Hi

I am new to all this digital world of Märklin. I have made a, for me, big track. I have bought a CS2 and S88 decoders.

As I understand, in order to get the S88 connected to the tracks I have to separate the ground. And I have now done that. Hope I did it right on all the 300+ tracks..

Now I am wondering how to separate the block where I am going to use the S88 decoders? And what do I do with the turnouts?

I was thinking of feeding the ground to the left rail and use the right to the S88's. Is it just to use the red plastic things? Do I have to separate the center to break the power to the track or is that not nessecary because of the digital decoder in the trains?

How do I deside how many and how long the block should be?

Hi Helge and welcome to the forum!

You will find lots of other post regarding contact tracks in this forum.

Briefly;

1. You isolate the outer rail by first cutting the connection underneath the track in each side.
2. Do not cut the connection for centre rail.
3. Then you use the red isolation taps to make the final isolation.
4. Solder a wire on the isolated rail and run to the S88 module.

The contract tracks can in principle be any length – from a single track to multiple tracks (with multiple track you only need the red isolation tap of the start and end track).

Regarding the length of contact tracks we need to distinguish between computer or CS2 control.

CS2
If you use a short track a long waggon (distance between the wheels longer than the track) will lead to unwanted triggering. I.e. the first set of wheels hit the contact track and turns on the signal to the S88 module. It stays on as long as there is wheel contact. However soon this set of wheel leaves the track before the next one has entered and the signal will turn to off. This is unwanted – hence your contact track should be min. longer than any waggon/locomotives distance between the wheels. In general you will find the 24188 to be ok.

Triggering also occurs with dirty wheels. One set of wheel will turn the signal on – the next is dirty and will turn it off – the next set is clean and will turn it on…

However some people also use contact tracks for general detection. I.e. it can be beneficial to monitor a long section in case a train sets drops a waggon and leaves it behind. The system will then now this section is still occupied by something.

Disadvantages of using long contact tracks is that you lose the additional benefit of having 2 ground rails for optimal performance.

PC
With PC control you got more control. In many software programs you can enter a delay for each contact tracks. E.g. it will stay on for 2 sec after the contact have been lost. In this case you avoid any of the triggering mentioned above.

The more contact tracks you have the more control and logic you can play around with. In general you would divide the layout into blocks separated by turnouts. Each block can contain 1 or more contact tracks. With CS2 you would normally have each contact track to trigger a route. A route could be to switch some turnouts or change the signals or e.g. send a signal to a K84 module to give power to an isolated section which then will start another train.

With PC control the software can activate/deactivate any locomotive function – e.g. start slowing down the train.

My best advice is to make some scenarios on paper. What is it you would like to achieve? As you work through the logic you will find out exactly how many contact tracks and where to place them. In any case it’s lots of fun!

Brgds - Lasse

Anybody know if the PDF listed above is available in English??

Robert

Hello Robert
It is not your need but I have the document in German (If you can read it).
It is not anymore on the Marklin website but someone may have copied it in English at the time (2 years ago or so).
Let me know if you are interested in the German version (name:Detailpraesentation_Maerklin-CS2.pdf, approx size 9Mb)

Cheers
Jean

Thank you for all your information so far.

Forgot to mention that I'm using C-Tracks. I have just bought an CS 2. I was thinking to use the CS2 in the beginning and then use a computer with WinDigiPet later.

Regarding Boost, I am not sure if I need one. At least not for now. But maybe later when I am seeing how much power the trains are consuming. I am thinking just to power the rail, trains and signals with the CS2 and all the houses with a separate transformator.

At one point I am also going to use the Faller Carsystem

If I understand all of you correct, I am only going to isolate the ground to the rails? I should feed ground to one rail every 1-2 meters and the same with the center rail? And the connect the other rail to the S88?

How do I isolate the ground in the turnouts?

Thanks Jean for the offer, but I don't read German.

I actually have a lot of information (I have the Electrical and Signal Manuals) and I understand the philosophy of everything and in fact, I have already done quite a bit with my CS2. But I like some of the presentation slides and the way they presented things in that PDF. I am always looking for additional backup material ... but in English ...

Thanks again ...

Robert

How do you enclose a PDF file into the forum?

Brgds - Lasse

Enclosed my own translated version of the Marklin presentation regarding shadow yards using CS2, K83 and K84.

http://freepdfhosting.com/a1fc013350.pdf

Some users may found it helpful.

Brgds - Lasse

Lasse ...

Thanks for the translation of those pages ... appreciate the effort ...

Robert