I have 4 electrically isolated loops and each loop has its own set of ground and power bus wires. I run Command/Legacy on two loops and PW Conventional on the other two loops. The Command/Legacy loops are powered by a ZWL. The PW Conventional loops are powered by a ZW. Then I have a ZW that I use for lights/accessories. The ZWL and the ZWs, are in phase, and have a connecting Common between the three of them. I am trying to reduce the rat nest of wiring I have created, especially with accessory wires running in every direction, usually in pairs, back to terminal strips dedicated for accessories, and from there to accessory power/ground on one of the ZWs. It's a mess.
Doing things backwards......I am now reading Peter Riddles book on wiring and if I understand this correctly, I could have used one bus ground wire for the entire layout, including both track and accessories, Command and Conventional loops. Is that correct ?
If I have Accessory #1 power connected to ZW#1, the ground for Accessory#1 be connected to either ZW#2 or the ZWL ?
In order to reduce the risk of damage to my Command engines from shorts, etc, would I be better off not to connect the ZWL common to the two ZWs common and leave the Command loops completely electrically isolated from the Conventional loops ?
Lots of questions I know. I need to rewire the layout to reduce the rat nest and now is the time to get it right.
