This article provides recommendations for which NCE DCC components to purchase based on your needs. The article is provided byDCC by Design to help newcomers to DCC understand the myriad of products available.

Starter Sets

NCE and the other DCC manufacturers make starter sets that include at a minimum a throttle and command station. The throttle is how the operator tells the locomotive what to do: speed, direction, sound, etc. and then converts it into digital commands. The command station converts the digital commands into the NMRA signal and sends it to the track. The command station includes a port for connecting one or more throttles through some type of data network and connections to the track. The command station requires a power supply which may or may not be included. For more information on considerations when choosing a starter set, please seeDCC Article 1 - Choosing a Starter Set.

This article provides recommendations for which Digitrax DCC components to purchase based on your needs. The article is provided by DCC by Design to help newcomers to DCC understand the myriad of products available.

Starter Sets

Digitrax and the other DCC manufacturers make starter sets that include at a minimum a throttle and command station. The throttle is how the operator tells the locomotive what to do: speed, direction, sound, etc. and then converts it into digital commands. The command station converts the digital commands into the NMRA signal and sends it to the track. The command station includes a port for connecting one or more throttles through some type of data network and connections to the track. The command station requires a power supply which may or may not be included. For more information on considerations when choosing a starter set, please seeDCC Article 1 - Choosing a Starter Set.

In the previous three articles, we have reviewed the components of DCC. This article will focus on configuring the system to run trains. In this article, I will use the Digitrax DCS100 command station as the example; however, the lessons of this article apply to most command systems.

This article and the others on this site provide basic information to educate DCC consumers. DCC by Design offers the service of designing a DCC system for you. As part of our Design Services we will work with you to examine your needs, address the issues below and many, many more. Then we convert your preferences, layout design, and budget into a complete DCC system.

We offer this free information as a small sample of how we can help you with our Design Services. Drop us note so we can discuss with you improvements for your current or design for your next layout.

In Article 4: Basics of Powering a Layout, we examined different methodologies for wiring the DCC system and providing power to the track. One item briefly suggested in the previous article was to build a test layout. This article will expand on that theme outlining benefits of building a test layout before starting you main layout. The article will provide some suggested test layouts. For the first design, the article shows how to split the layout into occupancy blocks. For the others, readers are encouraged to develop their own diagram dividing it into blocks. (We will be happy to review and comment on your diagrams of these layouts if that would be helpful.)

The primary purpose of a test layout is to provide a learning opportunity for understanding DCC before implementing it on your main layout. However, the benefits of a test layout are not over with the implementation of DCC on your main layout. Once your layout is running, the test layout provides an opportunity to try new ideas, DCC equipment, or locomotives in a small and controlled environment. Another suggestion is to use a loop based layout (much easier in N scale) so that it can be used to break in new locomotives. Also, a test layout is very beneficial for programming locomotive; it eliminates the potential for accidentally reprogramming the rest of your locomotives as you can safely program settings in Ops mode. We especially like to program locomotives’ speed tables on our test layout.

First, a quick review. This article assumes that you have already selected at starter system from on of the major DCC vendors as outlined in Article 1 Early Decisions & Starter Sets. Also, if you have not already done so, I suggest that you convert or buy a few DCC locomotives (see Article 2 Choosing Mobile Decoders). Assuming these two steps are completed, the next step is to control your turnouts with stationary decoders.

This article and the others on this site provide basic information to educate DCC consumers. DCC by Design offers the service of designing a DCC system for you. As part of our Design Services we will work with you to examine your needs, address the issues below and many, many more. Then we convert your preferences, layout design, and budget into a complete DCC system.

We offer this free information as a small sample of how we can help you with our Design Services. Drop us note so we can discuss with you improvements for your current or design for your next layout.

Today we posted information about our Surroundtraxx Integration Services. An offshoot of our Design Services, we have provided several clients with the necessary wiring plans to install and...
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