Do you need to have feeders to each siding or just to the sidings that a loco will stay at and isolate that siding only. I know that the programming siding schould be isolated from the rest of the layout. Mine is a piece of unitrack that has bumpers on each end is all by it self next to the command unit.
Given that I'm dropping feeders every 2-3 feet and that alot of KATO turnouts are power routing (#4 selectable, #6 not), on my DCC layout I'm putting at least 1 feeder on each siding to ensure reliability. The power routing feature could hower be used as a feature to prevent shorting by running a closed turnout.
I don't know that you "need" feeders but I would recommend it. Don't rely on power routing to get power to your sidings. I personally put power feeds to every piece of track. That isn't really a viable option with sectional track. Your every 2'-3' is a good idea. David
Alan: I drop feeders to every siding. Th will insure complete power to each siding on your layout. Stay cool and run steam......
OK so I am not going 100% insane (I happy at 83.7%). I am planning on using Unitrack (sectional track) and feel that it is insane to drop a feeder to every piece of sectional track.....am I off track here? I was looking at wiring feeders at about every three feet or so. On my test loop which is just over three feet I have only one feeder pair to the whole mini layout.....so far so good.
Matt - You do not need that many feeders. When people talk about a feeder per piece of track, they are usually referring to a 3' piece of flex track. Wiking - You can have your programming siding as part of the layout, in which case it should be completely isolated and wired through a switch to allow it to be "on", "off" or "programming". That way, you can drive the loco in, flip the switch, do some programming, switch it back and off you go! Andrew
Matt: I dropped feeders for every section of Unitrack. It's alot of work, but after almost six years I have no electrical problems with the JJJ&E. The voltage remains a constant 11 volts throughout the system, no matter how long the JJJ&E is run. I did the wiring this way to avoid any problems with electrical conductivity. Stay cool and run steam.....
Andrew: I've completely isolated a siding for programming only. I've seen too many other layouts where this dual mode of programming track/and connected to the main layout for running causing many problems. To me a programming track is for programmming only whether it's attached to the layout via an isolated siding or completely separated from the layout. Stay cool and run steam.....
Well. You certainly can nix putting in the feeders at the sidings. HOWEVER, I would run your two wire power bus the complete distance of your main tracks below your layout. That way you can put the feeders @ the sidings in the future. If you are serious about DCC.. sooner or later, you will have the sidings wired. It is only a matter of time. As stated above.. do NOT depend on the power routing of turnouts. Good luck!
I do plan on wiring the sidings.....just the task of soldering feeders to every piece of unitrack seems very daunting to me ...my layout will be fairly large.....that is allot of feeders. Bob, When you have not wired this way in the past, did you find that the level of resistance increased with the age of the layout (meaning volt dropage over time as the rail and joiners age)? How much volt dropage is their across a unitrack joiner? I am going to have to play with this at home now with the multimeter
The biggest voltage drop occurred the further you were from any connection to the power source. So for example if you had one source of power on a mainline and nothing for 60 feet, your voltage drop would be most severe at the end of the line. I use a RRAmpmeter by Tony's trains to constantly check the voltage and amperage of the layout. Kato Unijoiners are perhaps the best in the business and they do stay joined in position as they snap in place. There isn't a large voltage drop across a Kato Unijoiner Stay cool and run steam......
