Well, I'm getting ready to build my first ever model railroad in N scale. All I have to do is finish selling my camera equipment, which I don't use any more. I have "The Complete Atlas Wiring Book," but I'm not sure how that will work with Kato Unitrack. I do have one problem that sticks in my mind... will I be trapped in front of the control panel, or will I be able to follow my trains around the layout? It'll be a DC layout, no DCC for me. Help!!! Any suggestions on how to learn wiring quick will be deeply appreciated. Thanks!
There are walk around throttles for DC. I use one with my MRC Control Master 20. It's great. There are others. I know Kalmbach had a book called "How To Wire Your Model Railroad" which I think is still available. There are similar books from other publishers. Doug
if it's going to be DC, your options are somewhat limited. There is this: https://www.dallee.com/yardmaster.html Back in the day, I had this one: http://www3.sympatico.ca/kstapleton3/851.HTM and it worked very well. You could easily substitute a longer cord, or a coiled 'stretch' cord to suit your needs. Others may have additional suggestions. There are also some DIY wireless projects in the internet, but I do not have experience with any of those.
Aristo Craft made a wireless DC controller but looking around it doesn't seem they are in business anymore. I've still got mine (ART 5470 2000 model) all boxed up since I switched to dcc in 2008. They output 16-20VDC although I never went anywhere close to full throttle so never used all the voltage it could provide. If intrigued you might be able to find a used one on the interwebs. I know someone for sure who has one that is taking up space in storage and they could be convinced to part with it
I dunno... maybe I will go with DCC after all. Decisions, decisions... which will have to wait since I'm in an agitated state today (bipolar disorder!).
To quote the Pointy Haired Boss from Dilbert, "Let's do both." A simple DPDT switch can be wired to control the layout from either DC or DCC, but not both at the same time. Exception: Reversing sections (reverse loops, wyes, etc.) will be a problem. This has worked great for me since there's no plausible reason to convert my Old School N Scale stuff to DCC. We'll now switch you to coverage of the "Which DCC System To Use" cage match...
That's what I'm doing on my new N Scale railroad @Kisatchie . I've been in N Scale a very long time, so I'll be primarily DC with a DCC input. My layout isn't large, but if I were filling a 10' x 9' room like you, I'd be strongly thinking DCC. You'll eliminate miles of block wiring. Turnouts can be controlled by DCC too, but I'm not sure at what cost.
Thanks for all the comments so far. I'm gradually finding out more about DCC through online searches. If only I weren't so ignorant about electricity. Hmm... if only I could operate my layout on static electricity...
Kato has come out with a Blue Tooth something or other than offers remote control. I decided i didn't need it so didn't look into it very far.
I do have the Atlas 'The Complete Atlas Wiring Book'. The new one. It does a good job of using the items they market. They are modern versions of what I used in the '90s to '06 on my N layouts and on the HO layout I helped build. Some keep saying if you do it right it will work for DCC. I can't vouch for that as I'm still studying that system. But Atlas does have a good selection. Have fun. I'm trying. I don't find the Kalmback books as helpful.
I picked up the MRC Tech 6 Sound Controller, and with it I can run in either DC or DCC mode. I use the MRC Tech 6 Handheld unit with it and can plug in at various locations around the layout for "walk-around" capability.
I, too, have used the MRC Tech6 unit. It's a very easy way to get into DCC. It works well, esp. for smaller layouts. It offers a hand held walk around throttle, and you can use a variety of cables to connect the hand held to the base station, including coiled/stretch ones. As stated above, it will work as either a DC or DCC power supply, so you can use a mix of DC and DCC locos (assuming that your DCC decoders will operate in a DC mode... and many do) in a DC environment. You can't run DC-only locos in a DCC environment. One caveat: the Tech6 will not allow you access any loco address other than 3 (the factory default on almost all DCC decoders). Oddly, it will allow you change the loco address to anything you like, but will then no longer be able to access that loco, not even to change the address back to 3. If anyone knows a way around this Tech6 issue, please let me know!
Not sure if this helps, but this is from MRC... PROGRAMMING YOUR LOCO IN DUAL MODE You have the ability to run multiple decoder equipped locos on your track at one time. Initial programming of the loco address should be done one loco at a time by following the steps below. Keep a log to remind you which loco is assigned to which address. You will need to know the correct address to do any programming to the loco later on. All programming must be done with the current (or the last) loco. First press “SHIFT, 9, 9” to reset the loco to the default address #3. Operate the loco before performing any programming to ensure it’s on address #3. Note: Locos must be programmed one at a time, remove all other programmed locos from the track before doing this, or else they will all revert back to address #3. 1. Press “P”, Loc_ Adr will appear on the screen. If you don’t want to change the address press “Enter” to skip this step. If you want to change the address you can enter a number between 1 and 6 and then press “Enter”. If you wish to run multiple locos you should program them with different addresses. Note: Do not enter a number larger than 6. This unit only allows you control up to 6 locos. 2. Next, SV will prompt you for programming Start Voltage. To skip, press “Enter”. To program, enter the desired value and press “Enter”. 3. Next, ACC will prompt you for programming accelaration rate. To skip, press “Enter”. To program, enter the desired value and press “Enter”. 4. Next, dEC will prompt you for programming decelaration rate. To skip, press “Enter”. To program, enter the desired value and press “Enter”. 5. Next, CV# will prompt you for programming a CV. To skip, press “Enter”. To program a CV enter the CV number and press “Enter”. Then, enter the desired value for the CV and press “Enter”. CV# will prompt again for programming another CV. To exit the program press “Enter”. Note: Your decoder must have “program on the main/ops mode” capability to perform any programming steps outlined above. Refer to the decoder/loco’s instruction manual’s CV Chart for range of values that are associated with the CV’s inside the loco. Once you have all your locos programmed to an address, Press the “Loco” button, select an address, press “Enter”, then run your loco. You can leave this loco running, and then select another loco to operate at the same time. You can operate up to all 6 addresses at the same time.
Tim, thanks for this! I seem to remember doing something like this in the Before Times, and it did not work (but I may be totally mis-remembering... one of those 'Senior Moments' I hear about!). I had to use the reset button on the decoder itself to regain access to the loco. I will try this with a less-frequently used loco to test.
Well, I followed them to the letter.... no joy. In fact, the same results in my previously-remembered attempt. The loco seemed to accept the new address (in this case, I used 6). On the hand-held throttle, I selected LOCO as '6'. Nothing. Neither be base station nor the hand-held got anything out of the loco. Completely unresponsive. Had to remove the shell and use the manual hard reset. Thanks, though. Mark
Edit: Just noticed that you also have the handheld so it should work on address 6. I'd try a long address (128 or above) and see what happens. Sumner
After programming the new address, did you momentarily cut the power to the loco? Some decoders will not respond to a new address until the power has been cycled. I don't think the Tech 6 has a track power button, but you can just tilt the loco to the side for a couple of seconds.
