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What I do is run a separate bus for each detector section, then connect the track to that. This way, you can have all the expansions you need.
2. My layout is in a basement that needs allocations for humidity changes (expansion gaps) placed about every 10 feet. I certainly don't need a signal every ten feet for the "block" I just created by gapping the track, so would it be correct to assume the blocks needed for signaling would be defined by the secondary power bus and NOT the track?
3. The layout will have 6 primary power districts (booster areas). I don't know if this is a proper question or not, but I wonder if the electronics involved for signaling bridge these zones seamlessly or will a system be required dedicated to each power district?
Quote from: SOUPAC on March 24, 2008, 01:10:18 PM2. My layout is in a basement that needs allocations for humidity changes (expansion gaps) placed about every 10 feet. I certainly don't need a signal every ten feet for the "block" I just created by gapping the track, so would it be correct to assume the blocks needed for signaling would be defined by the secondary power bus and NOT the track?Attach a feeder to each section, and attach the sections you want part of one block to one main bus wire. Attach the end of the bus wire to a detector at your control panel.My club is working on having everything wired properly for signal blocks & detection, and that's exactly how we do it. We actually attach one feeder to every piece of rail; we don't rely on rail joiners for electrical contact, just to keep the rails in line. It's more reliable this way. Each track section has it's own bus that all the individual feeder wires come off of to the rails.Quote3. The layout will have 6 primary power districts (booster areas). I don't know if this is a proper question or not, but I wonder if the electronics involved for signaling bridge these zones seamlessly or will a system be required dedicated to each power district?Pick block boundaries as the boundaries of the power districts. If you have any crossover between districts you'll have one big 30 amp district instead of 6 5 amp districts. Can you say "magic blue smoke"? At my club layout, the wiring originally wasn't done very well, and instead of 2 power districts, we had a single 10-amp circuit. We finally finished the massive re-wiring job that fixed that, and now we have two completely isolated sections, with a third booster that will power the new section that's starting construction. We'll probably have a couple more by the time the whole thing is done. Each district is further subdivided with circuit breakers protecting the individual blocks, so a short circuit anywhere on the tracks won't affect any one else.A far cry from before fixing the crappy wiring, where a short _anywhere_ would shut down the whole layout with cries of "ok, who the ..." The branchline still needs a lot of work to subdivide it into smaller sections with circuit breakers, right now the whole branch is a single block, but it's a step in the right direction so far.
Because it is a single track line with 6 passing sidings, I can't see the need for a lot of detection blocks. In my simple mind, a block is dictated by the length of single track and 1 main/siding set. Sounds like 6 blocks to me. I have heard of "distant signals" which I believe the SP had, but I believe they only duplicated the next block signal, so I wouldn't think that would create any major issues, other than those dictating me to have to deal with electronics, that is.
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Topic: Occupancy Detection, signal systems, & blocks (Read 2793 times)
