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jwb

Late last year I realized it was time to bite the bullet and go into DCC. I'm realizing (and I'm coming at the end of a long, long line here) that this is an enormous subject, with all sorts of ins and outs, so I may as well post it as a get-off-your-duff challenge for the year.

Based on some research and some input from this forum, I went with the NCE PowerCab. Here it is, with the base station or whatever you call it, on my layout:
[attachment=13123]
Here's an early loco that I've programmed with it (the one that was causing me to climb the learning curve on another thread):
[attachment=13121]
You can see that the headlight is on, which is a sign it's on DCC!

Right now, only a part of my layout has the option of switching to DCC control via DPDT block switches. I understand that this is basically not a good idea, but considering the size of my roster and the likelihood that only a small minority of my locos will be DCC for the foreseeable future, I've got to muddle through.

My objectives for the period of the challenge will be:

-- extend the DCC wiring to allow all blocks on the layout to be switchable to DCC via DPDT switches
-- find out what other wiring improvements I need to carry out
-- implement radio cabs and a radio base station
-- continue to program existing locos that have dual-mode decoders
-- begin to install plug-and-play decoders on locos that have this capability
-- maybe learn to install and wire decoders on locos without plugs
-- generally climb the DCC learning curve over matters like consists and CVs.

jwb

Here is the straight DC walkaround control system that I'm partly replacing with DCC:
[attachment=13201]
It was made by ITTC, who is still in business http://ittproducts.com/ doing sound modules for layouts. However, he quit making the DC walkaround systems in the early 1990s, deciding that there weren't going to be many new straight DC installations as opposed to DCC. That was his call, of course, but the two ITTC walkaround systems I have are very robust and have lasted 25 years. If I'd been able to get replacement parts, especially the handhelds, I'd have stayed with them.

However, there were some downsides: as you can see, the tether wire for the controller was always getting caught on something, and a lot of the time it wound up pulling the handheld controller to the floor, so the handhelds are beat up. Also, the standard phone jacks are wearing out. As a result, I'm going to radio control for my DCC cabs, and I'll change from two ITTC systems to one, cannibalizing the parts in best shape from the other to keep the one running.

Here's a photo of the first loco that I've installed a decoder in -- no biggie, a TCS plug and play in a Bowser WM F7. You can see from the headlight it's on DCC!
[attachment=13200]
It's running with a Bachmann GP7 with the factory decoder. At some point I'll need to be like Reinhard and replace this decoder with a better one.

jwb

One of the early problems I wanted to solve was how to hang the handheld components of the NCE system. A defect of the ITTC DC system I'd been using was that there was no provision for hanging the handhelds anywhere, and for 25 years I would just put them on the layout when they weren't in use, which inevitably tore up scenery on one hand, and on the other, the tether cords would catch and pull the handheld to the floor, which was also bad -- though the handhelds do both still work, a tribute to how robust the system is.

I'm jealous that Reinhard was able to find some Bluepoint universal throttle pockets -- they're out of stock over here, so that option was out. Then I remembered a tip I'd read someplace that you could use Velcro strips to hold the handhelds to the layout fascia. This is what I've come up with:
[attachment=13226]
Here is how the Velcro strips work:
[attachment=13225]
I don't know how well the Velcro strips last, and I'll still keep looking for the universal throttle pockets, but at least I've solved this initial problem. I still don't like the cord that the Power Cab uses. The Power Pro is radio capable, and I'll use it with radio once I get the NCE base station.

jwb

Emery Gulash is filming as I continue to get used to using a DCC cab:
[attachment=13295]
I've also gone to Radio Shack to pick up some bus wire to extend the DCC block capability.

jwb

With a lot of trial and error -- among other things, I had to relearn how to set the direction bit, because both these locos run long hood forward -- I was able to set up a consist:
[attachment=13310]
However, I'm still puzzled. While the two locos will run at the same time and in the same direction if I select just one of them, the headlights don't work correspondingly, or maybe I don't understand consists. If a consist is running forward, shouldn't just the forward headlight on the lead loco be lit, with no other headlights lit on any other loco? If the consist is running in reverse, shouldn't the rearmost-facing headlight on the rear unit be lit, with no other headlights lit on any other loco? Both of these locos are using the Bachmann factory decoders.
Does the consist know which loco is leading?

I saw a CN train go by once, and because there were flats behind the locos, I could see that the rear headlight was on.

jwb

BR60103 Wrote:Does the consist know which loco is leading?
Yes, the NCE prompt for the setup consist asks for the lead loco, the rear loco, and then any in the middle.

jwb

The decoders I'm familiar with don't appear to have much beyond a dimming feature, but prototypical headlight operation seems to require several alternatives:


1. Headlight out for operation within yard limits or when in the clear on sidings


2. Headlight-only operation, either dim or full strength, without ditch lights, in particular situations, including low speed non-yard operation, grade crossings or meeting opposing trains, or rear of DPU


3. Full headlight with ditch light operation on main line


4. Flashing ditch lights on main line grade crossing approach


I'm not up on the very latest production of modern era locos, but in general, I note that even model locos with ditch lights installed, like Kato 9-44 units, AC4400s, or SD9043MACs, don't have the light bars set up to distinguish headlight-only from headlight-with-ditch lights or flashing ditch lights. I haven't had the body off my Atlas Trainman gensets to see if they have the potential for this distinction. By the same token, I don't know of decoders that will handle all these options, but as I say, I'm new to DCC.


