Proto Power West
jwbardzil <jwbardzil@...>
I have numerous Proto Power West Chassis and motors for Athern
shells. I want to wire these for DCC. I do not know how to do this because the wiring of these is different than most other engines. Can you help me?
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Re: Directional Differences
Mark Gurries
Stephen,I agree with Allan. Try breaking in your locomotive first, under DC if you must, will remove that as being a factor. Make sure the wheels are clean again when you get done before you install the decoder.. Allan is also right in that a capacitors do not effect decoder operation in terms of direction. It can, however, effect decoder operation overall and independent of direction. Many locomotives seem to come with some filtering electronics for the motor. This filter circuit often consist of a ceramic capacitor and one or two stick inductors. It exist because some locomotive manufacture are attempting to reduce the "Radio Wave" interference the motors can create when they run. Think motor noise & static noise you get on the TV or Radio type of thing. They add this filter to reduce the interference to comply with some regulation agency that regulates such things. To be clear, most locomotive manufactures have NO filter circuit at all. The filter circuit was intended to be used with the engine while operating in DC mode as opposed to DCC. As people have found, DCC decoders were not designed to work with these filters. In many cases it has lead to erratic operation. The recommendation is that for DCC, at a minimum the capacitor should be removed completely (clipped out). Removing the whole filter is required if you use a decoder with BEMF. Best Regards, Mark Gurries Linear Technology Power Supply & Battery Charger Applications Engineer/Manager --------------------------------------------------------- Model Railroad Club and NMRA DCC presentations are at: http://www.siliconvalleylines.com/index.html -------------------------------------------------------- Audio Enthusiast (Love SAE equipment) http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/gurriesm/ ----------------------------------------------------------
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Re: System One Booster failue
Mark Gurries
Our large club layout has two Wangrow dual 5 amp boosters (for a toalIf you get no lights and you can measure power at the input terminals, then something has gone wrong. Although System One (Wangrow) is out of business, service can be obtained. Karl Kobel of System One stated that Ron Sebastian of DesPlains Hobbies has agreed to be the repair depot of existing System One equipment. Suggest people give him a call to check out the service. Des Plaines Hobbies (847) 297-2118 1468 Lee St., Des Plaines, IL 60018 http://www.desplaineshobbies.com/ Do not contact NCE (North Coast Engineering) for repair. They have NO obligation. legal or otherwise, to support System One. The two companies are seperate entities. If you wish to purchase replacement equipment, NCE would be your only choice. However the replacment product will not be the exact same product. http://www.ncedcc.com/ You can get more information about System One from the http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NCE-SYS1/ group. Best Regards, Mark Gurries Linear Technology Power Supply & Battery Charger Applications Engineer/Manager --------------------------------------------------------- Model Railroad Club and NMRA DCC presentations are at: http://www.siliconvalleylines.com/index.html -------------------------------------------------------- Audio Enthusiast (Love SAE equipment) http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/gurriesm/ ----------------------------------------------------------
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Re: DCC have to be controlled by computer?
Mark Gurries
snorring@aol.com wrote:
dcc doesn't have to be controlled by a computer.True. No computer "PC" is needed. What is called the command station is actually a computer design specifically to run DCC and nothing else. You simply do need to know it is a computer and simply call it by it purposeful name. Command Station. What is possible on some brands of DCC systems is a connection to a common PC computer to enhance your DCC experience. Applications such as signalling or programming complex decoders can be used. But again to run and program your engines "decoders", you do NOT need it. DCC does require a power supply that is DCC not DC.I think there is some terminology confusion here. DCC is a control system. It has nothing to do with power. DC is a power source/supply who's voltage has a constant polarity AC is a power source/supply who's voltage has a constantly changing polarity. All DCC systems require some form of power supply to power them. Some DCC systems do not come with a power supply and allow you to use your old DC power pack to act as a TEMPORARY power supply. It is expected that you would purchase a power supply the meets the specification as shown in your DCC manual. Doing so otherwise will restrict your ability to get the most out of your DCC system. Some DCC systems do come with a power supply in the package which simplifies your life in terms of getting up and running. Typically these are entry level system. The type of power supply that can be used with DCC systems can potentially vary. Consult with your manual. However, to the best of my knowledged, all DCC system can take advantage of both DC or a AC power source voltages on its input. Circuits inside these system (rectifiers) make it possible. The idea is based in the interest of giving you maximum flexibility and cost saving in finding a suitable power supply. It also makes the input power connection to the DCC system simple and accident proof in terms of wire connection polarity. By all means check out the Wiring for DCC section on beginners for more information. Best Regards, Mark Gurries Linear Technology Power Supply & Battery Charger Applications Engineer/Manager --------------------------------------------------------- Model Railroad Club and NMRA DCC presentations are at: http://www.siliconvalleylines.com/index.html -------------------------------------------------------- Audio Enthusiast (Love SAE equipment) http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/gurriesm/ ----------------------------------------------------------
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Re: slow speed at grades
wirefordcc <wire4dcc_admin@...>
You mean other than doing like they do on the prototype - increase the
throttle. SOME decoders have "back EMF compensation." This is also known as "speed compensation" and a few other similar sounding names. Most decoders do not have this feature. You will have to examine the features for your decoder to determine if it has this feature. Back EMF compensation senses the load put on a locomotive when it goes up a grade and increases the power to the motor to compensation. Likewise, when going down a grade, it senses this, too, and decreases the power to the motor. If your decoder has back EMF compensation, it usually comes from the factory deactivated. You will need to activate it. How you activate it varies with the manufacturer and the decoder. Usually it is as simple as setting a CV. Many decoders have variable back EMF compensation. You can set these decoders anywhere from no compensation to maximum compensation. At maximum compensation, you will see very little, if any, speed change when the train is on a grade. How much compensation is up to you. Try a value and see how the train reacts.
