Hello, I'm new to railroading and and having a tough time finding resources for Kato. I have questions on some of their parts and cannot find any manuals or descriptions for them and their purpose. Also, I cannot find any wiring instructions specific for their products. I think the layout plans are missing alot of the electrical components that i'll be needing. 1. connector,selector, reverse switches. part no's. 830,831, 832. What are these for? 2. dc converter part no. 842. What's that for? I have 6 turnouts planned. Do I need one of these for each switch or just one for the whole row? 3. 3 way extension cord - part no. 827. If i have 6 feeders total, do I need 2 of these, then connect them both to the power supply? Will the 6 turnouts I have provide the power instead of needing feeders? 4. Insulated unijoiners part no. 816? what's the purpose? 5. Kato power pack part 014. Is this a good pack for my needs? I'm not going DCC. any help would be great. thanks Rich
I'll answer the questions that I can... First though, let me just make a couple points. One, any book or resource on model railroad wiring will be applicable to Kato products, generally speaking. It's just a matter of figuring out which Kato parts correspond to objects described in different terms elsewhere. And two, you don't necessarily need to wire your layout with Kato parts. Other wiring systems might prove easier or cheaper to implement. They are for block control and reversing sections. I would presume that the reverse switch is a double-pole double-throw (DPDT) switch. Unlike a lot of manufacturers, Kato uses DC power to power it's turnouts. I presume that this part allows you to convert an AC power source to the DC power Kato turnouts use. You should only need one for your layout. You might be getting ahead of yourself. Do you want to control more than one train at a time? If yes, your wiring design may end up being more complicated than this question can get at. If not, then how many feeders you need depends on the size of your layout. With 2 of these cords you can get five feeders (since one cord has to plug into one of the plugs on the other), which is probably about as good as six. There are also other options to consider, such as cutting and splicing the wires into a terminal block. (How big is your layout? A small one-train Unitrack layout, especially a temporary type one, probably does not need 6 feeders.) NO. Track power is handled separately from turnout control. To insulate blocks of track from one another to control multiple trains using block control. Let me repeat here that it would be wise to read a book on general model railroad wiring concepts. Depends on what your needs are. It might be a good choice if you want to frequently break down and setup your Unitrak layout. For a permanent layout, I think most modelers would go for something else. You've come to the right place.
Here's a link to the track plan. http://www.katousa.com/cgi-bin/dl/dl.pl?dl.mif,N-plan-manning-oaks.pdf I don't really have plans to run multiple trains...."at this time". thanks again, Rich
Tell us more about your layout plans. Do you have something drawn up yet? Is it large or small, permanent or set up and take down, how many trains you want to run.... That will help us with specific advice. To me the Kato accessory items are great for convenience as everything just plugs into everything else with no tools, etc required and it works fine. This is nice if you are setting up track temporarily or semi-permanent. When building a permanent scenery filled layout for reasons of cost, aesthetics and long-term electrical reliability people will often use other solutions as jagged ben mentioned above. I do think you have made a great choice in Unitrack for getting your feet wet.
Stan, I posted the layout link in post #3. I only plan to run 1 train. It will be a somewhat permanent installation being that i'm going to mount in on foam and do lots of landscaping. thanks, Rich
The feeders they show should be all you need to run one train. Kato's #6 switches are power-routing meaning the route they are set for gets powered and the other is dead unless you have a feeder or in the case of a passing siding the two switches are not thrown for the same route. You could park other locos/trains on dead track while you ran another based on the direction turnouts are thrown. I see several places you could do that on your layout as its drawn. No special wiring. The Kato power pack works fine. My kids use it on their track because its easy to hook up the track power and turnout controls. MRC, for one makes power packs that are probably more featured depending on what you are looking for. I use DCC so others might be able to comment more specifically on DC power packs.
Do I need to use the part no. 842 DC converter for anything or do you just connect the switches directly to the power pack? thanks
DC Converter I'm trying to think here, because I don't have any parts in front of me (I'm at work, don't tell the boss!); The DC converter SHOULD have a box with a pair of snaps on the side, and a wire with a plug or two terminal connectors on it. The snaps will connect Turnout controls to the Accessory power on a non-Kato power pack, so you can power your turnouts. IF you are using a Kato power pack, you shouldn't need the converter; just snap the turnout controls onto the side of the powerpack throttle and roll on. Kato Unitrack is by FAR the BEST sectional track solution in any scale it's made for. Unfortunately, it only comes in HO and N, so those folks in S and O (and G) are out of luck. But we who model N and HO are fortunate; since I do N and my wife does HO, we get WAY OVER!
thanks, all the info has really helped. Unfortunately, i'm not finding any official Kato step by step instructions. Their docs are not very good at all.
Mad Yank is correct. Most DC power packs have a variable DC output for the track and a fixed AC output for accessories. Since the turnouts use DC if you want to use them with a non-Kato power pack you would get one of these, hook it up to the power pack's AC output and then clip the turnout controllers onto the converter with the snaps which are similar to a 9-volt battery snap. If you use the Kato power pack it already has the fixed DC output ready to go. If you need AC output from a Kato power pack they make a DC to AC converter that snaps in to the power pack or piggy backed to a turnout controller. So if you have a Kato power pack no you don't need it. If you have a non-Kato power pack with AC outputs and you want to control your turnouts electrically then yes you do.
I, too, am a newly returned (from 35 years ago) N gauger. Over the years I used Atlas snap track for HO pikes and have many leftover Atlas components. i recently sent away for several Kato Number 6 switches and found to my confusion that they don't seem to come with controllers. Can my old Atlas switch controllers be used to operate my new Kato switches? Odd-d
I don't know what kind of switches your Atlas ones are but the Kato turnouts use DC power and a Double Pole Double Throw switch with Momentary Contact for electrical control.
Believe it or not... the directions for the Digitrax Stationary Decoder include wiring directions for the Kato turnouts! I think I remember them saying that the Kato turnout motors are DC-powered solenoid switches, or something to that effect (one of you guys that have it all memorized double-check me here, PLEASE!) and use 2-wire DC, momentary contact. Generally speaking, I recommend either the Kato turnout controls (toylike, but they're cute) or going DCC and using a Digitrax Stationary Decoder. My wife uses the Kato controls on her Christmas HO layout, and I'm running the Digitrax decoder on my N-scale Scenic Ridge training layout from Woodland Scenics - mainly because I'm using the layout as a training set for both the WS styrofoam system, and for DCC systems. Eventually, when I hit the Mega Millions lottery (STOP LAUGHING OVER THERE IN THE CORNER!!) I'll build a big layout and use all the skills I'm learning now.
If it wasn't for UniTrack,I probably would've quit model railroading again. It's great,pricey,but you know,you pay for what you get. I'll have to upload some video I guess of my Unitrack stuff on a 3x6 piece of plywood(nothing permanent yet,still playing around). For now,I'll post a video from a few years back on another layout I was playing around with at the time. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65_72WgUFQY"]YouTube - Experimenting with some new stuff[/ame]
Sim Racin - Thanks for the vid. My favorite part of the whole thing was the turnout wires exposed as mine are.
That was before I learned how to play with power tools,especially a drill. But still,in my current state,the wires are above the table too,I haven't decided on anything permanent yet,so no sense in drilling.
