side so both the Standard Gauge and Narrow Gauge rails get the same signal?

Thanks in advance.