Okay, the 4R (Rock Ridge Railroad) is about 80 sq ft and has a little over 2000 inches of track, not counting turnouts and will be powered by a Zephyr. So I'm wondering if I should be playing with blocks.
It could easily be divided into four blocks:
--The town and mill
--the switching yard
--the staging loop
--the mountains, mine, and logging camp
I've got plenty of wiring and even have a bunch of light bulbs laying around, (I need the sockets though), but is it worth the effort on a layout my size?
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Are you going to have a bunch of people running trains or just one or two at a time? Probably mostly overkill if just you will be running trains.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker Are you going to have a bunch of people running trains or just one or two at a time?
Well, I don't have radio and I'm only installing 3 controller jacks.
My layout was about 120 square feet. I divided it up using a DCC Specialties PSX-4, which is 4 PSX breaker modules on one large circuit board. In addition, I have 2 auto-reverse loops which end up being circuit breaker blocks as well.
I think it helps when diagnosing problems. I only ran lone-wolf.
Since I built most of the layout before I bought the breakers, it's not well-designed from that standpoint.
It was a luxury. I'm glad I did it, but at the same time I'd have to admit it was overkill.
The PSX units come with outputs to add remote indicator LEDs when triggered. That's another thing I'll add to my "things I should have done" list.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I have a 50 sq ft layout divided into two power subdistricts with a PSX circuit breaker wired into each district. Even though my yard is of a rather modest size, it probably should have been wired as a separate subdistrict. The more I read about DCC and electrical shorts, I say, do the full monty before you realize that you should have done it and it may be too late. But, it will be a little more pricey that way.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
They aren't blocks in DCC, they are power districts. Power districts and plug ins for throttles are unrelated. Power districts help with trouble shooting and reversing.
CC
Clutch_CargoPower districts and plug ins for throttles are unrelated.
In this case they are. Randy asked how many will be operating and my answer indicated that their could be a maximum of 3.
Clutch_CargoThey aren't blocks in DCC, they are power districts.
You got me on this one. But hey, playing with blocks sounds way cooler than playing with power districts.
Thanks,
MisterBeasley I divided it up using a DCC Specialties PSX-4, which is 4 PSX breaker modules on one large circuit board
There is only one thing I don't like about them, which 99% of people won't have to worry about: Backfeed current. They only check one leg for an over current on the out leg. When we converted over a club, there was a short on the infeed leg which caused the DCC booster to burn out.But I don't think there is any breaker out there which checks the infeed (ground) leg for over current.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
How did you get an overcurrent one one leg and not the other, unless someone goofed and fed DC into the DCC bus? Or is that what happened? There really is no in and out with DCC, it's AC. Granted, some boosters do it differently, on some one rail is the ground, on others the rail A and rail B are opposite sides of a ground which is in the middle. PSX and PM42 are is the only ones I'm sure of that break both rails when a short is detected, most of the cheaper ones only open one rail, which could lead to current flow between the non-broken side and the booster common.
When I built and wired my layout, I used bus wire, and plenty of feeders, but, I started out with DC. So yea, I had "blocks", controled with Atlas selectors, but I gapped both rails, knowing I was going to switch to DCC. Call them what you want, power districts or blocks.
I can still "turn off" the blocks/power districts, as needed, when needed.
And, I can still unplug the DCC power, plug in the DC power, flip the switches on the Atlas selectors, and run DC.
Mike.
My You Tube
Chip,
I would skip the power districts on a layout that small. Most of the large layouts I run on with multiple operators are divided into one or two power districts at most. We don't have any problems with shorts stopping the action.
Instead I would spend the time installing kill switches on some of your sidings so that you can conveniently store trains on sidings and kill the power to those not in use at the moment.
This keeps the decoders from being powered up all the time and shields locos that are not in use from being exposed to shutdown and power up cycles caused by shorts on the layout.
BTW: Nice to see you back - remembering classic Spacemeouse threads from the past - All Hail John Allen and other lightning rod posts
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
I am also doing what Guy said about shutting off sections to cut power on locos. I have sound in most of locos and I prefer to hear them one at a time . I also started to install keep-alive decoders that will probably last longer if I shut them off when not in use.
Simon
Years ago, base stations were smaller, boosters were smaller and DCC Specialties had not yet blessed us with their circuit breaker technology.
As I recall, a "Power District" was an isolated section which included its own booster, so it did not share power with other Power Districts. It seems that now, "Power District" is something separated by a circuit breaker.
What do those of you in clubs or other large layouts that use multiple booster call these organizational layout sections?
MisterBeasley Years ago, base stations were smaller, boosters were smaller and DCC Specialties had not yet blessed us with their circuit breaker technology. As I recall, a "Power District" was an isolated section which included its own booster, so it did not share power with other Power Districts. It seems that now, "Power District" is something separated by a circuit breaker. What do those of you in clubs or other large layouts that use multiple booster call these organizational layout sections?
Each booster is a power district and each breaker section is a sub-district at my club. Currently 4 boosters with 1 PM42 for each booster giving 16 power sub-districts.
Peter