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slow speed at grades
ed_gaws
hi all,
how do i fix speed drop at grades
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System One Booster failue
p.reardon@sbcglobal.net <p.reardon@...>
Our large club layout has two Wangrow dual 5 amp boosters (for a toal
of 20 amps divided around the layout). These have worked flawlessly for about 4 years. They have responded to occasional shorts properly, shutting down power until the offending equipment is located and removed. Last Friday in the middle of routine operations, the red short indicators came on on one booster box. After a search, no shorts could be discovered. Then all lights on the booster box went off. Despite turning off all power and re-booting, the booster did not come back on. A meter shows power to the input terminals. Does anyone know what, if anything, blows out internally on these boosters. Can they be fixed? Or am I, not for the first time, overlooking something obvious.
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Re: Directional Differences
wirefordcc <wire4dcc_admin@...>
Stephen,
Capacitors will never be responsible "directional differences." So you can forget about removing them. Also, I suspect that if Rivarossi provided a plug for a decoder they didn't intend for you to need to remove any components from their circuit board. Your problems sound mechanical. If you want to prove it to yourself, remove the decoder and reinstall the dummy plug that came with the locomotive. Put the locomotive on a track running from a regular, DC power pack. It will probably perform just as poorly. Maybe your locomotive just needs to be broken in. Perhaps it has something else wrong with it. In any event, it isn't a DCC problem and is beyond the scope of this DCC forum. Allan Murphy's Law: A locomotive will always run better in reverse.
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Directional Differences
stephenaslancaster <stephenlancaster@...>
Hello I am New to to this group
I have a new Rivarossi Heisler locomotive,into which I plugged a Digitrax dz143pn decoder. In reverse it runs great,however in forward it runs poorly,it jerks along and takes more voltage to get it to start. I have asked in other forums and got some feedback about the circuit board ie cutting out some caps,but have upon examination that it has alot of surface mount componates. Any ideas? Thanks Stephen
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Re: DCC have to be controlled by computer?
wirefordcc <wire4dcc_admin@...>
You might find this webpage on DCC for Beginners interesting:
http://www.wiringfordcc.com/intro2dcc.htm Allan --- In WiringForDCC@yahoogroups.com, "oreboats" <adam@r...> wrote: Does DCC have to be controlled by a computer? Can you use a normalDC power supply and the have an encoder send the signals? How hard isit to program DCC?
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Re: Dual gauge wiring for DCC
Jan Frelin <jan.frelin@...>
Greg, have you seen Tillig products? They seem close to what you want. (H0e
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
= H0n30). /Jan
At 16:16 2005-06-10 +0000, Greg Codori wrote:
--- In WiringForDCC@yahoogroups.com, "wirefordcc" <wire4dcc_admin@c...>
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DCC have to be controlled by computer?
oreboats <adam@...>
Does DCC have to be controlled by a computer? Can you use a normal DC
power supply and the have an encoder send the signals? How hard is it to program DCC?
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Re: DCC have to be controlled by computer?
snorring@...
dcc doesn't have to be controlled by a computer. DCC does require a pwer
supply that is DCC not DC.
