I like software, and electronics and DIY stuff for the sake of experimenting. I went the custom route for the sake of experimenting. I have one QSnap module, one Switch-It module and also my own Arduino-based solution. I listed the cost per turnout of the various NCE / Digitrax choices above.Ī custom Arduino based solution won't necessarily be much cheaper especially once you factor the time spent working on it. To jump to the conclusion: using off-the-shelf solutions is most of the time the best way to go.įirst rationale: Cost. This is an article about controlling turnouts using Arduinos so you might think you can see the choice I’ll make here. Kind of a catch-22 here… My experience is that it’s always better to power turnouts motors or twin-coils from a power bus that is independant from the DCC power bus. And where do we short the most? On turnouts of course. The drawback is that an engine shorting the DCC power bus will also render the turnouts inoperative on that block (let's assume block-level short circuit protection is present). If you have too many modules, they will eventually draw too much power from the DCC bus, but that would probably the case of a large layout that would require additional DCC boosters. This way there's no need to have a separate DC or AC accessory bus for the turnouts - the immediate benefit is one less power supply or bus to maintain. These modules can draw a small amount of power from the track, accumulate it in capacitors and use this for snapping the coils. The commands always come from the DCC bus. There's a small interruptor in the board to determine if power comes from the power bus or from the DC plug. It also has a barrel plug to provide it with DC power. Let's take a concrete example: the NCE Q-Snap has a 2-pin connector to connect to the DCC power bus. Electronics modules as those listed above can draw that power from either the DCC power bus or from an auxiliary bus (typically a secondary AC or DC power supply). One interesting thing for twin-coil turnouts: twin-coils need a sudden flow of current to switch. ![]() When dealing with Tortoise motors, another option is the Hare or Wabbit from DCC Specialties that have more bells and whistles. The Digitrax DS64 controls up to 4 slow-motion or 4 twin-coil turnouts for $60, so $15 per turnout.The NCE Q-Snap controls 4 twin-coil turnouts for $70, so $17.50 per turnout. ![]() The NCE Snap-It controls one twin-coil turnout for $20.The NCE Switch-It 8 controls up to 8 slow-motion turnouts for $70, so $8.75 per turnout.The NCE Switch-It controls 2 slow-motion turnouts for $30, so $15 per turnout.An E-Z Track DCC turnout is about $30 more than the non-DCC one, so $30 per turnout.One factor is that's all obviously a bit more expensive but probably less than one may think.įor example at the time I wrote this, prices worked that way: The Digitrax can similarly be connected to the track but also to a LocoNet bus. No need to have long wires from the turnouts to a control panel. It can thus be mounted just next to the turnouts to control. The NCE module is controlled by DCC commands that are sent over the track - that means it is connected directly to the DCC power bus to receive turnout commands. E-Z Track #6 DCC ).Īll of these allow for either manual operation or via typical fascia push buttons (more wiring!). EZTrack users can simply use DCC versions of their turnouts (e.g. ![]()
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