# DCC and Battery power



## bcbrit (Sep 21, 2011)

So after the confusion with the smoke units I now have this quandry.
I have just purchased a Zimo MX695KV decoder/sound card and was planning to have the loco run under battery power, reason being that for now I will only be running one unit and battery power is cheaper than track power in this case. 
I was under the impression that I could purchase a NCE G wire Pro Cab R along with a Quantum G Wire Receiver, the receiver would connect to the Zimo in the Loco and away I go.
I was just talking to a supplier and he informed me that the G wire will not work on battery power as True DCC is through the track. He also said that each manufacturer will only work with their own transmitter/receiver so for example an NCE transmitter would not work with a Digitrax receiver or vice-versa, which seems to negate the purpose of the NMRA standards.
I would appreciate if someone could confirm that I can use battery power for the G wire and that different manufacturers with the NMRA standard will work together.

Regards

Colin


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

*RE: Battery power*

Too bad you didn't put DCC in the subject box, most who know may not see this because those folks don't like (said with a smile) batteries! 

Bear in mind the older I get the less I know... 

I think Airwire is battery compatible, but it isn't full DCC. I think the rest of the DCC stuff does play nice together. 
Read the previous threads in the DCC forum, your answers are there if you want to look for them. 

Good Luck 

John


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## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

The G-wire, as far as I know will only work with a QSI decoder, and the NCE gwire cab will work with QSI/Gwire, on either track power or battery, I have several units set up this way, and I use a NCE Gwire cab, and also an Airwire t-9000 throttle which also works with the QSI/G-wire also. Greg E. will most likely see your post and he is a very knowledgeable person on DCC


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

You might be able to get it to work, the gwire receiver has been adapted to a lenz dcc decoder. 

It's a case of feeding the dcc signal from the gwire receiver into the right spot on the Zimo, and then powering the zimo track inputs with a battery. 

Problem is you have to find someone who can figure this out. 

It might be possible but there's inexpensive track powered DCC systems... 

Look to the future, limiting yourself now might be more expensive in the long run. 

Regards, Greg


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

You're not exactly "up the creek," but the G-wire receiver will not work for you (unless you can hack it per Greg's line of thinking). I think if you want battery powered, wireless R/C of your Zimo decoder, your best (perhaps only) bet will be Airwire's G-2 board, and connect the Zimo to the aux. DCC outputs of that board. My understanding is that this is a universal DCC output that's compatible with any DCC decoder. Airwire designed it to work with DCC sound systems, but I can see no reason why you can't hook the Zimo decoder up to it and also use the Zimo's motor drive as well. The big limiting factor will be that the DCC output is rated at only 3 amps, so you'll want to make sure your loco draws under that. 

I have not tried running a DCC motor control decoder off the Airwire board personally, just DCC sound boards. But in theory it should work. I wish Airwire (or anyone) would come out with a simple generic R/C receiver that would be compatible with any generic DCC motor/sound board. 

Later, 

K


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## Axel Tillmann (Jan 10, 2008)

Without having the detailed documentation at hand I can only say I suspect there might be another way to get this done.

Connect Battery + and Minus to the + and Minus of the decoder and connect the G-wire stuff to DCC track input. But first try the 3A wire direct DCC port.


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## bcbrit (Sep 21, 2011)

Thanks for all the input, 

Rather than get myself in too deep at this point I think I will go with DCC track power, obviously I'm not familiar enough with DCC to start modifying/adapting anything. Doesn't hurt to go for it but I do tend to get ahead of myself. 

Regards 

Colin


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

In the long run DCC track power is the cheapest, once you are over 4-6 locos, the cost for remote control cannot be beat, and the functions are beyond all the other systems available, mainly because of all the "goodies" we inherit from the smaller scales, where it is the dominate remote control system. 

Regards, Greg


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## Axel Tillmann (Jan 10, 2008)

Frankly speaking - good move. 

As Craig already says, cheaper and more functionality. And if done right (track laying) you will not experience the hyped up power connectivity problems that some fear mongers try to portray.


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