Digitrax Super Chief Radio Implementation Questions.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Well, a grownup DCC system has finally found its way into my basement. A friend was looking to turn his unused setup into some cash, and Uncle Sam was kind to me this tax season.

I've got one of these (Super Chief Xtra 8 Amp Duplex Radio Equipped):
http://www.digitrax.com/products/starter-sets/scfxd8/

One of these (PS2012 power supply):
http://www.digitrax.com/products/power-supplies/ps2012/

One of these (PS14 wall-wart power supply):
http://www.digitrax.com/products/power-supplies/ps14/

I've also got a UR90 and a pair of UP5s.

I'm planning on using the whole shebang (well, except for some of the UP5s if I don't have to) on the York layout (since the shelf is going away).

I've got some ideas about how I want to do the implementation, too. 

I'm thinking I'm going to get a PM42 to manage power on the layout, split it into four sub-districts (one for the yard itself, one for the mains around it, and the downtown York section that's to be built to the left, one for the NCR section that's next to be built to the right, and one for the staging yard). I'm going sub-district just so that a short doesn't shut the whole thing down.  Is this a good idea? Are there better options out there? Is this overkill?

http://www.digitrax.com/products/power-management/pm42/

I'm planning on building a shelf, attached to the legs under the layout to hold the components. Is there a recommendation for organizing that? Is it safe to sit the DCS200 on top of the PS2012? Do the PS2012s get warm enough to pose a problem there?

Also, is there anything I need to know about setting up a UR92? Just plug it into loconet, plug it into power, and rock and roll, right?

And, lastly, how do I change the "Welcome" message that gets displayed when your plugin? I can't find it through googling.

[seusscaboose]

my recommendation is to dedicate a power supply (from the wall) to each panel you have....   in other words... don't feed them off a common bus.  that way... if you have multiple people plugging into the system...   they aren't dragging down the network. 

that's what commonly happens around here

my 2 cents.

EP

[Ed Kapuscinski]

my recommendation is to dedicate a power supply (from the wall) to each panel you have....   in other words... don't feed them off a common bus.  that way... if you have multiple people plugging into the system...   they aren't dragging down the network. 

that's what commonly happens around here

my 2 cents.

EP

You mean the UP5s/UR92?

If I only have 4 plug ins, do you think they all need to be powered, or can I just get away with doing the radio one, and having two unpowered?

[WBRRVP]

I've got about a dozen UP3/5s on my layout and not a single one has a power (wall wart) going to it, the UR90 on the other hand, does have a power supply feeding it. I understand it's still a good idea to power the UP3/5s I'm not sure at what number of panels you need to have them powered.

While I haven't used my PM42 yet I have heard horror stories about them, I will probably go and get a PSX from Tony's when I'm ready to divide up the layout into smaller districts.

Jerry

[seusscaboose]

Jerry

How many operators do you host?  My scenario uses about 10

Ed

Power the radio panel for sure

And see if there is a drop in the in the network   when you host 3 people and they're  plugged in (assuming you power the panels for track power or a bus)

You results may vary

[mu26aeh]

I need a couple more UP5's if you end up not needing them 

[Bendtracker1]

Ed you don't need to power any of the UP3/5's, they will draw power from the Loconet cable.
However, like Eric said the more throttles you plug in to them without batteries in them, they will cause the Loconet cable voltage to lower.
If you get below 10v funny things will start happening.  Each time you plug a throttle [DT4xx] into a plug it should show you the screen what voltage it's reading from the loconet cable.

IIRC, you can power up to 9 or 10 UP's from one PS14 wall wart.  Power the UR's with their own power supply.
You can power each UP with it's own wall wart like Suess said.  Otherwise, you can daisy chain them together via a single wire that you can solder to each board shown here:





I have two sets, one with 5 UP's and the other with 4 UP's  My UR  has it's own power supply.

[davefoxx]

I wired my panels exactly the way that Allen described in the previous post.  I have a wall wart connected to my UR92 panel and a single wire that acts as a jumper from the UR92 to a UP5 on the opposite side of the HCD.

DFF

[Bendtracker1]

In regards to what Dave mentioned.
I daisy chained 4 UP's off of my UR91 and had issues with a lower voltage going to my UP's
After a little inspecting I found out the power supply for the UR91 had only enough power for the UR91.
If you daisy chain off your UR92, make sure it's power supply has enough voltage.

[GaryHinshaw]

I only have duplex throttles on TBC and I have gotten away with a single UR92 (for now), but I will add another UP5 at some point for good measure.  However, I highly recommend that you get a PR3 and a laptop with jmri and a router and run the throttle server on it.  You will find many many other uses for jmri as well.

If you're really planning on having 10 operators, then you definitely wan't to divide the layout into power districts.  4 is probably fine, just try to work it out so that the operators will be spread out into different districts at any given time.

Oh, and with an 8 amp system, you definitely want to have a circuit breaker of some kind on the system.  If you have a short 8 amps can make some serious toast pretty quickly.  The PM42's do suck compared to the solid state systems like the PSX or OG line of cards from DCC Specialties.  I recently installed several OG-CB cards and I've been very happy with them, and they're a bit less expensive than the PSX cards.

Congratulations on your new acquisition!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh right, I totally forgot because it's not new to me. I've got a PR3, JMRI, etc...
I had actually written about setting it up: http://conrail1285.com/how-to-setup-jmri-a-pr3-a-digitrax-zephyr-xtra-and-a-mac/

Thanks for the UP5 power recommendation guys. That was completely off my radar.

Gary, I don't think I'll ever have 10 people. I'm thinking 4 is probably going to be the upper limit.

I'm going to investigate the PSX stuff, since it sounds pretty popular. I didn't realize the PM42s weren't solid state. I didn't realize that it could still be 1964 somewhere.

[WBRRVP]

Jerry

How many operators do you host?  My scenario uses about 10

...

I normally have 5 UT4Rs in service and just 2 UT4s so the UP3/5 are mostly for just selecting up your address and then the throttle gets unplugged.

Jerry

[GaryHinshaw]

Gary, I don't think I'll ever have 10 people. I'm thinking 4 is probably going to be the upper limit.

How many operators do you host?  My scenario uses about 10

Sorry my bad.  I read seusscaboose's post and mistakenly attributed it to you.  In any case, with 4 operators, 4 districts is more than enough.  The advantage of more is that it narrows down where a short is occurring, the disadvantage is cost & complexity.  But you do want at least one breaker to protect you from 8 amps (in the event that the Super Chief's internal breaker is slow or fails).

[seusscaboose]

I agree

Use the Tonys train exchange 4 way split

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I agree

Use the Tonys train exchange 4 way split

Got a link? I'm interested.