# DCC has AC track voltage?



## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

Reading page 63 of the June 2013 issue of Model Railroader magazine, paragraph two states "The voltage on the rails of a DCC layout is somewhere around 14VAC." Online subscribers may find the article in the DCCCORNER section.

I've been reading articles about the advantages of converting my old train layout to DC. Am I missing something? Why would the newest technology revert back to AC track voltage?


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## waltr (Aug 15, 2011)

The power/signal of the track of a DCC system is digital. The "AC" voltage are square wave signals that encode binary ones and zeros to address and command decoders in locos much like many of our modern digital computer communication devices (Ethernet, etc). 
This is nothing like the 60Hz 'AC' voltage used on the old trains.

For more on how this works read these:
http://www.nmra.org/standards/DCC/index.html
http://www.nmra.org/standards/DCC/standards_rps/S-91-2004-07.pdf


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Well, the O-gauge "old trains" run command just fine with 60hz, the RF signal rides the rails with the 60HZ power.


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

waltr said:


> The power/signal of the track of a DCC system is digital. The "AC" voltage are square wave signals that encode binary ones and zeros to address and command decoders in locos much like many of our modern digital computer communication devices (Ethernet, etc).
> This is nothing like the 60Hz 'AC' voltage used on the old trains.
> 
> For more on how this works read these:
> ...


Thanks for the information! I realize that most transformers plug into AC power, but I didn't realize it was in the track. I'll take a look at the links that you posted.


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