Hi!

I´ve been struggling for a VERY long time now to find ways to arrange the electrical system in a way, so it supports a fully automatic traffic scenario.

Some history over where I come from in this...
Someone with no experience in this field says "What´s the big deal? Just connect the wires from the CS2 to the track and you´re ready to go!".
That´s basically where I started and I can for sure that it was not the way to go. With many trains on the tracks I got large voltage drops along the lines so the trains were slowing down and the k83´s didn´t get enough power to control the turn outs.

STEP 2:
I then added a feeding Point every 2 meter and fed the Power through a pair of 2x 4mm2 Cable. In some instanses I still got problems with the k83´s not getting enough Power to securly Control the turnouts.

STEP 3:
I realized that the lamps in the laterns in each turnout consumed all Power available from the CS2 and more. All the lamps were removed. I still were sometimes getting sluggish and non-reliable turnout Control from the k83.

STEP 3:
I now added a separate 2x4mm2 Cable which only feeds the k83 decoders. Now the Power is not lacking to the k83, but on the other hand the Power from the k83 is quite insufficient to Control the M-rail turnouts unless they are in perfect condition and operated a few times back and forth ahead of every new traffic session.

STEP 4:
Märklin launched the m83 with possibility to feed the turnout with a separate 19VDC Power line. GREAT!!! I changed all of the k83s to m83 and Power the from a 19VDC/300VA (max 15 Amps) transformer. Now at last I got serious reliability in the operation of the turnouts. Now I run into another problem. Typically when several people are operating the railroad in different locations short periods of short circuits will happen. It happens during shunting, or when adding new cars etc. Since the feed now is very "stiff" to each consumer the short powerdown will effect all the consumers equally in the system. If the PC sends out a number of switch commands during this period the turnouts will not switch and the PC will not know about it, since the turnouts has no feedback.

I have only like 12 trains running simultaniously on my layout and only up to 4 different operators. There are much much bigger layouts around so I guess my problems must have a solution.

Ideally would be to have a mfx Power source which is not affected by any CS2 Power downs in the track power due to short Circuits, or even manual switch off of track Power. Can this be achieved by adding boosters, or will they Power down when the CS2 Power down too? I need them to stay on line and effectuate any turnout commands coming through the LAN to the CS2 operating the turnouts.

One more thing which might be of intrest is that each locomotive has a IR-LED built in. It activats an IR-sensor in the rail on passage. It therefore needs to be at least 3V of track Power in the short moment the loco passes the sensor. However, I don´t see that this would be a major impact on the reliability of the system. The sensor is fed on a completly separate 5VDC line and has nothing to do with the rest of the electrical system. The s88 signal is sent back on a flatcable, but I have not noted any interference at all in this part of the system. Also the new locos work like "no Power - no movement". Anyway this is not a part of the problem. I just wanted to explain it too.. :)

I would be more than thankful for help with this matter.

Edited by user 29 December 2014 07:49:28(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified