DCC Point Controller

David E. said the following on 07/02/2007 14:08:

I don't know much about DCC, but you might want to visit MERG at

What they don't know about DCC and control systems isn't worth knowing.

If you mean, you want the points on a separate DCC system, that's not necessary. If you mean, you want to control the points without using the loco controller, that's not only possible, it's the preferred method. AFAIK, all control modules for points are offered with switches which can be mounted in a track diagram, or on the layout fascia next to the turnouts, etc. There's even software that allows you to connect them to a spare boat anchor, er, I mean ancient PC, and play central traffic controller, if you wish.

Google on "DCC turnout control". (The web tends to use American, so "point control" won't work as well.)

Try the following:

digitrax.com (Digitrax)

(CVP Producst) TonysTrains.com (specialist supplier of DCC) (North Coast Engineering) (Lenz Digital) (National Model Railroad Association)

These are US sites, but you will get much relevant information from them.

Good hunting!

at

What they don't know about DCC and control

The MERG accessory encoder is exactly what David is looking for. Toggle switches are encoded to send the appropriate accessory packet on the DCC bus (seperate to the loco control bus). You could easily unplug the switch panel and move it around. The design is available on the public section of the MERG site but if you become a member you can buy complete kits for the encoder and accessory decoders.

MBQ

"David E." wrote

If you want to operate the points via switches why not just use conventional analogue control and eliminate the cost of accessory decoders?

John.

Hi David Merg (Model Electronics Railways Group) do a series of simple to assemble kits which would be perfect for your purpose I think. Check out their website for more information.

Dave

David,

You might want to have a look at

a UK company that makes products that might meet what you do. It uses DCC to allow for control from throttle as well as numerous inputs that can be programmed to set routes and it also drives LEDs. What I have done is use the DAC10 to switch a 10 road fiddle yard to double track main. Use the panel as NX panel, i.e. two buttons to set a route entrance and exit. I also have Digitrax which uses Loconet to feedback point position to system and a PC can be used to control point setting. The unit can also drive points controlled by other decoders as well. They also do a few other products around the same theme. A lot of config to do as you can vary CDU recharge and discharge time for solenoid motors to take account of the motors and switches being moved for example. Well worth a look and has a good manual as well.

Chris

I am looking at the possibility of having a movable control position on an umbilical cable. The less cores to the cable the easier it will be to implement.

Thank you to everyone who has contribueted to this thread so far, some useful pointers.

David

David E. wrote: [...]

You could put the bank of turnout control switches in a box, and connect that to the layout. The turnouts are controlled over a single power + signal bus like locomotives and in the same manner: each turnout has a unique address. So the umbilical would be the same as for a hand-held locomotive controller. Actually, you can use one of those, but you'd have to enter the address of each turnout when you want to operate it. As I understand it, when you set up the DCC turnout controls, you program each switch to the address of the turnout it controls (or use the default values.) Of course, that means there are electronics associated with each bank of switches, so the box could become quite big.

I assume you want to do it this way because you want to move around the layout as you operate, which is impossible if turnouts are controlled from a central location. So why not just control the turnouts from the nearest point on the base-board's fascia? There's no need to have a single control location, fixed or portable, for turnouts. Many builders now paint small track diagrams on the fascia, and insert the pushbuttons that control the nearby turnouts. In fact, for local turnout control, mechanical systems may have advantages over electrical ones, depending on your style of operation.

HTH

I think we are probably going down the route of a localised point control as the board can reasonably be split in to 3 or so areas.

Thank you

David

Hi David Try the MERG system available as kits I am thinking of using this system myself. They have a website which is a lot more help. One advantage of this system is it can be used alongside anologue track supply and expanded to dcc train control if wanted later on.

Dave