Own network for boosters

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Wiring for DCC : One Thread

For me it is not clear, why the boosters should have there own network (recommendation #4-3) and why the rest of LocoNet will not be affected by the booster fighting for the LocoNet.

a) To my knowledge a "normal" booster is not producing LocoNet messages (only done by the master)

b) To my knowledge, there are the same messages on the whole LocoNet (on both outputs of each booster). There is no bridge feature on the booster, like you have on the Ethernet. Therefore a bad message appears everywhere on the LocoNet.

-- Stefan Trachsler (stefan.trachsler@swissonline.ch), February 10, 2002

Answers

At 2:04 PM +0000 2/10/02, bboard@greenspun.com wrote: >For me it is not clear, why the boosters should have there own network (recommendation #4-3) and why the rest of LocoNet will not be affected by the booster fighting for the LocoNet. > >a) To my knowledge a "normal" booster is not producing LocoNet messages (only done by the master) > >b) To my knowledge, there are the same messages on the whole LocoNet (on both outputs of each booster). There is no bridge feature on the booster, like you have on the Ethernet. Therefore a bad message appears everywhere on the LocoNet. >

The boosters don't speak LocoNet. Instead, they use the "RailSynch" lines to get the signals to amplify and put on the rails. But they _do_ use the same ground wire in the LocoNet cable as the LocoNet signals do.

You can sometimes get significant current flowing between the boosters on their common ground. That's why you should have them grounded together (recommendation 4-6 on www.wiringfordcc.com). If that ground connection isn't really good, you can get ground current flowing through the LocoNet cable ground, which can result in voltage changes. And that's not good. It can result in a greatly confused LocoNet.

So if everything else is perfect, recommendation 4-3 isn't so necessary. But that's true of pretty much all of these recommendations; they're there to make the system as a whole much more robust, so you don't have to track down wierdness.

Bob

-- Bob Jacobsen (Bob_Jacobsen@lbl.gov), February 10, 2002.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