DCC. DC or AC

[Captain_Francisco.]

A great thank you Poliss. I clicked on the http://www.arr.com/dccintro1.html site, read it, and saved it. It has to be the most lucid, easy to understand, explanation of the basics of this DCC thing. I feel that I have , for the first time, got to grips

 

with the concept of "bipolar DC," and thus my Hornby DCC, and indeed others. I feel now that I have, at the "schoolboy logic" level,(which works for me,) an understanding of what "bipolar DC" really is, and how it differs from conventional AC. From this understanding

 

follows a far better grasp of the function/uses of the command and control systems, and the sequence/wiring/compatibility issues associated with said accessories. I recommend your above website with the explanation to all. Again, a big thank you.

[DCCTinker]

I've just returned to railway modelling after a very long time. I can't believe how good the models are now. I would also urge anybody even considering the pros and cons of analogue versus digital to go down the digital route.

 

DCC is so much easier

 

than analogue. With analogue you think to yourself, I know, just a loco, 12v, a track and a controller. That is true, but by the time you're trying to operate several locos and then add point and signal control into the mix it's a nightmare, with so many switches,

 

isolating sections and so on. And of course no sound!

 

I got an Elite, the RailMaster software and operate a handful of sound locos, points and signals. RailMaster makes the thing so much easier, especially operating the points and signals. I don't even

 

use the Elite any more. You just press on the plan where they are. And for those purists, the plan on the software is similar to what you see in signal boxes.

 

I can imagine, if you really want to operate locos in analogue mode you can actually have

 

the best of both worlds and just operate all your points and signals using a computer.

 

There are a few people out there, I have found, who deliberately try to make DCC sound more complicated than it is. Perhaps they have unfulfilled lives and need to

 

be the know-all about at least one subject so they turn it into a dark art, when it isn't.

 

For me, DCC is a no-brainer and definitely the future.

 

[poliss]

There was a website that explained it better with more diagrams, but it's been taken down. :-(

I know it says in the link 'bi-polar DC', but there's really no such thing. If the positive and negative alternate then it's AC (Alternating Current). The

 

difference between DCC alternating current and your household AC is that the frequency that the current alternates is not fixed in DCC.

[Captain_Francisco.]

Hello Poliss. Got that: with you all the way. As I said, after reading the pages you recommended, the "penny" did actually "drop." I am much happier when I have a basic understanding of what is going on, and, as I'm sure it is with most, make far fewer

 

frustrating, and sometimes expensive, mistakes, because of it.

I also fully endorse the comments by DCCTinker above. I procrastinated, and delayed, and only recently did I "bite the bullet" and begin the DCC changeover. What a pleasure! What an idiot for

 

waiting! What was I thinking? What a reactionary coward! Further, I have only progressed as far as the "Elite" stage at the moment, so have so much more to look forward to! Have read about the possibilities promised by "feedback from unit to controller" technology

 

in the process of being developed: the world just brightens and gets better and better! I really cannot remember when last I had so much fun, and the realism of the manoeuvres that I am creating just astonishes and delights me! I recommend to all; go DCC now:

 

your life will never be the same again!

Concur wholeheartedly: a "no-brainer and definitely the future!"

As a matter of interest, the owner of my local model shop, himself a radio controlled model aircraft man, tells me that he has witnessed a young

 

man controlling his train layout with his "smart-phone!" I was fascinated by the concept of superseding long leads with infra red technology, much like TV remotes; seems I am way behind. If the purists are worried about your using the computer DCCTinker, they're

 

not going to "turn in their graves" when you whip out the 'phone, they're going to positively spin.

[poliss]

If you want to know more about the technical aspects of DCC then I'd say look at Mark Gurries pages. https://sites.google.com/site/markgurries/home

Hornby have brought out Railmaster which makes it easy to configure the CVs in your locos and also control

 

points etc. by computer.

There are other programmes that can turn your tablet or smartphone in a model railway control system.

[Captain_Francisco.]

Thanks once again Poliss. Really much appreciated.

[Fishmanoz]

I've been watching this thread with interest but without content for some time. I think it has finally reached a good and technologically sound result thanks to the recent links. A couple of points in summary might still help:

- the DCC signal is a

 

series of positive and complementary negative square wave pulses at a frequency of at least 8kHz

- a DC voltmeter will read zero if put across a DCC track, not because it can't respond to the high frequency but because it reads only the average value of

 

the signal, which is zero

- the DCC signal is not pulse width modulated (PWM), but the motor output is. The motor cannot respond to the individual pulses in this output, with the inductive nature of its load meaning that it just responds to the average

 

value as if it is DC. Add this to the detail in the last link posted, and you should have no problem understanding how it works.

[Fishmanoz]

In the first line above, I meant comment not content.

[Captain_Francisco.]

Thanks Fishmanoz. Every bit helping to clarify, is greatly appreciated, especially when it is simply expressed. I must say, with thanks to all, that I have a pretty good grasp on DCC now, and how it "actually" works: much, much, more so than when this

 

thread started. Again, thanks everybody.