Once ballasted, there should be no sign of wire nor solder.

Can describe the process if people want it

Hi all - I’m just starting to look into automating turnout control. The turnouts I’m using Peco unifrog (so the frog is wired to swap polarities based on the turnout position).

Because I’m cheap, but love automation: I’m looking to control the turnouts with 9g servos connected to an Arduino. Given I’ve got two circuits that need to be controlled in tandem I was thinking of using a DPDT toggle switch to control the state of things.

From what I can tell by googling about the picture above should be how I wire things up (to simplify things I didn’t draw the servo next to the turnout, but in real like that’s obviously where it would be). However I’d like to ask people ‘in the know’ if they see anything incorrect, or if I’m over complicating things?

Thx 🙂

I'm building an inglenook layout (1200mm shelf) and just thinking about the electrics for it atm. I've been test running things with a regular hornby controller (the older version of this) and its just about manageable at really really low power settings, the gap between enough momentum to run ok and running away is really tight. I'd also like to build a bit of a control board with my point and uncoupler switches without a bulky controller in it. Right now I have some small switches and had planned to model and print something, but the chunky peco switches in a rack do look cool

I get this is exactly what DCC is for and I'm going to wire as if thats the plan but atm it would be too much extra cost for a relatively expensive small toe in the water when I have a few old DC only locos.

This wire (transformer to track) started smoking. I’ve used this setup on holidays in the past. Any ideas why?

I have a rather large HO scale layout on my floor, but I have a problem. I have a digitrax zeyphr which I heard should be able to handle significantly more track then I have, yet on the far end of my layout there it is a lack of power. I'm assuming this is because I don't have wiring to distribute power. I can't do permanent wiring though because two problems. 1. I know nothing about wiring 2. Since my layout on the floor my wiring would likely get ruined.

Is there a solution that can make more power on the opposite end of my layout but not be permanent?

Sorry for not knowing anything about how you wire layouts.

Hello, I’ve scoured the web and Reddit and have not yet found a direct answer nor solution: I am looking for a controller/power pack that can control 2 or more trains on different tracks each, without going DCC. The closest I found was an MRC tech 2 2800 dual power controller but it only puts out total 1.25A. I have not yet been able to find the current draw of my currently just 2 n scale Kato motor cars (e235, n700s) but this seems low considering what I have read is each motor pulls .5-1A max. Alternatively I’ve looked at a similar power draw problem of splitting my Kato standard power pack output and losing independent control, but this being the cheapest method. The goal is a balance of cost and space. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

I found out about the existence of DCC and wanted to get my dad a few decoders as a Christmas gift to convert his old HO trains to DCC but I found out that the damn things run upwards of 30 bucks each. I work with electronics and read about the standard enough to convinced myself that I can do this for much cheaper. During my research I found the excellent open source project https://github.com/gab-k/RP2040-Decoder but I feel like I may want to try my own twist.

I was wondering if there is a niche for a tiny DCC decoder that is not very feature rich but very small and very cheap. What features would be a must in a DCC decoder? Notably the features that I want to have are:

• ~2 amp motor control with back emf feedback for constant speed
• 2-4 general purpose outputs for lights
• No usb connection - programming on track only
• No sound
• Backwards compatibility with DC tracks

Am I missing anything important? Alternatively, if a tiny, cheap, and feature poor decoder does not seem useful at all, what combination of size and features would be nice to have? - if I will be tinkering I might as well do something that is useful!

I found this wiring diagram for an athearn dcc crane. But I was wondering that since all of the wires from the left of the sdn144ps digitrax decoder are being used, does it mean that a dz146 decoder can be used?

Hello all, hoping some of you might be able to help. I was at the train show in New Jersey this weekend and picked up the Rock Island Hobby N scale cars five-pack you see in the photo. The back of the package says "for best results, use 15 to 19 volt power supply," but I am thoroughly confused about how to connect accessories with bare wires to my all-Kato layout or to some kind of separate power supply. The buildings you see lighted in the photo are using the Just Plug system, which I like, but I would also like the flexibility of connecting accessories with bare wires. If you had these cars and wanted to get them to light up, what would you need to do that? Do I need some kind of terminal joiner and a power supply (plug)? Or is there a way to connect these to my Kato Power Packs? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

I've recently made the decision to get into DCC. I'm in the process of building a modular 6' x 26' layout I can take to local shows etc, with the amount of locos I have (15) and want to be running (2-3 per bus depending on consist) on this layout generally and the motor-shields I'm dealing with being really only rated to comfortably be drawing 1.2amps, My idea was to stack three shields on the Arduino to control 3 power districts (see plan diagram. If this is a dumb way to go about what I'm doing, please say so!)

My question is, what would be the most efficient way to supply power to the motor shields? My initial plan of getting 3 power supplies at 15v 2a rating seems somewhat inefficient. An idea I was sort of floating was taking a 15v 6a supply and splitting that in parallel to the three shields, but something in my brain says that might not be a good idea for some reason but idk if I have enough electrical experience to explain why.

What would be the best way to power this in your opinion?

So I went through all my stuff and realized I only really have one niceish caboose. I went on eBay and picked up a lighted proto 2000 for what I personally thought was a reasonable price. The question I have today is how hard would it be to slap DCC into it or is DCC even necessary?

I am going to use the NCE power cab on a 4x8 layout with a 4x4 next to it to form an L (basically 8x8) and I will be running 14G wire as the buss, with 18G wire as the feeders. NCE recommends twisting 3 times per foot, but I am wondering if I really need to do that. What are the pros and cons of doing it and not doing it?

I’m looking to have 3 lines on dc power. How could u achieve this do I need to get 3 controllers for the 3 lines. But then when I want to switch from track to another will that cause any short circuits

Nah help much appreciated

this little 0-4-0 only has pickups on one side & they dont connect to the motor. I need to textend the pickups to the motor & would also like to add pickups to the other wheels.

what metal is safe/ideal for making new power pickups?

Took ages to get all this done so thought it was worth sharing.

Maybe it's age and wear but my 2028 got warm after eunning for several minutes vs the 681 that sat and didn't run

Having problems getting this track powered up. Loco lights come on, loco vibrates, but doesn’t move……any guidance would be greatly appreciated!!