# Am I thinking on the right path....



## Bighurt (Sep 15, 2009)

Hi,

I currently model in both 1:87 and 1:29, neither have a functioning layout ATM...but I'd like to change that. I have a fair amount of LGB as well but I'd like that to remain inside and dedicate my outside track to a 1:29 railroad. That being said I'd prefer not to clean track its annoying. I'd also don't want to dump money into double systems.


That being said I don't have a DCC system for my HO stuff yet but I'm looking into it...

With everything I've read I think I'm going down this path;

-Battery operated R/C outside layout, with trailing battery car.
-Each outdoor loco equipped with its own decoder. (I have a few older USAT SD40's w/o sound)
-Airwire G2 decoders
-NCE gwire cab 


I like the idea that I can utilize the g-wire cab indoors with a pro-cab system. Means I don't have to buy double the cabs. 

I also like the idea that the G2 can host a DCC standard sound board, if and when I go to add sound.

I want to equip each loco with its own decoder so they can be run alone, mued and separated without worrying about exceeding the amps drawn on a single decoder inside the trail car. Also I plan to assign each loco an address based on its running board number. Makes it a lot easier to choose a loco if you can see the number vs trying to recall which Sante Fe SD-40 was assigned cab 17...at least to me. 


I would also like to run a trail car so I can swap out cars for charging on longer run days. I'm pretty savvy when it comes to electrical work so I don't have any problems installing or modified my equipment, besides from what I've read it seams straight forward.

Some other thoughts are maintaining the ability to go back to track power. Has anyone left the pick-ups in place and isolated them with a DBDT switch? Any issues with the pickups remaining in-place? In the off chance I visit a track power layout and my battery dies...call me crazy but I try and think ahead.


Also For the most part road engines will always be mued at a minimum in pairs, but road switchers may have to have perform so solo tasks now and then. Not easy with a battery car so I considered installing batteries in the fuel tank or cab if sound equipped. My thoughts are that the internal batteries could be again isolated with a DPDT and the loco could run via a battery car connected to its Mu cable. Anybody do that?


Obviously all my loco's require MU cables...


Kinda just throwin' all that out there makin' sure I'm not nuts and gettin' some FB on my thoughts, sort like lettin' the experts check my 6. Respond, call me an idiot what have you, or send me an email, I just feel I'm missing something crucial....


V/R
Jeremy


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I'm doing DCC outside, and not having any serious track cleaning problems--just run a track cleaning car around now and then.

I did use Airwire with track power, and QSI decoders. I had more issues with the Airiwre than I did with track power. Airwire works well and you get DCC but it has an annoying habit of missing commands for the horn and bell on and off. othe rthna that, I thought it was excellent and it would be even better with the NCE G Wire throttle.


I would not write off DCC outside. On the other hand, if you really want to never worry about track cleaning, and never bother with clamps, battery is maybe a better choice. Battery has never had much appeal to me, but lots of people swear by it.


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## Bighurt (Sep 15, 2009)

Thanks for the response. My main motivation for battery is two fold. 

I don't plan to be in my home much more than 2 yrs. So a large loop on the patio and rear lawn will comprise the tempory/seasonal use. With such a large loop I really don't want to wire more jumpers and have wire running everywhere....temporary at best. 

When I do get into my next home I'm hoping for a very large layout with long mainlines. Aside from the potential for signals, I'd like to save money on all that wire. 

Although I havn't worked the numbers I can't imagine 4-5 battery cars costing more than 1000+ feet of copper wire...and feeders. Another factor would be that any layout will be covered in snow 4-5 months of the year. I'd like to limit my maintenance to sweeping the rails, and not troubleshooting buried wire.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Well I don't want to belabor the point, nd I mean this in the friendliest way. It's your RR and you know best. But I'm not sure you would need all those wires. My layout has maybe 2-250 feet of track and power comes in at three points, and that's it. Switches can be powered from the track and activated by the DCC throttle--no additional wires. 

I recently posted a short review of my experiences with DCC so far. I posted a short video once-around to give a sense of how big a layout is involved. The video does not include a cutoff, a siding and a yard. 





I have half brass and half stainless track, and not all the track has clamps on it. For cleaning, I really just run an aristo track cleaning car around. I don't have any blocks, and when I add a reverse loop it won't take any additonal wiring since the DCC gear can trigger polarity swicthes when it senses a short.


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## Bighurt (Sep 15, 2009)

"Well I don't want to belabor the point, nd I mean this in the friendliest way. It's your RR and you know best."



Now that's not true if I knew best I never would have asked the question. 

I appriciate your input I'm just speaking as I see it and I usually over build everything. Right now all I have is track power....but its not a big loop. Also my pack is only rated for like 3 amps...not enough juice.

We'll see how it goes...


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

My main line is 135' and I have one hookup to it for track power, never any problems.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

If you have a number of locos, you will find that separate batteries will out "cost" track power. You should take a little time to do rough calculations on the cost of batteries and chargers. 

When you mu locos, that means more running at the same time, so more chargers required to keep the fleet ready. 

Just something to consider. 

Jim Carter often puts a DPDT switch to allow track vs battery power. Very do-able. Consider the total costs and you will probably conclude that at somewhere between 4 and 6 locos track power starts becoming much less cost very quickly. 

Regards, Greg


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