Does anyone have knowledge of decoders or factory models that can handle all these options?

jwb

I've tried a lot of track cleaners over the years, but so far, none is a magic bullet. Several years ago I got an MNP car. These are still in stock at Walthers, although now they seem to use a 50-foot boxcar body instead of a 40-foot like this one. When I got it, I discovered it would barely work in ordinary DC, since the speed of the cleaner heads depended on track voltage, and it wasn't going to get any faster than the loco that was pulling it. However, it had a DCC decoder installed from the factory. I put it aside, but now that I'm working with DCC, I brought it out again:
[attachment=13419]
[attachment=13418]
The point of having the DCC decoder is that you can select the cleaner by its address, and then you can turn the head speed fast, so no matter how fast the loco is going, it will go fast enough to polish the railheads itself. It still isn't a magic bullet, but if you run it back and forth enough, it will in fact clean the track. It's useful for bridges and tunnels especially.
[attachment=13417]

jwb

I've disconnected the less powerful ITTC straight DC controller from the second cab of the block system on my main line and replaced it with the NCE Power Cab. You can see the headlight on B&O 5606 to prove this:
[attachment=13463]
The more powerful (5 AMP) ITTC straight DC controller remains on the first cab of the block system. In effect, what I've done is to add a DCC option as one cab on a two-cab layout. Here is a typical block control panel. It's set up to allow me or any (very rare) other operator to select blocks as we walk around:
[attachment=13462]
I know this is a less than good way to do things, but I have so many locos on plain DC that DCC is going to be a long-term transition project, and it will almost certainly be necessary to retain a DC option for as long as I have a layout. The large DPDT toggles on the board select one of two cabs, depending on whether the switch is up or down. They have (and are now in) the center-off position. The normal position of any block switch will be center-off, and since I will normally be the only operator, there's less chance that I'll run a DCC loco off a DCC block and onto a DC block by mistake, thus smoking the decoder, though I'm definitely aware of the risk. However, I don't see any other way to do things.

Also, the subminiature toggles on the board are for DC-style isolation of tracks where locos are stored. I will continue to use that for both DC and DCC locos, since the layout will continue to be wired for lower-amp DC operation, and I don't want to run the amps up with locos not in use but on the track. The flat lever toggles are for switch machines. Again, the switch machines will continue to have separate AC power, meaning less amp draw off the DCC wiring, which will continue to be a basically two-block system.

I'm pretty sure that the two-amp capacity of an NCE Power Cab won't be too much for this level of wiring. If I wind up using a lot more amps, I'll expand to a 5-amp booster and rewire the buses.
John there is a theory how a DCC layout should be wired. There is also a way it is usually implemented by most of us if we start from scratch but your way of handling it is the best way if you expect a (very) long transition phase with lots of DC engines.
Be warned there is a serious risk to bridge DC into a DCC block if you run an engine from an DC into an DCC block or vise versa. There is a good chance the DCC driver transistors will be destroyed. That is a more expensive error than running a DCC engine with decoder on DC. Keep your eyes open to prevent that failure! Good luck

jwb

The ITTC and the Power Cab power supplies are on separate power strips, too. (The auxiliary AC power is on a third strip.) I believe I can get away with powering up only the ITTC or the Power Cab power supplies at any one time, which should also reduce the risk.
jwb Wrote:...powering up only the ITTC or the Power Cab power supplies at any one time...
That is very good risk management! It is more save to start intentionally a DC only or DCC only session than to just to flip one of so many block switches.
I have my layout to be both DCC or DC at anyone time. But the WHOLE layout is powered by either type. Having both active at once is looking for trouble...

When I run DC, the DCC engines are in their stalls with power turned off to those tracks, and all DCC engines are set up to not respond to analog DC. The same goes for the DC engines when the layout is on DCC.

jwb

I've installed a few plug-and-play decoders, changed some Atlas dual-mode in their GP38s and 40s to DCC, and programmed some Bachmann DCC on board locos. I decided to try a next step, the TCS A4x decoder, which is a replacement for the Atlas light board in old yellow-box GP7s, RS1s, RS3s, RS11s, S2/4s, etc. There's some soldering involved, and the question of what to do about the lights. The old yellow box Atlas typically had a single incandescent bulb at the center of the board that was unidirectional, feeding two light bars going to either end. One of my biggest objectives for DCC is to get better, constant lighting in my locos. I had some yellow-white LEDs on hand, and the TCS A4x has built in resistors for LEDs, so what better place to start? I followed the suggestions in the various TCS install guides on their site and wound up mounting two LEDs to fit roughly at the center of the board, replacing the single incandescent.

After about an hour, it worked right the first time!
[attachment=13587]
[attachment=13586]
I didn't want to do anything to change the existing light bars, since I wasn't sure exactly how to cut them and then polish the new ends to get them to transmit light, and I'd already installed numberboard decals in the numberboards, which are integral with the headlight lenses. I still need to check and be sure the LEDs will fit between the bars on the GP7 body -- otherwise, I'll need to fiddle and adjust:
[attachment=13585]
Also do something like paint the half of the LEDs not facing the light bars black to try to get as much of a not-lit effect on the rearward-facing headlight as I can.

But it looks as though the TCS A4x will rejuvenate and add value to old yellow box Atlas, and I have a LOT of those.
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