# How can I prepare for DCC?



## Hotrainewbie (Feb 14, 2021)

I’m starting my first layout this summer with my dad and as summer draws closer I need to come up with a design that I can incorporate DCC when I’m ready to commit to it. How can I design a layout that will be easy to switch over to DCC quickly and smoothly? What can I do to bench work, track, details even that will allow any wiring or other features to be simply put into place and begin operations on the spot? If im fantasizing of a world that it is possible just stop me now as im sure DCC is probably a lot more complicated than I already think it is.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

There is no special preparation needed for planning a DCC layout. 
Just build your benchwork, and plan your track layout as you
like it. DCC, like DC, requires good electrical conductivity in the track.
Mdake sure that all joiners are tight and make good contact.
There is no need for isolated sections unless you will have
a reverse loop that lets you turn a train around to go back on
the same track it arrived on.
If your layout is larger than a simple oval you'll want to connect
drops from the track to your DCC bus wires every 6 feet or
so. That's all there is to it.

Any turnouts that you use will require a separate power
supply to operate their points. The DCC controller
output is used only to power the track. Old DC power
packs or scrap drawer wall warts can be used for this
purpose. Some turnouts require DC power and some
will operate or either DC or AC but they'll need a voltage
of around 12 to 14 volts.

Don't let the writings of some modellers with very
large layouts confuse you. It's not likely that
you would need a Booster, Circuit breakers or any of the other
accessories available for DCC large layouts.
And beware of claims of DCC friendly turnouts.
Any turnout will be sufficient for your DCC layout.

Your main DCC controller will let you run 2, 3 or more
trains at the same time. However, there are wired 
and wireless hand held
controllers that plug into your main DCC controller. They
are useful if you want to have friends or family
control train A, for example, while you run train
B and C. 

Don


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## Roy Merritt (10 mo ago)

What Don said  

This isn't about wiring per sea and you're likely already aware of this, but all locomotives need DCC decoders to work with DCC. Many modern locomotives are either already DCC, are dual-mode (they can run on DC or DCC) or are DCC ready (you just plug in a compatible decoder). Older locomotives can often by upgraded by upgrading to DCC by installing a decoder but this can be challenging.


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## Steve Rothstein (Jan 1, 2021)

I just wanted to add to what was said above. I would start by wiring the DC layout as if it were DCC. That is, I would run a bus wire and the drops to it for power even with the DC. That way, when you are ready to go DCC, you just pull the wires off the track power of the DC supply and plug them into the track power on the DCC command station.

When I started my layout, we started with two loops that were isolated from each other and had two DC controllers. Each loop was a straight oval with a siding for a station. When I switched to DCC, I unplugged the two DC controllers and then plugged both sets of power wires into the Digitrax Zephyr we chose for DCC. We were back running trains pretty quickly, with the hardest part being learning how to program addresses into the locos for the DCC. What was really cool was that the Zephyr let us plug the two DC power packs in for use as auxiliary throttles.

Of course, as I learned more, I started using a power bus and drops to the track, which is why I now advise starting with them anyway. It also made it easier to expand the layout when we were ready.


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

DCC can be as complicated or as simple as you want to make it.
As simple as Steve Rothstin and DonR said above.
Good DCC wiring is the same as good DC wiring.

It's not hard to program loco addresses, just follow the instructions in the manual, EZ as pie.
It only gets complicated when you start doing fancy stuff with different CV settings or
have a big complex layout, which mine is but was pretty EZ to wire, just doing more of the same stuff.

When in doubt just ask here we have all the answers

Magic


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## Hotrainewbie (Feb 14, 2021)

DonR said:


> There is no special preparation needed for planning a DCC layout.
> Just build your benchwork, and plan your track layout as you
> like it. DCC, like DC, requires good electrical conductivity in the track.
> Mdake sure that all joiners are tight and make good contact.
> ...


