When I got back into the hobby, I didn't know DCC existed. My original few locos were all DC, and all were basically junk. Since I knew my first layout would be a "chainsaw" layout, I decided to go with DCC to allow for future expansion. I'm very happy with it.
I went DCC with one loco. The attraction of minimal wireing so that eventually with one command and I can change the points and the signal at the same time on diffrent modules of a T-Track layout with no external wireing to the modules and minimal wireing under the board is a real gain. Even on a switching line the ability to throw a series of programmed Points in a single operatioin may be of use. Even the Basic NCE does this.
I have to do more reading on DCC and check how it operates. My small layout (still in the design phase) will have just one loco and two or three sidings to drop and pickup cars from. I had similar layout running on DC and it worked fine. Reading your posts, I see that the DCC does have benefits. I just need to figure out if the interface is user friendly (by my standards). With simple DC, I only have one direction switch and pot for speed. This is perfect as I am not a really big fan of buttons.
I'm planning on using DCC on my small layout. I already have a DCC system, but I have a question about feeders. Should I use one set of feeders? I have a track with a Kato plug on the upper left just before the passing siding. Should I add one on the other side of the oval or should the one be sufficient?
John, since it looks like those are all #6 switches, unless you want the crossover legs and the sidings dead when not selected, you will want feeders on each siding, and on each crossover (basically, make sure every leg of every switch can see a feeder pair). The other rule of thumb is a feeder every 6 feet or so, the more frequent the better. Once Unitrack is glued down, your are no longer sliding the track in and out of the Unijoiners, which keeps a nice clean electrical connection. Over time, without that movement, you will (may) see degradation. Many folks, myself included, choose not to rely on the long term contact of the joiners, and instead drop a feeder from each section (piece) of track.
My chainsaw layout was about the same size and complexity as yours, using Atlas track. I wound up dropping six feeders, making sure each long stretch of track between switches had its own feeder. It might have been overkill, but I never had a problem with power. There's something to be said for "one less thing to worry about".
Yeah, nothing is glued down yet, and I want to make sure it runs reliably. I still need to paint the table top and then add the buss line.
I've had problems in the past with dead sections of track after I've ballasted, which I guess was from water corroding the joiners. And, yes, I do plan on painting and ballasting my Unitrack.
Then I highly urge, suggest that all individual pieces, including the switches, have feeders. I solder them to the underside of the track. There are wide holes under the rails right behind the joiner ends. Real easy to attach feeders, without going through the roadbed. On the #6s, either put the feeders on the four rail side, or one set on the entry and one set on the "inner" rails after the frog.
I'll add a spin to Rick's good advice. If you can solder two pieces of track together and drop a feeder from that joiner and do this for your entire layout, every piece of track is connected to your buss. No piece of track is relying on a joiner for power. Essentially if you solder every other joint and drop a feeder from it, you have bulletproof power distribution in place. Leave the intermediate joints unsoldered to allow for expansion/contraction Lyle
A question not easily answered as there are a lot of factors that "maybe" considered; however, for your plan, I would think that two sets of drop feeders would be sufficient to power the entire track; one set at the front and one set at the rear. Now the things to consider. How many feeders do you need? Enough to ensure that the entire track gets power - an obvious answer. How to do that? Connect your controller to the track and run a train. When the train slows or becomes sluggish or stop - insert a feeder 6 or so inches prior to that happening. Start the train again and repeat until you have covered ALL of the track work, including sidings etc, back to the start. This will give you the minimum amount of feeders required for your size layout. At the other end of the scale, as Lyle has stated, one drop feeder per section of track, be it sectional or flex. This ensures that every piece of track has power and, as said, not reliant upon track joiners and; therefore, the quality of the join. An over kill BUT also a fool proof way of ensuring 100% power and similar to what I do. I place a drop feeder midway along a length of flex track where that length is one full length (or close to it). Where turnouts are located, I place a drop feeder as close as possible to the single track side of that turnout, NOT on the turnout itself. The proverbial question whether to or not to solder joins. Honestly, I am in two minds either way; however, what I do now is to solder ONLY the joins of the outside rail where the join is on a curve and every other join for straights. I never solder the joins between a turnout and the track. Why? Because invariably if something goes astray with the power or there is a problem with the track, it will inevitably be at a turnout so I make them removable. Bottom line is this - how confident are you regarding your track laying and the "cleanliness/solidity" of your joins? If you are confident that those two things can be achieved flawlessly or to a high standard then go with the "minimum number" of drop feeders. If you have reservations about your track laying proficiency and or soldering abilities then opt for the one set of feeders per length of track. At the end of the day though, you only need as many feeders as it takes to achieve 100% power for the entire length of your track work. Also, and while this maybe awkward, you can start with the minimum and add additional feeders as it becomes, or may become, necessary.
