Gone back to dc

[kevin141]

Have taken the chips out of my locos and sold the dcc system why some will ask well the conversion,the trouble of identifying locos when you two or three ie dmu's that look the same and numbers to small to see keeping track and locos pick up,s clean keeping a roster list .So back to beaning able to take the loco out of the box and just running it .I gave dcc a good go of over four years but much happier now
Kevin 141

[Newportnobby]

Interesting

You won't get away without track and pick up cleaning though

[Les1952]

I can sympathise with the "reading small numbers"- I have a ten road fiddle yard on Hawthorn Dene with two trains to the row.  I've worked out a system for identifying the trains.



On the back of the backscene is stuck a magnetic strip (99p for four from the Book Cellar- others are available).  Shorter pieces of the same strip have card glued to them with a description and the number and address of each loco/DMU.  Examples-

WD 90014   The bold is the DCC identifier for the loco.

2-car DMU 101

The loco descriptors are placed on the strips so each strip has the two locos on that road of the fiddle yard- 5 strips only at each end, by the yard exit.

Works well on a steam loco-based layout- limitations are that two locos of the same class shouldn't be on the same road if possible, and operators need to be able to tell a WD from an A4  or a 3MT tank from a Type 2 diesel for instance.

Operators are finding this much easier to work than the analogue system on Furtwangen Ost.

Hope someone finds this helpful.
Les

[kevin141]

Interesting

You won't get away without track and pick up cleaning though

I know but it is much easier on dc plus being a old tv and video repair man there is still some good switch cleaner products out there so much easier to keep loco and track running
kevin

[scottmitchell74]

I started out at a time when I didn't know what DCC was. After I bought so much stuff and had my layout so far along...I felt the die had been cast. So, I'm a DC man. Even if I do other layouts in the future, I also like the idea of being able to just quickly get things up and running and not having to hassle with DCC boards and taking the locos apart. I'm not too handy with that kind of thing, anyhow.

[Jonny]

Your not alone here. I have done the same.  In saying goodbye to dcc.  Partly as you mention and partly because I built myself a dc/pulse control for my em stock and found it worked justaas well on n gauge.

Jon

[Agrafarfan]

I must admit I'm going back to DC as well though I might go back to DCC sometime in the future. I broke my class101 trying to open it also trying to make my small layout live I realised I'm worse at wiring then I first thought.

So I've orded some Kato unitrack much easier for the wiring. With dccc not only do you need a decoder in each loco but also for switches as well.

I'm still not sure to sell my controller though.

Ian

[shandy]

Each to his own, I guess, but DCC holds so much more for me. Just so easy to run multiple trains…but whatever works for you is the right way to go

There's no right or wrong way to enjoy the hobby at the end of the day.

[Agrafarfan]

I would also like to add that the only good controllers seem to be the really expensive ones otherwise it's all cv45=56 cv42=23  malarki. I must admit was a bit dissapointed also the only good decoders are the expensive ones.

All this 2 wires to track and easy to use is just a myth. But then again I would need to open my DMU for maintenance anyway. I also managed to do double heading 2 trains moving in different direction on the track. So not all bad.

Ian

[Pengi]

Interesting. I have been 'definitely going over to DCC' for some time but put it on ice because of the cost of chipping my trains. As time goes by, I become less and less enthused to convert 

[Geoff]

Well this is an interesting topic, if you want to buy a cheap train off ebay then chances are they are not chipped and it would be an advantage to have a DC setup, I have toiled over the idea of going back to DC but I am going to in the future do a layout for DC only, just a straight forward shunting yard with a hidden transverser, I can see where Kevin is coming from, and it must be a pain when you have the same type loco  and not know the address,  but at least with DCC you can run as many locos on the same track if you wish, plus I feel the decoders do look after the motor on the loco.

Such a big choice to make after splashing out a lot for the decoders and the DCC system.

I also feel there is a frustration with DCC and like Ian has stated I feel you need an expensive system to get it right, all I have is a Sprog and a Dynamis and sometimes I would like to throw it out of the window, I have my eye on a couple of systems but I need to be sure, I am looking at all avenues and Trix is supposed to be coming out with a new controller I only hope they are going to learn off other mistakes by other makers, another option I am looking at is Merg and That could be to much for me to take in, I do like there ATC for a DC system though.

Oh well back to the drawing board for me and good luck with the DC route.

[Robin2]

I gave up DCC in favour of battery powered radio control. I was always too lazy to keep my wheels and track clean enough - now I don't have to - they just work.

I haven't tested it myself but someone else said that locos get better adhesion on dirty track, which sounds reasonable.

...R

[petercharlesfagg]

Interesting

You won't get away without track and pick up cleaning though

I know but it is much easier on dc plus being a old tv and video repair man there is still some good switch cleaner products out there so much easier to keep loco and track running
kevin

Kevin apart from what the majority of us know about, to which products are you referring?

Regards, Peter.

[ParkeNd]

An interesting trend (going from DCC to DC) if there are more than just a handful of people doing it. In the photography world there are just a handful of people bucking the trend and going from digital to film but they really are rarities.

Cost seems to me to be the real issue but that could change as it did for digital cameras. The added advantages of DCC seem impossible to deny - but the cost of getting above the merest basics turns a very very cheap hobby into one as expensive as many others.

[shandy]

I would also like to add that the only good controllers seem to be the really expensive ones otherwise it's all cv45=56 cv42=23  malarki. I must admit was a bit dissapointed also the only good decoders are the expensive ones.

All this 2 wires to track and easy to use is just a myth. But then again I would need to open my DMU for maintenance anyway. I also managed to do double heading 2 trains moving in different direction on the track. So not all bad.

Ian

I don't know which controllers you are looking at and I can only speak from my experience but here it is for what its worth…

I decided to build my current layout, all new after house move, to be totally DCC. I did a bit of research and bought an NCE Powercab at a very reasonable £135 from digitrains - its easy to set up both the locos and accessory decoders for points etc. You can program locos on a test track, which I do, and also on the layout itself, for fine tuning. When I say program its really more like just setting them up, I work in IT so I know what programming is, and this, it definitely is not

The layout has a double track main continuous loop, and a branch that climbs and negotiates itself around three walls of the room, there are two significant shunting industrial areas, the layout has over 40 points all DCC - I know the decoders are not cheap but it was comparable in cost to all the passing contact switches and stuff you need to control DC points.

The wiring is not simple "two wires to the track" but a main bus with drop feeds to track and accessory decoders and  I will say its much simpler than the rats nest I ended up with on the last layout which was nowhere near as extensive as this one. Also, its much easier to troubleshoot any defects and glitches as a result.

Loco decoders - you get what you pay for but around £20 gets a very reasonable Digitrax or CTElektronic chip which give superb slow and high speed control.

I went NCE as it looked easy to expand if necessary, I considered getting a 5 amp booster but Jeremy at Digitrains advised against it as the was unlikely even with two operators we'd blow the 2 amp limit on the Powercab. Yesterday we had 4 locos running on the continuous loop plus another two trains on the branch and never got anywhere near one amp on the monitor. I have an additional NCE Cab for the second operator, and if theres only me I use both handsets depending on which part of the layout I'm using.

Yes it costs an extra £20 'ish per loco, plus accessory decoders (£400 'ish), and hand sets (£250..) but I couldn't revert to DC after using this setup…

Oh, I also use the Powercab for mucking about with my sound fitted Ixion O gauge Hudswell Clarke.