I would like to place rocker switches in my staging yard to turn power on and off to certain tracks. With DCC would it be better to use a double pole switch and interrupt both feeder wires? Or would it be ok to use single pole switches to interrupt one or the wire, but consistently? Thanks, Doug
Doug, As long as the tracks are properly insulated/isolated, I would think a single pole switch would do the job but I have not tested it.
I would use double pole, with DCC if you open one side, you will have 1/2 the wave going to the decoder. You will not have a full, closed path, but I am not sure if it could harm the decoder. With dual pole, you know it is isolated
If you isolate one rail, you will not have 1/2 the wave going to the decoder. All that is necessary is to isolate one rail - with no return path, no power will go to the decoder; although, some people do feel more comfortable isolating both rails.
The voltage wave WILL still be present, though there will be no current flow without a return path, so there is no power. However, it is not like a 120VAC circuit, where you have a hot and neutral, it is closer to a 208VAC or 277VAC single phase circuit, where you always open both phases. If you only switch one rail to the decoder, you will still have a signal into the decoder from the other rail. DCC decoders were not designed for that, and the voltage could damage the decoder.
With no return path, there is no way the voltage could damage the decoder. Although the command station is still applying the voltage, nothing will be going to the decoder. With 208VAC or 277VAC you always open both phases because there is still the potential return path through neutral or ground, which is not a concern here.
Ugh, with no return path, the electrons cannot move and therefore the is absolutely no signal. It doesn't matter if this is DC AC, DCC, Three phase, or a watch battery.
With DCC there is no real need to turn off the power on storage track, but many folks do, especially where there may be a number of sound locos idling. I would go with a double pole switch just to be consistent, that way there is no question as to which rail is "live".
Hi Doug, Heres what I plan on using to isolate my programming track. I dont see as it would be any different than what you are trying to do. http://www.dccwiki.com/Programming_Track Or to make it even easier if I understand what you are trying to do, why not just use power routing turnouts (ie Peco). Move the switch to the main and remove power to the diverging section of the track. Brian
Thank you. Thats probably the most simplified and understandable way ive seen electtonics explained. In a long time.
