Hi this is my first post (probably not my last). First of all I would like to thank all of you that contribute to this forum. I have been stealing information from here for months now and my guilt finally got the better of me so I sacrificed two podcast to join I am almost to the wiring stage of my second layout after taking a short twelve year break. It is a 24 x 17 foot double track dog bone. The inside track is isolated from the outside. I'm trying to KISS. I've laid the track for common rail two cab. Of the eighty plus locks I own three are sound and one (so far) is d c c. I Recently bought a Bachmaan e-mail command to tinker with sound. My question is what would be the best way to incorporate this into the layout so I don't have to constantly disconnect it? Can the ground from this be tied to the ground from a d c power pack? I read someone say it could be tied to one cab via a s p d t switch? Any help would be welcome. And thanks again to all of you. Wayne
jeromeandwestern Hi this is my first post (probably not my last). First of all I would like to thank all of you that contribute to this forum. I have been stealing information from here for months now and my guilt finally got the better of me so I sacrificed two podcast to join I am almost to the wiring stage of my second layout after taking a short twelve year break. It is a 24 x 17 foot double track dog bone. The inside track is isolated from the outside. I'm trying to KISS. I've laid the track for common rail two cab. Of the eighty plus locks I own three are sound and one (so far) is d c c. I Recently bought a Bachmaan e-mail command to tinker with sound. My question is what would be the best way to incorporate this into the layout so I don't have to constantly disconnect it? Can the ground from this be tied to the ground from a d c power pack? I read someone say it could be tied to one cab via a s p d t switch? Any help would be welcome. And thanks again to all of you. Wayne
What you want is a double pole double throw switch with a center off position. You connec the DCC to one side, and your DC power pack to the other side. The middle terminals go to the layout. This way, you can only connect the DC power pack OR the DCC unit, never both at the same time, which is how you fry components.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Do you have the Bachmann EZ Command or Bachmann Dynamis? Big difference in capabilities.
If you inadvertently connect the DC pack to the DCC controller, you will most probably smoke the DCC system. Others have done it. Happened to our club with a 5 amp system.
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.
Yep, a DPDT Center-Off switch is the best method if you want to run both.
You mentioned an unconnected loop. So long as there is no physical connection by rail or otherwise between it and the rest of the layout, you could run DC on one and DCC on the other at the same time. But NEVER let them come together or, as has been already noted, the magic DCC mojo smoke will escape.
Now if everything is wired together with common rail, you have a problem, because there already IS a connection. Sometimes with DCC, common rail can cause problem even with pure DCC systems. Don't know how far along you are with wiring, but you may want to look into common rail issues with DCC. I think it can work, but there are some things that need to be adjusted if used with DCC. I dunno, because I never did things that way, so YMMV
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Hi, Thanks for all the replies thus far. Yes the loops are separated d c c was part of the reason. The other reason is there are some kids in the the neighborhood that love trains and I'm trying to make operation as simple as possible. Normally I use d p d t switches for the blocks track wired to one side an block lights to the other. Would the wiring for the e z command be similar? Wayne
What your wanting to do is exactly what I did in 2002. I can be of help, if you need it, PM me.
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Just went with the ez command. I didn't want to spend a lot of $$$ till I was sure what I wanted to do. Waynr
Hi, I'll do that when I get a little further along. I'm a damned old truck driver so right now I only get to play with my toys about once a month. I'll be home next week all week working on track work. I've been adding extra drop lines as I go along to try and make things a little more reliable. The sound locos seem to do just fine on dc or dcc so far, but at this point all my wiring is temporary. I haven't got my control panel built yet. After 12 years off I was really surprised how much I had to relearn. Wayne