DCC power districts

[Auscan]

Hi All

Brand new to the hobby and loving it. Setting up my first small layout. Do I need a separate buses for each power district?

Thanks

Chris

[RR_Mel]

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Mel
 
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951



My Model Railroad    
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
 
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Aging is not for wimps.

[OldEngineman]

I'm thinking that if it's indeed a "small" layout (say, 5x9 or less), one power district is probably "all you need". You might want more than one bus connection, perhaps insulated joints here and there, etc.

[richhotrain]

Auscan

Brand new to the hobby and loving it. Setting up my first small layout. Do I need a separate buses for each power district?

Depending upon how small the layout will be, you may not need any power districts, instead relying on the booster alone.

If you do decide to set up one or more power districts, each power district will be protected by its own circuit breaker. The output side of each circuit breaker will typically have its own pair of bus wires with feeder wires connecting the bus to the track inside the power district.

Rich

[SeeYou190]

Auscan

Brand new to the hobby and loving it. Setting up my first small layout. Do I need a separate buses for each power district?

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Since you have a "small" layout, you will only need one "power district" for the entire operation.

You will need one "bus" (a large pair of wires connected to the DCC system), and then a few "feeders" (small wire that attach to the tracks) coming off of that bus.

I hope that was a simple enough answer.

-Kevin

[MisterBeasley]

When I first built my 5x12 foot layout, I used the KISS principle, made one track bus all the way around and wired everything to that.  It was only later as the layout grew that I wished I had run a separate bus for my subway loop so that it could have its own breaker.

It's not just size that determines where power districts are helpful.  Separate and distinct parts of layouts can be good to isolate as well.  It helps operationally as a short in one section won't shut down the whole layout, and it's easier to locate shorts if you know what power district they're in.

I also like to set circuit breaker trip current considerably lower than the full output of the base station or booster.  This protects the layout from having too much current flowing if something bad happens.