dcc but not for the trains

[worldrailboy]

was working on looking at getting a small dcc system for a different shelf layout then realized that the command station could be 'moved around' any time

so that makes me wonder if anyone else would think it would be crazy or actually plausible to use it to manage all switches and any functional trackside accessories but leaving the few trains themself on DC for the time being?

[inobu]

Here is a funny way of looking at it......

The DCC transition is like moving.

Can you live in two places? yes
What can living in two location do for you? cause you to procrastinate moving completely.

If you can afford to move to DCCville do so its a better life. More features and amenities.

You are fooling yourself into not doing it (I was the same way) ..........irony..... If you go to the trouble of connecting your switches and other accessories to DCC you just have to connect a black and red wire to the track and you are DCC.

Put one decoder in a train and guess what? you have an apartment in DCCville.

If you are just starting out save yourself a lot on time and get a command station and start from there. The learning curve is just wide enough to keep you busy in between a few paychecks.

To control your switches you will need a few other components which are priced a little higher than a decoder. 

Inobu 

 

 

[KenS]

Is it reasonable to run trains on DC and accessories on DCC? Sure.  Is it economical? I don't think so.  But it would be a good strategy if you think you might eventually get to DCC on the trains and particularly if you already had the command station and were doing DCC accessories on another layout, as it lets you use one approach for both.

You end up with extra wiring, DC for the track and a "DCC bus" to the accessories.  That could be as simple as a pair of wires carrying the DCC signal, but it is extra wiring to do.

You're probably better just biting the bullet and going DCC for both trains and accessories, but it's your layout and you need to make the decision on what works for you.

[worldrailboy]

inobu I wish it was as simple but I'm looking at running the locomotives out of the box for some time till I can finally remotorizing a few of them the way I wanted them aside to the chassis rough-in being ready for new grain bulb leads when its finally about time to drop the decoders in.

kens I was thinking of two separate power bus, one as dcc-layout and other as dc at first then later dcc-train. just to play it safe with a few multi-decoders trains running 'full' and a the layout servos/motors being active at same time.
and unless I'm wrong don't people suggest that dcc tracks should still be divided into a few isolatable large blocks to make it easier to troubleshoot eg a shortcircuit?

[KenS]

With DCC it's still useful to break the track into electrical blocks for problem isolation, but you can do this with less wiring than a traditional multi-train DC block design.  However, if your alternatives are for one power pack, then the wiring will be very similar.

Mixing DC and DCC for trains can be a bit tricky, and has some risks.  DCC isn't very good for unconverted trains, although they can usually run on a DCC system that supports "zero stretching" to run DC trains.  I wouldn't do that though, as the higher voltage and AC signal used can potentially overheat sensitive motors.

Similarly, many DCC decoders will work on DC, but my experience is that they don't work very well.  I'm not aware of any damage potential there.

Finally, if you build a layout to allow both DC and DCC (for example, with a A/B type switch), do it in a way that a train can't run from a DC section into the DCC section (or vice versa) as this would short the two power supplies together, and could potentially destroy one or both (to say nothing of the train).  I accidentally built such a system when I put in a pair of whole-track-switched tracks with a crossover between them.  If I ever have one set to DC and the other to DCC and throw the crossover by accident, I could have a very big problem.  Since I've managed to throw the crossover by accident a few times now, fortunately not when both were powered, I'm now considering removing it for my own peace of mind.