Can a person wire one of those $20.00 dollar turntables to DCC?I just can't justify spending $300.00 or more.Someone said those screws on the sides of the manual turner will power the rails.
froggy Can a person wire one of those $20.00 dollar turntables to DCC?I just can't justify spending $300.00 or more.Someone said those screws on the sides of the manual turner will power the rails.
Yes they will. Just follow the instructions that come with the TT. Of course, some longer locos will not fit on the TT.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
If you are talking about the Atlas turntable....
...and you mean powering the rails, you would connect those terminals to your track power, either DC or DCC. Either one will work.
...and you mean powering the motor that turns the turntable, it's just a pretty standard DC motor. You'd need to add a DCC decoder and connect it to the motor (two wires) from the decoder to the motor, and connect the decoder to the DCC track power (two wires).
Note that the turntables track can be connected up to DCC, but the motor can be powered by regular DC like from a power pack.
Edit: Ignore me. Apparently Atlas upgraded their turntable since I last looked.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
The Atlas turntable is DCC-friendly, and always has been, even before DCC was invented. They designed it with a split-ring structure inside, so that it automatically maintains the correct polarity as it turns. The outer edge is clearly marked with "A" and "B" polarities for each stall track, and as long as you wire all the tracks correctly there is no special equipment (i.e., autoreverser) needed.
These turntables do have their weaknesses. First, they're only 9 inches across, good enough for very small locomotives (my Proto 0-6-0 fits with a quarter-inch to spare) but not for big steam. Also, they have fixed indexing every 15 degrees, so you have to lay out your track exactly to their pattern or it won't work very well. If you want a roundhouse, the Atlas model fits the 15-degree indexing perfectly, but most other roundhouses use 10 or 12 degree spacings, so they won't work as well.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.