In earlier generations of model railroading, the reverse loop (reversing section) was the bane of many model railroaders. As the rails of a track come back upon themselves, an electrical short circuit is created. In the analog control world, the solution is to use toggle switches and special wiring to allow the locomotive to move on to the next block. Electromechanical solutions relying on relays and track detectors can also be used to automate reversing on an analog layout. The wye is another example of a reversing section on a layout. One of the advantages of digital command control is ...
Connecting a turntable to a DCC model railroad is easy. Each of the tracks approaching the rotating turntable bridge should be wired with the same orientation. The power feeds through a pair of conductive rings to a pair of electrically conductive brushes that are wired to the rails of the turntable bridge. DCC power is fed to the turntable bridge through an AR1 Autoreverser; when a locomotive enters or leaves the turntable bridge, the AR1 properly orients the DCC signal. Some turntable designs have a "split-ring" electrical pickup, where the two electrical contacts that power the two rails on the ...
DCC Automatic Reversing SectionsVirtually all automatic reversing will fall into 3 categories with the wiring principles for all being the same:1. Reverse Loops2. Wyes3. TurntablesDCC has the ability to automatically reverse sections of track we call Reversing Sections while our trains are running and not affect the direction or speed of the trains. This is because we put a constant square wave AC current on the track and control the trains (locos) by sending messages to them (actually to receivers we call decoders) to tell them what to do such as start, stop, change directions, etc. . We are thus ...
Can I combine the power input requirements for PM42's with other units for economy?Digitrax recommends each PM42 module to have its own seperate power source. The criteria for choosing a power supply for the PM42 is any power source that can deliver 12-15V AC or 13.8-15V DC with a minimum of 125 ma. The Digitrax PS14 meets the minimum power requirement of a PM42.It is possible to power more than one PM42 from a single power source. When powering multiple PM42's special care must be taken to insure identically phasing of all PM42's and ample current availability to power all ...
Can the AR1 or PM42 be used to power the track of a turntable? This track section would be electrically isolated from the surrounding tracks which would all be powered from the same booster. Yes. A good number of our customers use either the AR1 or one node of a PM42 to handle turntable powering issues.
I have an "old" vintage mid 1970's Atlas Turntable and I need to know how to wire the bridge track using DCC. Does it need an autoreversing unit or not?No. The Atlas H0 turntable is an evergreen for the model railroad hobby. It was easy to install and simple to wire, making it quite popular.Power is fed to the turntable bridge by connecting the track power feeds (black and red) individually to two screw terminals; these terminals are built into the portion of the Atlas turntable base which also includes the turntable manual crank handle. The turntable itself is ...
Since many Zephyr and Zephyr Xtra Starter Sets are used on smaller railroads, a natural choice for setting up an automatic reversing section would be an AR1. If you have more than one reverse loop, then the PM42 is a better choice. These automatic reversing strategies will work equally well for any Digitrax system using any Digitrax Starter Set. Alternately for larger railroads, an auto reversing booster such as the DB150 can be used for automatic reversing if the section is large.
I have just purchased a Walthers 90' turntable that is DCC ready [sic]. How do I connect this? It appears to have a LocoNet connector. Any help would be great. Walthers manufactures two different turntables in H0; the 933-2829 is an automated turntable with full track indexing. While both can be operated in the DCC environment, the Walthers turntable is not DCC ready in the manner that you assume. What appears to be a LocoNet connector is actually the connector for the turntable's proprietary controller. Full documentation for this turntable is available at the Walthers web site.