DCC Question

[peterherron]

I have a question about DCC.  I have 3 On30 locomotives that are DCC equipped and also run on straight DC w/o any changes.  I have 3 small non DCC locomtives that I don't want to convert at this time.  I plan to run these in a small isolated are of my layout while running the DCC eqipped locomotive over the rest of the layout.  My question is this:
As all my engine servicing will be in the straight DC area, can I transition (run it w/o doing anything) the DCC/DC units to the straight DC engine facility?

Thank you.

Peter

[gcodori]

The easy answer is yes...but not recommended.  You can run dc and dcc on the same layout if the areas are WELL isolated and there is no change of a loco crossing over (or shorting out) between blocks.

You are better off having a main switch that would let you run either dcc or dc over the layout seperately, not at the same time.

If you are doing a dc engine facility, I would recommend having the whole layout being dcc, and having the tracks/spurs which hold the non-dcc locos (say an engine house) isolated and wired to switches which would allow you to switch on the track which holds the loco (non-dcc) which you want to opperate.  This setup would leave the other non-dcc loco on electrically "dead" tracks whiole you run the non-dcc loco (you can only operate one non-dcc loco at a time any way).

As more locos get converted to dcc, those tracks in the engine house can be set to dcc only.

A warning - running a non-dcc loco on a dcc system can cause excess heat and strange noises from the motor - use caution.

Does that make sense? 

[SteamGene]

How can a locomotive go directly from DC powered track to DCC powered track without shorting out?  Peter says "without doing anything."  The only way I could see it working would be to have a section long enough for the longest locomotive/lash-up to be totally isolated, stopped, and then have the power changed from DCC to DC for that section.
Gene

[Nathan]

The DCC standards and a number of DCC decoders allow the decoder to determin that it is on DC instead of DCC and start running on DC.  Some decoders need a CV set to do so, some do not have this built in.  You will need to check the manual for the decoder.

[taz-of-boyds]

If you do this while the locomotive is moving from a DCC to DC block you may get some interesting short circuit responses!

Charles

[peterherron]

Thanks all for the informative answers.  I had thought about Gene's suggestion because when a locomotive goes from DCC to DC what happens when the first electrical pick up detects DC while the last one detects DCC??  I think Charles said it right.  Maybe the easiest answer is to make the locomotives adapt to the track, istead of making the whole RR adapt to the locomotives.  What would you guys recommend for a DCC system?  The non DCC locomotives I have are 2 Porters, a Davenport and 2 Moguls.

Thanks,

Peter

[Nathan]

There are a number of good DCC systems out there. Each has its strong points and weak points.  If you live in an area where there are other model railroaders, go see what they use and ask them what the DO NOT LIKE about the system they have.

For the record I use the NCE system for my large scale, so does my Dad (84 years young).  The other DCC user in our large scale club uses LGB DCC.  We both can run our equipment on each others system.  We use decoders from NCE, Digitrax, Lenz, LGB, Soundtraxx, and MRC.

The two HO scale clubs in the area use Digitrax.

Do not over look any of the systems.

Nathan

[ebtbob]

Good Morning,

       Way back in the dark ages,  lets say about 5 years ago.....when I first got into DCC,  I had one of my two mainlines set up for DCC and the other set up for DC operations.   The two mainlines are parallel and connected in four places with cross overs.   One time I accidently left one of the cross overs set the wrong way and a DCC equipped train went from its mainline to the DC mainline.   Result.......transformer for DC ops is only good for AC funtions now,   the DC side of the transforer was cooked,  immediately!!!
As was stated before,  only safe way to have engines transition safely from DC to DCC or visa versa is to have a section of track that can be controled by either system and can be shut down electrically after an engine/s enters the section,  then throw some sort of switch to allow the other system to take control of said section.