DCC in a Box by Reality Reduced

[bicknell]

I'm back with a new and different project.  I'm building a DCC system in a box to power my home NTrak layout as well as to take to NTrak shows to improve operation.  Rather than do a step-by-step how-to I've gone a different route focusing on why I made the choices I made, and what things you should think about while building your DCC system.

This is a multipart effort, it will take several blog posts and YouTube videos to show all of the details.  I've shot a lot of footage, and I'm just starting to turn it into articles.  In real life I'm about 90% done, and let me tell you the final product is going to be great!

The series kicks off with my "givens and druthers" article and a teaser video.  See:

http://www.realityreduced.com/Reality_Reduced/Blog/Entries/2010/5/13_DCC_and_Portable_Layouts.html

/>
I've also gotten the first segment done, which is all about how I'm powering my box.  I think you'll find I'm doing something a bit unconventional for a model railroad by borrowing from the Ham Radio community.

http://www.realityreduced.com/Reality_Reduced/Blog/Entries/2010/5/21_DCC_in_a_Box_1_Power.html

/>
I'm starting a thread on each of the major forums to try and keep all the comments and questions in a single thread.  I may be a little coy until the entire set of segments is up, but rest assured I will answer any and all questions.

As always, I also want to know how your DCC system is set up.  I encourage folks to make video responses and post them on YouTube, or write on your own blog and link in one of these forum posts.  At the end of this project I'll post a wrap up article in my blog with links to all the videos and articles I can find.

[bicknell]

The second installment is here, talking about command stations, boosters, and power management.  See the blog post and YouTube video!

http://www.realityreduced.com/Reality_Reduced/Blog/Entries/2010/5/23_DCC_in_a_Box_2_Command_Station_and_Boosters.html

/>

[Denver Road Doug]

Wow, this is perfect.  I was hoping to do something similar for my home layout and this is exactly what I needed.  I may also pitch this to my old club since they are evaluating what to do regarding DCC.  This lends itself to be a very "bulletproof" and "troubleshootable" solution.

[Robbman]

One... cut a hole in the box
Two... put your DCC in the box
Three... make her open the box

[davefoxx]

One... cut a hole in the box
Two... put your DCC in the box
Three... make her open the box

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  Great reference!  I had new-found respect for Justin Timberlake after that SNL sketch.

DFF

[bicknell]

Another installment, this time on RRampMeters and monitoring your DCC output. See my solution to panel mounting them!

http://www.realityreduced.com/Reality_Reduced/Blog/Entries/2010/5/25_DCC_in_a_Box_3_RRampMeter.html

[bicknell]

One... cut a hole in the box
Two... put your DCC in the box
Three... make her open the box

That's just wrong, funny, but wrong.

[Robbman]

One... cut a hole in the box
Two... put your DCC in the box
Three... make her open the box

That's just wrong, funny, but wrong.

I couldn't help it  ;D 

[bicknell]

A new blog entry on LOCONET

http://www.realityreduced.com/Reality_Reduced/Blog/Entries/2010/6/4_DCC_in_a_Box_4_LocoNet.html

Complete with a new video

/>
Thanks for following along!

[bicknell]

Final Assembly, and an unintentional cliffhanger!

http://www.realityreduced.com/Reality_Reduced/Blog/Entries/2010/6/10_DCC_in_a_Box_5_Assembly.html

[bicknell]

It's done, mostly!    This video and blog post documents the completed project, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  There is however still one minor problem, which I describe in this video.

http://www.realityreduced.com/Reality_Reduced/Blog/Entries/2010/7/5_DCC_in_a_Box_6_Complete!.html

As I state in the video there will be one more follow up video with the nitty gritty technical details of the problem I ran into.  That video is done and ready to go, I just have to write the blog post to go with it.  I think there's a good chance I will have it up tomorrow.

[davefoxx]

Leo,

Your link is broken in the previous post.  Unfortunately, removing the exclamation point after "complete" in the link doesn't seem to fix it.

Dave Foxx

[bicknell]

Fixed, sorry about that.

[bicknell]

I now have up the electronics detail on my problem.  As I stated in the completion video, there is a problem where the high amounts of capacitance in the Digitrax boosters are interacting badly with my MOSFET based electronic switch in the power strip.  I think I have a solution, but I need some electronics gurus to look it over and make suggestions; or at least check that my work is right.

http://www.realityreduced.com/Reality_Reduced/Blog/Entries/2010/7/6_Too_Much_Capacitance.html

[bicknell]

I have found a solution to my problem and will soon be documenting it with a video and a long blog post.  In the mean time, something to keep you interested in my DCC progress, the installation of an MRC sound decoder into a Kato P42!

http://www.realityreduced.com/Reality_Reduced/Blog/Entries/2010/8/21_Kato_P42_MRC_Sound_Decoder_Installation.html