I hope this is simple to do. I have a dual DC pack...Cab "A" and Cab "B" (4 wires total). I have a DCC power pack (2 wires total). I have 2 mains A & B (4 buss wires total). I want to be able to switch between DC and DCC. I still have many Locos that are DC only. I have a few that are DCC. Is there a certain toggle switch (dont want a rotary) that will work? I want center off. I was looking at a 4 pole switch and a 2 pole switch and am more confused then ever on how to do this. I think I can figure the wiring up part out ( I hope...lol). Just not sure what switch to get...TIA guys. :tb-wacky: .
You can get a double-pole, double-throw switch. The center pins on the switch are for the track, and the pins on one side are for the DC stuff, with the remaining two pins for the DCC command station. It's pretty easy, that's how I have my N scale layout wired.
George, As BNSF971 indicates that's how I does it. I use a toggle switch, double pole double throw. DC on one side and DCC on the other side. I also have a DPDT Toggle, that operates between my Cab A and DCC. I can choose either analog DC for Cab A or DCC. The center out simply goes to the control panel much like you would when wiring in a Cab A and Cab B for each block of track. (Now is that better YOHO)? Works great. And yes you can call them "Toggle Switches". Grin!
The reason I asked if you want both cabs, is because if you do, then your wiring is a bit more complex. You will either need more poles, or you will need multiple DPDT so you can go . DC A, DC B, DCC. Something BNSF971 and Barstow Rick aren't addressing.
That is correct, and if you wire it so you can have DCC and DC on the same track at the same time, you'll probably blow something up. I hate it when that happens.
What? What? What you mean we aren't addressing it? YoHo, What? What? What you mean we aren't addressing it? You and I, we going to get into a war of words here? Grin! You were right and I went back and corrected my response. Darn, I hate it when you are right. But just this time... What you might not know is that Terry aka BNSF971, is the one who brought a DCC, Digitrax system by the house and showed Steve and I how easy it was to wire in. Too easy and it worked. Good news! Then he ups and moves to the east coast and is missed. My layout is set-up for Cab A and Cab B Analog DC. It was easy to put in a DPDT Toggle in between my Cab A and the new DCC power supply. I can throw the toggles for each block on my layout to Cab A and then throw the newest toggle over to DCC and I have DCC, all over my layout. Give it a go. No need to worry about definitions this time. I think!. .
In our club five years ago we use to do the DC and DCC in different blocks until one night someone was gabbing and ran a DC loco into a block using DCC and burnt out the DCC system. Now no more DC on the club layout. I would suggest the whole layout DC or DCC. Make sure nio way for a DC loco to run into a block on DCC. Rich
I read once were someone put a decoder between the dcc unit and the track, he was able to switch it in and out, so he called up the decoder and ran dc locos (only problem was one loco at a time).
A 4PDT centre off switch (not turnout) will do the trick. Switch up terminals 1 and 2 are connected to DC Cab A and terminals 3 and 4 connected to Cab B Switch down terminals 1 and 2 are connected to DCC and a bridge wire placed from terminal 1 to terminal 3 and terminal 2 to terminal 4 (this is to obviate the need to the panel toggle switches needing to be either all up or all down when using DCC). Centre terminals 1 and 2 goes to Cab A side of panel switches and centre terminals 3 and 4 go to Cab B side of panel switches. This is set up to either have DC two cab or DCC but not both simultaneously for safety reasons - the booster's safety. The centre off position prevents any possibility of bridging between DC and DCC supplies when switching between said supplies.
I was just looking at the HO scale ebay site and found Buy It Now, 4PDT center off switches for 2.60 with 2.95 shipping. Many sellers include more than one item at a lower shipping cost for extra items. The switch is good for 6 amps. At least you can compare against other online sellers and there are many electronic item sellers online. I checked Radio Shack online but they do not have any 4PDT. Rich
My club played around with this, but it turns out it is a very flawed idea. Think about this. What happens if the loco derails on a switch and shorts it? Answer You have one dead DCC decoder. We've yet to find a circuit breaker that will throw fast enough. Also, I'm confused about DC locos blowing out a DCC system. We leave DC locos on the DCC section all the time. They sit there and hum. The DCC system itself doesn't seem to care. We don't leave it like that, but it does happen. Maybe the issue is the short at the railjoiner where the DCC and DC are bridged? I've done that too with no ill effects. We use DPDT switchs to throw between DC and DCC. 3 mains each completely independent DCC and DC.
