I built my layout for DC operation. All rails within my blocks where soldered together at the joiners. I used 22 gauge solid wire for all wiring, feeders and common. My feeder runs are likely no longer than 10 feet. The common rail has feeders fairly irregular in lengths between and the positive rail has one feeder per block. This system worked well for DC operations and when I switched to DCC, I thought I would just wire the new Digitrax Zephyr DCC system straight into the old DC wiring system and see how it operated. I found it worked just fine and I didn't need to modify anything.
Now, with all the fuss everyone makes over how they have wired their DCC systems up, I am somewhat surprised that mine has worked as well as it has. Since I operate alone, the most locos that will operate at a time will be two and I have found that the current capacity of my system is adequate for this.
Were I to start over, I would use a #12 bus and #20-22 feeders per recommendations; but, given what I have found, I think many might be over-thinking the needs of their DCC systems.
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
I attach feeders to all three legs of turnouts and about each ten feet of track thereafter, but that might be overkill if you have a cluster of turnouts somewhere on your layout.
I have had some turnouts fail, I think due to too much water and glue getting into the contact points that are under the rails, and having each leg powered helps keep them functioning. ME turnouts need some powering beyond the frog anyway.
I solder all of my rail joints but gap the tracks every so often to allow for subroadbed expansion. Not wanting to rely upon a joiner alone for electrical contact, the ten foot span allows for some gapping and good conductivity.
- Douglas
Pretty sure on ME turnouts you only need to put feeders on the outside 2 stock rails. The closure rails (the rails between the frog and points) are fed by some factory soldered jumpers. The short 2 rails past the frog are DEAD, you will need to add feeders to those too. The points are a little flimsy on the railjoiners, I'd highly recommend soldering a feeder between the stock rails and points to make sure they are powered up.
Chris
Read Books,,,,They were out there,,even in the 50's..
Cheers,
Frank
Thanks to you all for these reports on your experience. It makes my decisions a good deal easier. What did we do before the internet and its forums?
I do not drop feeders from every section of track, but I do drop feeders from every end of every turnout.
And, I solder the feeders to the bottom of the rail joiners.
On my layout, which is fairly large, I make extensive use of flex track, and I drop feeders every 9 feet, so every third section of flex track.
Rich
Alton Junction
New to DCC last year, I bought into the conservative wiring approach and added feeders to the turnout rails, since I usually did not solder the joints at turnout to the adjoining track.
I also wired the isolated (Walthers Shinohara DCC friendly) turnout frogs, powered via the auxiliary Tortoise contacts.
Once I got into the pattern, it was a matter of routine to add turnouts; prewire the frog, put in place, add the Tortoise, connect the frog (using a 5-spot terminal block) to the Tortoise and add the feeder wires from each buss to the turnout tracks and to the Tortoise aux contacts, via the terminal block, for the switchable frog power.
If I recall correctly, the only weak link to this setup is the moving point rails, between the point and the hinge...they depend on their contact under spring pressure with the main rails. I think the closure rails extensions from the point rails, between the hinges and just before the frog, are powered by jumpers from the stock rails (I'd have to look at the jumpers underneath).
Sorry I can't comment on ME differences from the W-S types I have.
I'd do it again this way; i.e., not a lot of extra trouble to power the frog and main rails.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
I feel it is considerable overkill, but some people are highly averse to troublesome layout tracks, even the odd rare event related to spotty continuity. So, they really do solder a feeder to every length of track.
Not I. I solder the joiner between every two lengths of track and let the two joiners on either side of it float/slide in a free joiner. The power has to go both ways from that fed joiner, so what worry could such a set-up offer it's owner?
Turnouts in many cases only need to be fed from the points end. If they are 'power routing', they're designed to provide power internally to the frog rails. However, the power routing capability is not exactly as reliable as the Space Shuttle, and you know the redundancy built into it! Things wear over time. So, it is sometimes wise to feed the two frog rails, the rails that come back from the big V in the frog, but care must be taken to ensure there is a gap or insulation between them near the frog point. The two outer stock rails get their power all their length from the points end.
Crandell
You thought I was kidding about being a wiring ignoramus, but here's proof. Run a wire from every piece of track, according to many, perhaps most DCC users. Does that include turnouts, and if so, is there a better or worse place to make the connection (with ME turnouts and an NCE system)?