Setting Up the DCC System Part 2

Following up on the previous post, the second EB1 circuit breaker board arrived from NCE, and I installed it. Since all three components were attached to the command station, I fired it up. Everything  (including EPROM install) appears successful since the system "talked" to my throttle.

Panel with power district circuit breakers and Frog Juicer
connected to command station!

While at first I was thinking of having the program track on the staging module, I have since decided on locating it on the interchange track for several reasons:

• It will be located right over the command station, hence good location for control panel/switch.
• I'm leaning towards ending interchange track with mirror rather than extending it into staging.
• I can set up programming track before finishing staging module and complex backdrop.

In researching the wiring for my DCC program track, I discovered that just having a DPDT that switches an isolated (insulated) section of track between track power and programming is potentially dangerous. If a locomotive bridges the two while in programing mode,  it can damage the programming circuitry. Including an isolation or dead zone section between the programming track and the rest of the layout is the solution. I found several helpful sites for explaining the rationale and process:

• Wiring for DCC
• DCC Wiki
• mrhmag.com forum

According to the experts I needed a 4PDT switch to wire the program track with an isolation track. I ended up ordering one from mouser.com, a 633-S43 4PDT ON-OFF-ON.