power requirement for med / lg layout w/ dcs

A lot more cost effective power source are the Lionel PowerHouse 180 bricks.  Street price around $80-85 for 180 watts of power.  Four of those cost less than the Z-4000 and will give you almost twice the power, plenty for your needs and room to grow.

It sounds like you're running command, and for the occasional conventional, you can run it with the DCS remote through the variable TIU channels.

yes, i was browsing ebay and i noticed those power bricks.  i did see 4000's for about $350 , so im thinking of my options. are the mth z-1000 a good choice as well? i would imagine 4 of them spaced out through the layout? how would i integrate them with the TIU's. one brick for each of the two TIU , then two bricks just bussed to different points in the layout just for power? i dont have anythng yet , just trying to get a good mental gameplan together. there are so many options / combinations!

The PH180 bricks will give you almost twice the output power of the Z1000, and the PH180 bricks have the best circuit breaker I've ever used.  It's an electronically triggered breaker and responds instantly to short circuits, much better than the common thermal breakers.

For two TIU's, I'd use two PH180 bricks for each TIU, each feeding two channels.  If you stagger the channels intelligently, you'll spread the load around quite well.

When we run at modular shows, I bring four of my PH180 bricks to power the layout.

IMO, there is no better bargain in fixed voltage transformers than the PH180, the best breaker and the best price in dollars per watt.

thanks. will that be enough juice to run switches from track power? im leaning towards switching through the toggles supplied with the switch. i would then run the accessories through the TIU's. havent decided whether to use the dcs switch functions as well. if i have 4 bricks i shouldnt need any more power suppy theoretically right?

I agree with gunrunnerjohn on the PH-180's. I have the same set up as GRJ describes above and it works really well for me. The PH-180's are very nice. I also think Barry's book (DCS O Gauge Companion) is a must if you are new to command control and DCS.

Unless you have Fastrack command control switches, most here don't recommended powering switches with track power. However, I have been powering about a dozen Atlas switches with track power for several months now without problem. They are not going to stay that way. I am thinking about using DC for them and I'm on the fence about what to use for power, AC or DC and then what power source for whichever one I decide to use. Wasn't supposed to be like this for as long as it has...

Any chance someone might post a basic block diagram of how you would layout/distribute a couple of TIU's, four of the PH180 bricks and possibly a couple of AIU's.  I am interested if the various components should be centralized or distributed around the layout thus shortening the length of wire runs.  There are possibly other benefits such as noise reduction.  Thanks!

Those bricks are one of the myriad things that many of our sponsors sell for less than ebay prices. Just a reminder, from a recovering ebay addict

haha!  i also am into older cars... so ebay is like the crack den for me. now that im starting to get back into railroading , its like i dicovered a whole new drug!  unfortunatly my wallet forces me to go on the wagon....

when i get to the point of power and wiring i will surely find out about where to souce items from our sponsors. im still acquiring track and switches. its seems like a tall mountain to climb and im just at the foothills

i would love to see this as well. thanks for the suggestion paul

Which Eric Seagel video showed how to wire 180 power brick to DCS system?

Maybe this will help some? Here is what I started out with, it is 6' x 16' with Atlas track and switches. O-63 outer and O-54 inner loops. Switches are mostly O-54 with  the far side sidings using O-72. I used Ingeniero No1's wiring methods documented in his build thread for power connections to the track. He had a great idea there and it works very well.

 A few things were shuffled around a bit while installing, but it shows the basics. This has been working quite well for the last few months, since originally built. Getting ready for some changes & additions soon, I hope. If I can make ever up my mind on a final plan that is...

There are a lot more details about all this in Barry's book (in my post above), which I tried to follow as best as I could. DCS is almost always all 10's around both loops. 

Get one of these (PH-TIU) from CT McCormick and you don't have to cut off the factory plug end, just plug it in.

that looks like a great clean setup. so im picturing this...  that ph / tiu  unit, then a fixed volt wire set going to an MTH buss block , then from the buss block , the star wiring  to several insulated "blocks"throughout (in my case) one half of the layout.  am i on the right train of thought here?

domer94,

   Well I look at this differently than Guns & the other guys, I do not like the Bricks, never have.  If you want to keep the cost down, pick up a couple old 275 ZW's that have 4 channels of adjustable power, cost you about the same as the Bricks, and you can do a lot more with the transformers.  Put a set of 10 Amp Scott type resettable Breakers between the old ZW's and your DCS TIU and you are set to go.  Lots of adjustable power for all different kinds of usage.  It's how I operate, I have even upgraded my ZW & KW transformers with Banana plug fittings.  I also have a Z4K and the side receiver for lots of different running options.

PCRR/Dave

Yes, sounds just like what I did. PH-180 to TIU input with PH/TIU thingie, then I used OGR wire, #14 from TIU to terminal block. Then #16 from terminal block to each separate block. OGR wire is just perfect for DCS star wiring, and it's really nice wire on top of that.

gunrunnerjohn and maybe others have posted the parts needed for making the PH to TIU adapters which is a cheaper way to go. However, the ones above (what I used) are really nice, I have not found any other banana plugs that stay plugged in like as tightly as these do. I have even tried some high end audio, gold plated ones. Wish I knew where they got theirs.