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Our layout is wired for DCS. We have about 30 Ross turnouts with Tortoise switch machines. Included in the total are 15 which control freight and passenger yard tracks.

We plan to control the main line turnouts with the DCS system. The two yards will be controlled with Touch Toggles on two separate panels. Both yards are wired and everything operates very smoothly including all Touch Toggles. All that I can say about the Touch Toggle system using DCS is WOW. It operates flawlessly.

That is the good news.

 

This week I connected the Legacy system... one wire to the outside rail. Barry’s book indicates that this is one way to wire DCS  and Legacy. We may change it to go thru the terminal blocks but wanted to start very simply.

The Legacy system immediately worked and operated a Lionel Legacy engine

More good news.

 

Unfortunately, the Touch Toggles did not do well. About a third simply froze and refused to work. Turn off Legacy, all work perfectly.

I talked to Kevin Hunter who owns the company and we discussed what the problem might be. Ground, capacitance (sp), and a other things. I tried all of what he suggested with no luck.

 

Does anyone have any experience, ideas, or suggestions about this problem? Electrical Engineering is barely something that I can spell. I am lost.

I searched the forum for Touch Toggles and found a few entries. One was from Steamfan 77 and the Long Island Railroad. He uses Touch Toggles, DCS, and Legacy. I sent him a private message but he must not have seen it. Hopefully he will see this and respond. I am pretty certain that he has had the same issue and found a solution.

Thanks so much for your help. We are at a standstill.

 

Bill Webb

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Interesting.  The Legacy center carrier frequency is 455khz, and it varies a small amount around that frequency.  I'm guessing that the Touch Toggles are seeing that and it's causing them issues.  I think I'd have to know more about the design of the Touch Toggles to advance a theory of how to address this.  I looked on the Berrett Hill Shop website, but technical details are few and far between.  Certainly not enough information to form an opinion on what the issue is.

Thanks  John. That is basically what Kevin said (I think). He doesn’t know enough about the Legacy system to pinpoint what the problem might be so it is trial and error.

He said that a good ground in very important so I grounded it directly to the metal electrical outlet which my electrician said goes to an earth ground. I can’t see any difference.

I think Kevin needs to talk to someone who speaks his language and understands Legacy. Do you have time? I know that you are trying to get your layout built and are really busy.

Thanks

Bill

 

Hopefully Andy will see this. He has Touch Toggles/DCS/Legacy  on his layout and I assume that they are working well.

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Ste 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
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