DCS Question

If you are committed to keeping 20 amps on the tracks, you may want to consider running DCS in passive mode.

I am the stage where I don't understand what "passive" means, but am going to get Barry's book to get up to speed on DCS. If I don't use the passive mode which of the three wiring methods I mention above should I use?

You cannot put 20 amps thru the TIU. each channel is rated for 10 amps MAX. You should not parallel bricks. Since the outputs of the bricks are not matched, dangerous things can happen. once you read the DCS book, you will know what you should and should not do with regards to power to the TIU,etc.

Would it be possible to separate your paralleled bricks into 2 blocks of 1 brick each? Then you could use 1 TIU channel for each brick and block? I agree with Fec fan, Barry's book will explain a lot, you are doing the right thing by getting and reading it first. OGR also has a DVD about the DCS system that is good too.

You can hook up the TIU to feed a signal to the track without passing track power through it (i.e. no transformers hooked to the input side). You'll need a 12VDC wall-wart plugged into the side of the TIU to power it, though.

---PCJ