The DCS digital guide mentions power districts with separate transformers which are used when running several trains on the same track. Several transformers are used to take some of the load off of a single transformer. How do you attach the added transformers? Do you attach them to the TIU and then to the track as you would a single transformer; or do you attach them directly to the track?
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Yeap, you probably would run them through the TIU. It has four channels to use. You can power up all four channels as needed. You can only power one to start. How big is your layout? How many trains will you run? You may need to tell us more so we could explain better how to use the TIU's capability. It's a great system.
From page 60 of The DCS O Gauge Companion 2nd Edition:
Power Districts
A power district is a group of track blocks that are all provided power by the same power source. There are good reasons for wiring layouts using power districts.
Power districts may be implemented in such a way as to allow more power to be applied to a loop of track than could normally be obtained from one transformer handle. Consider the following example.
A single transformer handle can only generate 10 amps at 18 volts, however, the loop in question often has three trains with engines, lighted passenger cars and cabooses that may require as much as 15 amps total to operate. Using power districts, there is a solution to this problem:
• First, the loop is broken into 12 blocks with one DCS/power feed at the center of each block
• Three transformer handles are connected to three different TIU channels
• The three TIU channels are each connected to their own terminal blocks
• Each terminal block is connected to 4 blocks of the loop
• Transformer handle #1 provides power to blocks 1, 4, 7, and 10
• Transformer handle #2 provides power to blocks 2, 5, 8, and 11
• Transformer handle #3 provides power to blocks 3, 6, 9, and 12
Figure 14 Power District Diagram
This and a whole lot more is all in "The DCS O Gauge Companion 2nd Edition", now available for purchase as an eBook or a printed book from MTH's web store site! Click on the link below to go to MTH's web page for the book!
Yeap, you probably would run them through the TIU. It has four channels to use. You can power up all four channels as needed. You can only power one to start. How big is your layout? How many trains will you run? You may need to tell us more so we could explain better how to use the TIU's capability. It's a great system.
my layout is 22 by 27 feet with three loops which are all connected. I plan to run both legacy and dcs trains; and hopefully three to four trains at a time. If I use a star system of wiring, this will create a tremendous amount of wiring for the drops. Hopefully I can use a bus system even though I heard that sometimes the bus system is not suited for dcs.
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