Wiring Layout

Bill,

How many track sections does a turnout represent? 

One.

For yards, with many turnouts together, how would I wire the track?

Wire each siding as one or more blocks, following the same rules as for mainline blocks.

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!

Rod,

You normally do not need to insulate the center rail every 12 track sections. Just leave the center rail connected throughout the entire power block that the TIU channel is powering.

I'm sorry to disagree, however, that's often a recipe for DCS control problems.

To avoid possible packet collisions that can adversely affect the DCS signal, track blocks should be no more than 12 or so track sections in length with one power feed as close to the middle as possible.

The very definition of a track block is that both ends have the center rail insulated from adjacent blocks.

The outside rails, however, should remain intact and not insulated.

Guys, thanks for your help.

Barry, I have a digital copy of your first DCS guide. I ordered a hard copy for Rev. 2 a few days ago and will pick it up at York next month.

Bill,

Barry, I have a digital copy of your first DCS guide. I ordered a hard copy for Rev. 2 a few days ago and will pick it up at York next month.

Thanks!

Barry;

For the case of a new layout I am sure that this advice is best.

For myself and many others who have added DCS to an existing layout after the fact, the blocks are not insulated from each other, and DCS works just fine. Sometimes it takes magic bulbs, engineered filters, or whatever, but it can usually be made to work.

Just curious Barry, on your layout are your track blocks all insulated from each other?

Bill, since you are building new, you have the option to follow Barry's advice. You maybe should also consider upgrading your DCS software to the current 4.2 version to get the best out of it. It corrected several issues in the earlier versions. The upgrade is easy to do and Barry's book shows you how.

The rev H TIU does not have the DCS signal strength of the newest rev L, but it should work for you. I would recommend no more than 150 feet of track per TIU channel for this reason. If you are going to have more than 300 feet of total track (2 TIU channels worth) you can always switch the variable channels to fixed and use all 4 channels, since they all have DCS signal encoders. This is what I did on my layout of about 400 feet of track, and it now works great.

Peace all,

Rod

Rod,

on your layout are your track blocks all insulated from each other?

Yes, they are.

I would recommend no more than 150 feet of track per TIU channel for this reason. 

Typically, any TIU channel of any TIU should be able to support up to 250-300 feet of track. Rev. L TIUs most likely can do even better. However, there are certain caveats that one must observe to maximize the number of feet a TIU channel can support:

• Block length should be as close to optimum as possible, i.e., 11-12 track sections per block
• Blocks should be center rail isolated from adjacent blocks
• There should be one and only one TIU/transformer connection per block
• No block should be directly connected to another block
• The number of blocks/TIU channel should be, ideally, 12.

If all blocks were composed of 11 track sections where each track section was 3 feet long, 12 such blocks would yield a total of 33' X 12 blocks = 396 feet of track per channel. Allowing for shorter track sections within a block, each TIU cannel can easily support 250-300 feet of track.

Each layout is, however, different and differing track topologies will yield somewhat different results. Regardless, the above remains the optimum way to build and wire track blocks.

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!