Hello all
I understand the principle of using a circuit breaker to divide a layout into districts. However if a layout is in one district only is there any necessity or advantage in installing a circuit breaker? The DCC system is Lenz Set 100.
Bill
I've got a Lenz 100 myself. The simple answer is no, you don't gain anything by installing a circuit breaker in that situation. But, I guess the questions to ask are: How big is the layout, and how is it organized?
As long as you have enough power and you distribute it well, you can run quite a large layout with just a DCC base station. They all have built-in circuit breakers. The advantage of dividing the layout up is that a derailment in one district will not affect trains running in another. So, if you have two yards, for example, you might put each on its own breaker so that an operator in one yard could continue switching while a derailment was being cleared in the other. If you have a third breaker for your main line, then the trains there could continue as well.
Some auto-reversers, by the way, also have circuit breakers. So, any track which is connected to a controlled reverse loop gets circuit breaker protection for free.
A few months back, I started working on Phase 2 of my layout. Phase 1 is a 5x12 table layout. I had no circuit breakers, but I did have an auto-reverse unit for a reversing crossover, and that also covered my yard. For Phase 2, I decided to "do it right," and I added a 4-part circuit breaker system from Tony's Trains, plus an additional auto-reverser. After working with this for a while, I'm quite happy with the way it performs. Reversers and breakers from Tony's Trains are very highly thought of. They aren't the cheapest ones out there, but the performance and reliability are top notch.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
bagal Hello all I understand the principle of using a circuit breaker to divide a layout into districts. However if a layout is in one district only is there any necessity or advantage in installing a circuit breaker? The DCC system is Lenz Set 100. Bill
How are you controlling your turnouts? Manually, DC, or with DCC? I split the output from my command station into two buses. The first goes to a breaker and then the track. The second goes to the decoders controlling the Tortoise switch motors. That way if I run through the turnout the wrong way and cause a track short the breaker trips and interupts track power, but I still have power to correct the turnout alignment.