Thank you for the wonderful advice all of you. You might have to more explain to me what the drop wires and bus wires are as i have no previous knowledge of how electrical connections all work. Thank you for letting me know about the the turnouts though. I had no no clue.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Lost of good advice, and all of it relevant. DCC is a control scheme, not a means of wiring, and a "best practice" like using a bus and feeders / drops is a best practice, no matter what control system you're using.

If you think basic DCC is complicated, do some more research, because it isn't. When I installed my first DCC set, I disconnected the feeders from my MRC Tech 4 and connected them to my MRC Prodigy Express. Took less than 5 minutes. In an hour, I had popped decoders into my 3 DCC-ready locos, and I was up and running with DCC. Granted, it was a lot tougher to convert a lot of my older locos to DCC, but only one ultimately failed the challenge, and that was more because it needed a completely new set of innards rather than a specific DCC issue. For most situations, DCC is actually EASIER to wire than DC (reversing loops and isolated track sections -- which often are no longer required after DCC conversion). As others have stated, it's POSSIBLE to get into some very advanced topics with DCC, but it's not required to do it. For 90% of operations, it's not really any different than DC.

Busses and drops / feeders: A bus -- no matter where the term is applied -- is an object that moves things from one place to another in large volumes. Like people in a big city. In an electrical context, it's moving large volumes of electricity around your layout, without relying on rails to do it (larger gauge copper wires are much better conductors than small strips of a less-conductive metal connected by even smaller pieces of less-conductive metal). Drops / feeders are smaller gauge wires that allow electricity from the bus to reach the rails. I use them every 8-10 feet, but there's no hard and fast rule. Generally the more feeders, the more reliable the power supply to the rales is. You can think of this as analogous to the electrical grid that feeds your house: the bus is the heavier, higher voltage wire that runs up your street, the feeders are the individual wires that connect the individual houses. The only difference, other than scale, is that there is no change in voltage needed on our layouts, the bus operates at the same ~14VDC as the track.

The short answer to how you prepare for DCC operation is to just build a layout!


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## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

All the above is on point.
The only thing I can add is purely optional. DCC decoder wires are color coded. I.e. Gray & orange are always motor leads.
I like to wire my layout in the exact same color code, just for easier troubleshooting later on. For example; imagine a switch machine is giving you problems, or a particular street light, or a structure light. Under the layout it’s 100x easier to look for gray/orange connections or yellow/white connections, than having all of the wiring being black & red. That can look like a bowl of spaghetti. Again, 100% optional. Just makes life easier.
EDIT: If it’s a small layout, you can simply use color coded electrical tape to identify wires, rather than buy spools of each color. If the layout is going to be 900sq ft, you might as well just buy colored spools.

Another optional thing that I’m doing is breaking up my bus lines (track & lighting bus both). Because my benchwork is being built in a modular fashion, all of my bus lines are about 7 foot long, with terminal strips at one end of each section. So my bus lines daisy chain along section to section, but stay with each section should it ever get relocated. This also makes it easier if, later on, you wish to divide the power delivery into separate blocks, mimicking house wiring circuits.

I don’t drill holes through 1x4s as many folks do. I use pipe straps attached to the front L girder, so not only can wires be easily accessed, they can easily be added or removed without the nonsense of threading through lumber.


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## J.Albert1949 (Feb 3, 2018)

The most important considerations with dcc (as I see it):

*Locomotives* -- are those you have already dcc compatible (decoders installed, either sound or non-sound)?

If not, are the locomotives "dcc ready"? Usually, this means there's a "socket" for a dcc decoder to plug into. It can have 8 pins, 9 pins, or 21 pins.

If the locomotives you have ARE NOT dcc-ready, how much work will it be to convert them?

And then...
*WHICH dcc control/power system* do you want to use?
There are numerous ones out there, of different design, such as

Digitrax
NCE
Bachmann
MRC
Roco z21
Digikeijs DR5000
... and others.

I'm a fan of Roco and Digikeijs, which can be controlled using a smartphone or tablet (Android or iOS). But that puts me into the minority of "American users", who seem to prefer the older-style handheld controllers with lots of physical pushbuttons on them.