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Re: Dual gauge wiring for DCC
wirefordcc <wire4dcc_admin@...>
Greg,
Regarding your idea for your trackwork, try asking your question on a Yahoo group on narrow gauge. I think I've seen a way for a narrow gauge track to diverge from a standard gauge track without using a turnout. I'm sure you can get good advice about your dual gauge needs and how you should approach it on a narrow gauge chat group. I don't want to try to give advice on a topic I know little about. I'm going to visit my friends dual gauge layout and study it. Look for dual gauge information on my website later this summer. Go to http://home.comcast.net/~wire4dcc_admin and sign up for update announcements. When I update the Wiring For DCC website, you will receive an announcement. Allan
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Re: Dual gauge wiring for DCC
gcodori
--- In WiringForDCC@yahoogroups.com, "wirefordcc" <wire4dcc_admin@c...>
wrote: Greg,I haven't decided what brand to use, but most likely will either hand lay or use a peco switch (n scale) and build a HO/HOn30 switch out of it. My intention was to have the standard gauge continue straight and have the HOn30 deviate off to the left. I thought an easy solution was to use a left hand switch (n scale) and add the standard gauge track to it. Does that make much sense? Greg
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Re: Dual gauge wiring for DCC
wirefordcc <wire4dcc_admin@...>
Greg,
I'm pretty well caught up with things, so I'll try to add material on dual gauge wiring this summer. I will go visit a layout with dual gauge track and see what was done or should have been done. Then I will make some drawings as needed. What brand of turnouts are you using? Allan
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Dual gauge wiring for DCC
gcodori
Hi, first post...
Are there any references for wiring dual gauge trackage (switches) to be DCC friendly? I have a layout design where a narrow gauge line deviates from the dual gauge trackage (the dual gauge trackage becomes seperate lines of standard and narrow gauge). Any ideas on wiring something like this? Thanks!
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Re: Multiple booster power districts
Mark Gurries
Digitrax recommends "Home Ground" wiring...tying all the booster grounds
together. Loconet also forms a home ground too in parallel. But it is not intended to carry any current. Without the home ground wiring, the boosters will still work with asymmetrical pickup locomotives, BUT your running a risk since your depending on the very small low current loconet ground wires to carry very high booster currents! Not design for or recommended! Hope this helps. I have a question about multiple boosters and locomotives, especiallyBest Regards, Mark Gurries Linear Technology Power Supply & Battery Charger Applications Engineer/Manager --------------------------------------------------------- Model Railroad Club and NMRA DCC presentations are at: http://www.siliconvalleylines.com/index.html -------------------------------------------------------- Audio Enthusiast (Love SAE equipment) http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/gurriesm/ ----------------------------------------------------------
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Re: Multiple booster power districts
wirefordcc <wire4dcc_admin@...>
Dale,
I'm back from the convention and ran the test as promised. I ran several Rivarossi locomotives that have asymetrical power pickups and confirmed that all ran without any problem, even at very slow speeds, between booster districts. Both boosters used in the test were Digitrax boosters. Allan
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Re: DCC wiring
Vollrath, Don <dvollrath@...>
You don't really need a separate booster for just the engine service / turntable area just because it is 35 ft away. Power that section with a separate bus run from the existing booster or simply extend the existing DCC bus along the track leading to that area of the layout. But use twisted pair wiring, 14-18 ga, and put an R-C terminator at the far end. {0.1 MFD 50V, 150 ohms 2W)
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Using the rubber/plastic insulated rail joiners for gapping rail is a good idea. Easier than cutting rail. Provides a positive 'plug' to prevent the gap from closing. But learn how to solder small (20-22 ga) feeder drop wires to the rail. Use plenty of these to conduct rail current so that you almost never rely on a slip-joint type rail joiner between rail sections to conduct current. DonV
-----Original Message-----
From: WiringForDCC@yahoogroups.com [mailto:WiringForDCC@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of zekda99 Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 1:17 AM To: WiringForDCC@yahoogroups.com Subject: [WiringForDCC] DCC wiring Hi I am new to this, snd trying to figure out how to wire a new setup. using prodigy Advance system. A couple of things I'd like to know: 1: do I need a booster if next area is 35 ft away, this is the turntable area basically only...yards are only 10' away. (from main) 2: I am using plastic inusulators instead of cutting track and soldering (am using track wire connectors) 3: Do have a tad of experience with electroncis due due to 20 yrs working with the Cdn air force....(you know the ones that use duct tape and lockiwire to hold things together) 4: main thing is i want to put in a lighting system at my control panel with a green light when all is okay but switching to a red lite when there is a short. 0AND I HAVE REAL PROPLEMS FINGING DECODERS TO FIT BACHMANN, PECO EETC ENGINGES.....NO SOUND INFOLVED...' PLEASE TRY TO HELP ME AS IT COSTS A FORTUNE FOR EVERY SCREWUP I MKE.. mT http://www.WiringForDCC.com Yahoo! Groups Links
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