can any one tell me the hook up if i want to try my NCE DCC system wit my TMCC and DCS......does it go directly to track or into the TIU..and i know about PS3.....conrail john....quick !
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isn't DCC "DC" current. tmc and dcs are AC
DCC is actually AC, it's a PWM power signal that conveys the commands to the locomotives. They call it a "bi-polar" DC signal, because it's non-linear, but it changes polarity regularly, hence an AC signal.
I would connect direct to track.
Note that the signals may interfere with other systems.
All three hooked up but use of one at a time would be prudent.
You can't connect DCC directly to the track if you have any other power going to the track! DCC is a power supply as well as the encoding, the two power sources will clash in a very bad way!
Try a DPDT switch with the center pair going to the track and the two outside pairs of the switch contacs going to one of each power source. That way you can chose what power source you wont, but only one at a time.
I never worked with DCC but I would guess you can't run it with TMCC or DCS.
Also you have to remember that any TMCC, or DCS engine that is left on the track when you switch to DCC will revert to conventional operation so they will have to be removed from the circuit of track.
You can use a DCC controller with and through an MTH DCS/DC Commander.
Actually, you can only use the DCC controller through the DCS Commander, however you can NOT run DCS and DCC at the same time. The mode is called DCC Passthrough. It's really the same as the DPDT toggle switch, and it only applies to the DCC Commander.
From the manual.
Setup is simple; just insert a DCS Commander between the wires from your existing DCC system and the track and you're ready to switch back and forth between DCS and DCC with the push of a button.
Here's all it does.