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Legacy connection to DCS star wiring

V VinceLOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

I couldn't decide whether to post this message in the DCS or TMCC/Legacy forum.  Since my question is really more about connecting Legacy, I figured I would post it here.  My apologies for the initial long discussion about DCS.

 

I am in the process of building an around-the-room layout.  There will be 3 mainlines each about 100 feet long.  My last permanent layout was in 2007 and I ran DCS and TMCC.  So, I do have experience running both command systems.  But, that was a small 8' x 10' layout.

 

For this new much larger layout, I want to be able to run multiple trains on each mainline.  I love passenger trains, so I will require a lot of power lash-ups and lighted passenger cars.

 

For the first mainline that I am setting up, I am following Barry's book in establishing multiple power districts with multiple blocks.  I am planning on 2 power districts each with 4 blocks.  So, there will be 8 blocks as you go around the 100' mainline with alternate blocks in the 2 power districts.  I will do home run wiring to each block.  I will use 2 TIU channels for the 2 power districts and then split each TIU output into 4 feeds to its 4 blocks.

 

I am only cutting the center rail between blocks.  With the home run wiring, I will have a hot and common feed in each block resulting in a total of 8 hot connections and 8 common connections around the mainline.

 

Legacy uses a single connection to the common of the layout.  If I connect Legacy directly to an outside rail, will the Legacy signal get propagated by the 8 common feeds throughout the mainline resulting in every Legacy command being "echoed" and resulting in confused engines receiving multiple, slightly out-of-sync signals?    If this will be a problem, off the top of my head, I can think of 2 options:

 

1. Cut the outside rails at every block as well as the center rail and then feed the Legacy signal to each block.

2. Only have a center rail connection in each block.  Just have a single common connection for the entire mainline.  This option goes directly against Barry's recommendation for wiring DCS. Also, that could be a lot of current going through the one common feed.  

 

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Barry BroskowitzBarry BroskowitzOGR Forum Member MEMORIALIZED MEMBER

Vince,

Legacy uses a single connection to the common of the layout.  If I connect Legacy directly to an outside rail, will the Legacy signal get propagated by the 8 common feeds throughout the mainline resulting in every Legacy command being "echoed" and resulting in confused engines receiving multiple, slightly out-of-sync signals?

No,just connect the wire from the Legacy base anywhere on an outside rail. Then, just ensure that all of your blocks have their Common-carrying outside rails connected.

FromPage 122 of The DCS O Gauge Companion 2nd Edition:

 

Wiring for TMCC on a DCS Layout

Regardless of the method of control chosen, either Lionel command base is wired by connecting it's "one wire" to the tracks as instructed in its documentation. Alternatively, the Command Base's "one wire" can be connected to the TIU channel output Common (black) terminal of each channel on which TMCC engines will operate. If it is connected in this way, it is important to note that only the original, Rev. G TIU has the Common terminals of all channels connected internally and later revisions of the TIU do not. If a TIU other than a Rev. G is used, all Common (black) terminals of TIU channel outputs should be connected together, and to the Command Base, to ensure that the TMCC signal is present on all channels. Alternately, the "one wire" can be connected to any one powered TIU channel as long as all the transformers that are providing power to TIU channels are in phase and have one of their Common terminals connected to the Common terminals of all of the other track power transformers.

 

This and a whole lot more is all in MTH’s “The DCS O Gauge Companion 2nd Edition", available for purchase as an eBook or a printed book at MTH's web store!

V VinceLOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

Thanks Barry.

 

I must have spent over an hour reading through the section in your book about wiring for DCS and then the paragraph you just quoted.  I couldn't find anything in your book or any threads on the OGR forum that specifically addressed connecting Legacy to a DCS layout with multiple power districts. 

 

Sometimes I just overthink things.  I have got to get my first loop of track completed so I can actually try some of this stuff rather than speculate.  My goal is to have one loop of track running (with DCS and Legacy) this week. 

 

The 2 TIU's that I currently own are labeled version I3 and version I (not sure what the difference is).

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