Wiring DZ-2500s for my layout; UPDATED to include track power

Ron,

I'm not going to comment on the wiring diagram as I haven't had time to study it.  But I will give you two strong suggestions:

1. TEST and program each DZ-2500 before you put it on the layout.
2. 14VAC might not be enough.  You should think about a way to get 15VAC or 16VAC to these if needed.

George 

George,

1.  I have a test bench set up and will test each one as well as program each one with its CC number.  I have the procedures from the forum on setting it to TMCC and testing it.

2.  I can power the system through the Z-1000's controller for higher voltage if needed.  I know there have been several posts on needing more power, but I powered the DZ-2500s on my old layout with a 12 volt transformer without problems.  I want to try the 14 volts first; if that doesn't work then I'll go higher.

Thank you.

Ron 

Ron,

I also power my DZ-2500s with a 12 volt supply with no problems. I checked your schematic and I only have one concern. You might want to run the schematic by Dennis at z-stuff before you wire it up. If I split my switches into blocks I would do it in series instead of parallel. I have a concern with data corruption with 3 different dead end blocks. If I split mine I would series wire them and split the hot and data with a dpst switch after each 10 switches. My data wire goes both ways from the data driver so in essence I have your setup with 2 lines instead of three so I suppose the 3 lines might work just fine. I have 14 (7 on each leg) wired in now with about that many more to go.

Ron

Ron,

Thank you for your input.  Not being an EE or electrician I wasn't sure about some parts of my plan.  There is no one drawing/schematic where you can find all these ideas together.

I was concerned about all the dead ends too, especially as I start work on the next section and adding more of the isolation lines.  However, I can't visualize how running them in series would work.  Are you adding a second data wire to bypass the isolated switches to get the data to switches farther down the line?

Another area I'm concerned about is the connection to track common to make the non-derailing feature work.  In one of last year's discussions on command control of the DZ-2500 a comment was made that this connection prevents the command function from working.  No where else have I seen that comment.  I'm hoping someone can clarify that for me.

Ron

I have yet to wire mine in blocks yet as I have never had the problem that others have had (knock on wood). To wire in series you would wire all the switches into the 3 wire data line first. Then decide how many to put on a block and follow the line down to just past the desired last switch and cut the hot and data feed. Then wire the switch into the line. Next you would count down the same number of switches further down the line and do the same thing again. Repeat until there are no more switches. This would give you the ability to turn on the switches in this manner switch #1 off would give you the first block only, Switch #1 on and switch #2 off the first 2 blocks and so on. For troubleshooting this would give you a way to zero in on which block has the error in it by eliminating the first block then the first 2 blocks and so on. The switches could be mounted on the layout face close to the cut in the main wires.

You're right on the track common. To make the non derail work the black wire from the switch power supply needs to be connected to the outer rail common wiring. Without this connection there is no completion of the circuit to fire the machine.

There is nothing in the instructions that state that wiring the non derail circuit disables the command control. I'm will be in the process of testing this feature on my layout next.

Ron

I want to thank George and Ron for their comments; gave me more to think about.

After much thought, I did some changes to the schematic (below, with a couple of closer views).  The major changes are:

1)  Added Dale Manquen's MANCO Legacy Signal Booster between the command base and DZ-2001 data driver.  I concurred with Dale's recommendation to add the booster because the command base needs to drive at least two TPC 400s and a AVC.

2)  Went to serial wiring of the DZ-2001 white data wire to all the switches.  In the initial schematic (above) I left out the red wire (hot) from the Z-1000 brick that needs to be switched off with the white wire for fault isolation.  It is shown as a dashed line through the rocker switch circuit breakers. (NOTE: schematic says black, but should read red.)  Still have not decided on how many switched to have per isolation block.  I also plan to switch the data wire color to blue after the first RSCB so the layout wiring will be consistent. 

3)  Added more detail for track power.  After looking at the schematic, I've decided to add a TVS at each track connection instead of at the TIU outputs.  This is shown by the empty block in the upper left (forgot to add "TVS").  I may add additional ones between the terminal block and the TIU/TPC.

Again, any comments would be appreciated, especially if my thoughts are flawed.

Ron 

Everything looks fine except I don't see a common connection (Black wire from the Z-1000) to the outside rail of the track. Without this the non derail will not work properly. When the train reaches the isolated track that the yellow or green wire from the DZ-2500 is hooked to the car or engine wheels complete the circuit from the opposite outside rail to the isolated one thereby firing the machine.

Ron

Ron,

I think I have the correct connection for non-derailing.  The common from the Z-1000 is connected to track common as shown in the switch diagram (right side of the switch, outside rail).  This is from Z-Stuffs web page.

Also, I did not mention that the TVS I will be using is the 1.5KE33CA version since only PH180 bricks will be powering the track.

Ron

You're right I didn't see that.

Ron