You can investigate all of the above in YouTube videos -- worth the time to search and view some of them.

The track plan you use is less important, as dcc makes most wiring much simpler than DC. You DO have to be concerned about reversing loops and wyes, but there are automatic reversers that make even these relatively simple.


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## Mixed Freight (Aug 31, 2019)

Hotrainewbie said:


> I’m starting my first layout this summer with my dad and as summer draws closer I need to come up with a design that I can incorporate DCC when I’m ready to commit to it. How can I design a layout that will be easy to switch over to DCC quickly and smoothly? What can I do to bench work, track, details even that will allow any wiring or other features to be simply put into place and begin operations on the spot? If im fantasizing of a world that it is possible just stop me now as im sure DCC is probably a lot more complicated than I already think it is.


Actually, DCC wiring is a LOT simpler than straight DC wiring. And with that in mind, it's a lot easier to convert a straight DC layout over to DCC than it is vice-versa.

If you want to start out wiring a layout for straight DC, then simply do a good, quality wiring job. Later on, simply replace your DC transformer(s) with a DCC base unit, and you are automatically set up for DCC operation. Yes, it can be that easy.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Our guys have given you quite an encyclopedia
of how to set up your layout.

We may have left you in the dark about electricity
for the layout. It's actually quite simple.
You have two rails that the train runs on.
These same rails also provide the power to
the locomotive. To keep the loco running
smoothly the rails must always have enough
power. They need a 'boost' every so often.
So, you run a pair of wires from your
DCC controller under the table, we'll call them Red and Black.
This is called the Bus.
The Bus follows the tracks above. You connect a wire
to the Right rail and also connect it to
the Red wire under the table. You connect another
wire to the left rail and connect that to the Black
wire under the table. That is a track drop. Do this
every 6 feet or so of track if you have a large layout.
Only one or two track drops are needed if you
have only a simple oval or so.
Using the Red and Black wires can help you
avoid a short circuit if you accidentally connect
a Right rail to a Black bus wire. 

Track wiring is no more complicated than that.

Don


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## Steve Rothstein (Jan 1, 2021)

@DonR gave a very good basic instructions to answer what we meant by bus and drop wires. The only thing I would add is to be very careful when connecting the drop wires to the bus to ensure that the black wire always goes to the same rail. While the right rail and left rail can be descriptive when you are using a straight line (or point to point), it is not as helpful when the track layout is a loop. In those cases, use the inside rail (the rail towards the inside of the loop) to always connect to one color and the outside to the other.

My son and I learned that the hard way when we first wired for DCC with the drops. He chose the right right when he was on one side of the layout and made the connections on that side and walked around to the other side of the loop. He chose the right rail but forgot that the locomotive would be facing in the opposite direction. Of course, as soon as the power was turned off, the short detector built in said no way and shut it back down. No harm done thanks to the Zephyr but he was embarrassed about such a simple error. As a general rule, this is one of those mistakes you only make once and it sticks with you to help you remember in the future.


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## Stejones82 (Dec 22, 2020)

When I started wiring the main loop, I adopted the Wire one/Test One approach. In short (pun intended) , wire one set of feeders to the bus and test. If good, wire the next set and test. That way, if you get confused and wire to the wrong rails, you only have to redo one set in stead of however many you soldered up incorrect. "A stitch in time ..."

I have also seen/heard of the Red/Black box car. Take an old boxcar and paint one side red and one side black. Push it along the rails as you wire to give a visual indicator of which wire goes to its corresponding rail. Seems silly, but amazing how many boo-boos can crop up during the construction phase.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Steve

Some very useful tips.
They would be helpful for
many of us. You might outline your 
suggestions with a post in the
Beginners Q & A Forum.

Don


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## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

Maybe I’m goofy but I always soldered feeders to the rail before gluing track in place. I don’t see any reason to do it any other way. Then just fish the feeders down through tiny holes. One color is the inner rail one is the outer.


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