Help Needed With DCS Wiring Riddle

You can solder wires on one end of the switch and jump them to the other side. the current would be carried by the jumpers taking the load off of the weaker traces.

I bet the techs will post help.

Well, the diverging rail would get isolated as well as the center rail of the straights between switches on the thru. So, like Joe said, jumper the three center rail sections together. If you use the non-derail boards, they operate off of the outside rails.

Then, the existing power drops of the loops approaching the ends of the last switches will provide the signal and the power.

Try to keep the switch complex (junction) within 1 DCS block. That will make the block isolation simpler.

It seems easier to me to bench wire jumpers than connecting multiple drops.

Have you seen the "screw-it" method that Ingenerio 1 used to make the power drop to rail connections?

Thanks Carl and Joe !

Eliot, glad to see you're getting ready to put down the turnouts!   As you know I'm no expert on electrical stuff and had a robust thread approx. 2 years ago on this very topic.  I perseverated over this conundrum as there didn't seem to be an easy solution to the "power all turnout legs" yet strictly adhere to the DCS "one drop per block" protocol, especially if two legs are in one block. At the end of the day, I think three isolated legs with jumpers between them, technically, amounts to a deviation from the DCS wiring protocol (not to mention one extra block - if two legs were supposed to be in one block, on one main).  The jumper would be basically "splitting" the signal coming from that one power drop, and the book says the signal should not be further split after the terminal block.    

Barry is one of the beta testers and the author of the book on this subject, and he was kind enough to discuss this with me. His advice was to, basically, rip out all the turnout wiring to create three isolated legs. In that case, I think that each leg would require its own power drop in a discrete track block to completely adhere to DCS wiring protocol.  Again, I'm far from an expert and I'm sure Barry will reply and let you know the right answer. 

Good luck,

Peter 

Peter,

Actually, my standard practice is to typically make a switch the end point of a block whenever possible. I use the disconnection between the 2 center rails as the end points of 3 blocks.

However, if a switch is on a mainline and I desire to include several switches as part of a single block, I simply jumper the center rails that are part of the block to each other.

Barry Broskowitz posted:

Peter,

Actually, my standard practice is to typically make a switch the end point of a block whenever possible. I use the disconnection between the 2 center rails as the end points of 3 blocks.

However, if a switch is on a mainline and I desire to include several switches as part of a single block, I simply jumper the center rails that are part of the block to each other.

Barry,  if not too much trouble, I'm getting ready to start a new layout and would really appreciate it if I could send you the track plan (when ready) for your wiring advice? 

Also, for my edification, if you are jumpering turnouts together and in one block, doesn't that violate the "one drop per block" protocol, in that the data package is then being (a) split after exiting the terminal block and (b) disseminated several times to a given block via the jumpered wires?  

Thanks. 

I'm getting ready to start a new layout and would really appreciate it if I could send you the track plan (when ready) for your wiring advice? 

You'd be better off posting it here instead. That way you'd get more constructive criticism.

doesn't that violate the "one drop per block" protocol, in that the data package is then being (a) split after exiting the terminal block and (b) disseminated several times to a given block via the jumpered wires?  

Not at all.

The soldered jumpers simply act as rail joiners. If you like, you can count each of the rails that are connected as being separate "track sections" in the track block.

Barry,

Many thanks for your help. Love the 3rd Edition of the book  and enjoy all the tips. I wish I had read it carefully before I botched the wiring in the last layout. With your help and Marty Fitzhenry's help, I got the trains to run.

PJB, Many thanks.

eliot

Eliot,

You're welcome and I'm happy that you find The DCS Companion helpful!