Gats, I'm not sure what a "4PDT" toggled switch is but a DPDT, center off toggle will do the job nicely. Unless, you are talking about a 4 way DPDT toggled switch. Those are real fun to wire in. To all others: Although it's possible and I have no doubt it is. I've yet to blow out a decoder due to it running into an Analog DC controlled block. The DCC power source or unit simply shuts down and the Analog DC throws a red light as the overload breaker, shuts it down. The thing here... it is possible depending on how much current the Analog DC is putting out. Although the power units are protected by overload breakers the decoder isn't. It's not likely on a home layout that you would be operating Analog DC at the same time you are operating DCC. With two hand held's you can run more trains on DCC then you can dividing the layout up into Analog DC Cab A and Cab B districts. I did smoke a decoder when I was testing it to see if it was getting current and spotted the probe just off of the power pick-up. Smokin!
a 4 pole Double throw switch of the toggle variety or any other variety D) Means it has space for 4 leads. Not 4 positions, but 4 leads. ++-- or +-+- or +-AB or whatever. In thinking about it, I'm not sure what Application this would have here. What you really would want is a DP4T which would be 2 poles, +- and 4 positions, A,B,DCC,OFF. I've seen slide switches that match that. there most be toggles, but I don't know where to find them. Anyone whose played a Fender Standard Strat has seen a 5throw switch, sadly, those are single pole. or SP5T
Lets make it complicated. Darn complicated railroad. Wow! I don't know what else to say. I got it! Translated I do understand. As per the OP's question a simple "Double Throw Double Pole" toggle switch will do the job quite nicely. I wouldn't get into using any of the "DP4T which would be 2 poles, +- and 4 positions, A,B,DCC,OFF." as explained by YoHo. Just gets to darn complicated. I suspect you could end up with a common wire situation with some of these multiple use toggle switches. "Common Wire or Common Rail", I would avoid that concept of wiring in track blocks... like the plague. I do agree with YoHo, as there are slider switches that are DPDT and these will get the job done. My objection to slider switches reflects on the Atlas sliders. They are good for on and off situations and that's about it. Ie., lighting up houses, street lights and anything else on the Accessory side of things. You can use a common wire in these applications with no problems. I would never cross over or put Analog DC, DCC and Analog AC on the same common wire. If you need to know more about this either YoHo or myself can help I'm sure.cute:
If you use two DPDT switches per block you can select either DC cab or the DCC signal. The one switch selects DC or DCC. The other switch selects which DC cab you want, it's position doesn't matter if the DC/DCC switch is set for DCC. This setup would work if you didn't have a lot of blocks or set one section of the layout for DCC operation. I think if you try to run something complicated like a DC train following a DCC unit on the same loop you're going to have problems keeping everything switched correctly.
This is the simplest solution, though I was worried that dealing with switch chains would get more confusing to conceptualize. Of course, the other option is to just get a DCC system that supports Mode 0. (I think that's what its called) so the DCC system acts as one of the DC cabs. That only works if you have only reasonably modern motors in your engines. If your dealing with old openframe motors, then this won't work.
Both the switch setup "Gats" is suggesting and the one I showed will work depending on what you're trying to accomplish. If I understand Gats' drawing, he's adding one quad pole switch before the block switches. This allows switching the entire layout between either DC or DCC. The drawing I used adds one DPDT switch per block. Depending on how many blocks you have this could be quite a few switches. It does however, allow running DC locomotives on part of the layout while simultaneously running DCC on other blocks. To know which option to use you first have to define exactly what you're trying to accomplish. Do you want the layout to be switchable from all DC to all DCC; or do you want to be able to switch individual blocks between your three different controllers (cab A, cab B, DCC). A point someone tried to make in a previous post.
I don't get that drawing. I'm not seeing the point of a 4 pole switch there. There are still only 2 track leads and 2 leads from each device. What's the point of having 4 poles? a DP4T switch on the other hand makes sense. 2 leads, 4 positions. Cab A, Cab B, off.
